bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Laboratory Services in Support of Public Health: A Status Report
Authors: Wilcke Burton W. , Inhorn Stanley L. , Astles J. Rex , Su Bertina , Wright Abigail , White Vanessa A.
Published: July 2017

Objectives.

To assess Healthy People 2010 Objective 23–13 and its related sub-objectives measuring comprehensive laboratory services in support of essential public health programs, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create and administer a survey of state public health laboratories (PHLs).

Methods.

A committee of APHL, with representation from CDC, constructed the survey based on the 11 Core Functions of State Public Health Laboratories (hereafter, Core Functions)—the premise being that the extent to which they fulfilled these Core Functions would represent their level of providing or assuring comprehensive laboratory services in support of public health. The survey was distributed biennially to all state health agencies from 2004 to 2008, and respondents were given two months to complete it.

Results.

The response rate for all surveys was ≥90.2%. State PHLs were more likely to meet the sub-objectives relating to traditional functions (e.g., disease surveillance and reference testing) than other areas (e.g., food safety and environmental testing). Emergency preparedness fell in between. Overall, but most notably in the areas of food safety and training and education, there was improvement from 2006 to 2008, with the percentage of respondents who met more than half of the sub-objectives increasing from 58.7% in 2006 to 61.2% in 2008.

Conclusions.

The comprehensive laboratory services survey has been a valuable tool in measuring the laboratory infrastructure that underpins public health in the U.S. It will be necessary to continue monitoring laboratory infrastructure in this way to determine where the gaps in services exist and how they can best be addressed.
Knowledge and Perceptions of Quality Systems among Vermont Laboratorians
Authors: Blumen Steven R. , Naud Shelly , Palumbo Mary Val , McIntosh Barbara , Wilcke Burton W.
Published: July 2017

Objectives.

This article reports on a survey of medical laboratorians' knowledge of quality systems in their workplace and their perceptions about the effect of job function, education and training, professional credentials, and experience on the overall quality of testing and results.

Methods.

The Medical Laboratory Workforce Survey was designed and conducted in Vermont in 2005. Surveys were distributed to all laboratorians working in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-regulated laboratories throughout Vermont. Results were analyzed for statistical significance using the Fisher's exact test for overall group comparisons.

Results.

Laboratorians perceived that they were generally knowledgeable about the quality systems in place in their laboratories (96% considered themselves familiar with quality assurance [QA] measures in their laboratory), but meeting quality objectives and perceptions of factors that impact quality measures in the laboratory were variably influenced by the laboratorians' years of experience, professional credentials, organization type, and job title. Almost half (47%) of laboratorians said they did not have a role in deciding the QA measures, whereas 77% felt they had a significant impact on meeting the QA objectives.

Conclusions.

Not all laboratorians feel that they play a significant role in assuring quality or influencing quality measures used in the laboratory. All laboratorians should be encouraged to take an active approach to influence quality systems in the laboratory to ensure the highest quality health care possible.
Comparing Active and Passive Varicella Surveillance in Philadelphia, 2005–2010: Recommendations for the Transition to Nationwide Passive Varicella Disease Surveillance
Authors: Viner Kendra , Perella Dana , Lopez Adriana , Bialek Stephanie , Nguyen Michael , Spells Niya , Watson Barbara
Published: July 2017

Objective.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) conducts active surveillance for varicella in West Philadelphia. For its approximately 300 active surveillance sites, PDPH mandates biweekly reports of varicella (including zero cases) and performs intensive case investigations. Elsewhere in Philadelphia, surveillance sites passively report varicella cases, and abbreviated investigations are conducted. We used active varicella surveillance program data to inform the transition to nationwide passive varicella surveillance.

Methods.

We compared classification of reported cases, varicella disease incidence, and reporting completeness for active and passive surveillance areas for 2005–2010. We assessed reporting completeness using capture-recapture analysis of 2- to 18-year-old cases reported by schools/daycare centers and health-care providers.

Results.

From 2005 to 2010, PDPH received 3,280 passive and 969 active surveillance varicella case reports. Most passive surveillance reports were classified as probable cases (18% confirmed, 56% probable, and 26% excluded), whereas nearly all of the active surveillance reports were either confirmed or excluded (36% confirmed, 11% probable, and 53% excluded). Overall incidence rates calculated using confirmed/probable cases were similar in the active and passive surveillance areas. Detection of laboratory-confirmed, breakthrough, and moderate-to-severe cases was equivalent for both surveillance areas.

Conclusions.

Although active surveillance for varicella results in better classified cases, passive surveillance provides comparable data for monitoring disease trends in breakthrough and moderate-to-severe varicella. To further improve passive surveillance in the two-dose-varicella vaccine era, jurisdictions should consider conducting periodic enhanced surveillance, encouraging laboratory testing, and collecting additional varicella-specific variables for passive surveillance.
The Health and Economic Consequences of Cigarette Smoking in Alabama, 2009–2010
Authors: Fosson Gabriel H. , McCallum Debra M. , Beeson Diane H.
Published: July 2017

While CDC reports on the health and economic burden of smoking in the United States, state-specific data are not readily available. We estimated the health and economic consequences of cigarette smoking in Alabama to provide the state legislature with the state-specific data that reveal the direct impact of smoking on their constituents. We estimated that in 2009, almost 7,900 adult deaths (18% of all adult deaths) and approximately 121,000 years of potential life lost among Alabama adults aged 35 years and older were attributable to cigarette smoking. Productivity losses due to premature death and smoking-attributable illness were estimated at $2.84 billion and $941 million, respectively. Our findings support a strong need for tobacco control and prevention programs to decrease the health and economic burden of smoking in Alabama. These results are being used by the State Health Officer to illustrate the real costs of smoking in Alabama and to advocate for improved tobacco control policies.
Tourism and Development: Perplexity or Panacea?
Authors: Kariel Herbert G.
Published: July 2017

This article presents the evaluation of tourism by residents of four Austrian Alpine communities. Although the residents' overall assessment was that tourism's influence was positive, they also reported some unexpected and less desired results. In addition, residents had to address questions relating to the appropriate balance between tourism development and retaining the natural landscape and character of the community. The residents made practical suggestions to assist others who may wish to turn to tourism as a way of enhancing community development. One approach, “soft tourism,” is presented as a method for living harmoniously with tourism.
The History, Status, and Future of Regional Science: An American Perspective
Authors: Isserman Andrew M.
Published: July 2017

This comprehensive paper examines the roots and dreams of early regional science, focusing on its scholarly association, its concepts of science and region, and its claim to be a separate discipline. Regional science never became a science or a discipline, and it has had a peculiar relationship to regions. Yet, it has had spectacular success as an international, interdisciplinary scholarly forum, and it has produced noteworthy contributions to several disciplines. This paper also assesses the standing of contemporary regional science within economics, geography, planning, and other academic fields and points out its achievements and failures. It discusses the place of regional science in academic space, intellectual space, and real world space and proposes future directions with respect to each.
Reinventing Regional Science
Authors: Dear Michael
Published: July 2017

[A] landscape tradition a thousand years old in our Western world is yielding to a fluid organization of space that we do not yet entirely understand, nor know how to assimilate as a symbol of what is desirable and worth preserving.—John Brinckerhoff Jackson. [T]his latest mutation in space—postmodern hyperspace—has finally succeeded in transcending the capacities of the individual human body to locate itself, to organize its immediate surrounding perceptually, and cognitively to map its position in an externally mappable world.—Fredric Jameson.
Frontier Issues in International Migration
Authors: Stark Oded
Published: July 2017

Drawing on the general assumption that information is imperfect, this article addresses three main issues. First, why do some migrants return even though the intercountry wage differential does not reverse? And who returns? Second, why do migrants who stay tend to share their higher earnings with others at origin, even in the absence of altruism or of a need to establish an exchange relationship? And can the size of these transfers be predicted? Third, what explains the earnings of migrants? Why do they often dominate the earnings of equivalent native-born workers even if differences in human capital are fully controlled for? The article suggests these answers. First, when informational symmetry is reestablished, the low-skill workers, who are no longer pooled with the high-skill workers, return. Second, migrants' remittances are conceived as side-payments, made under asymmetric information, by high-skill migrant workers to low-skill workers, who, if they were to migrate, would erode the wages of the high-skill workers. And third, the edge migrants have over native-born workers arises from the lower recognition costs of partners to trade whose type is unknown.
Discussion of the Method of Study of the Effects of Vibratory Stress on the Primate Spine
Authors: Quandieu P. , Pellieux L. , Nogues C. , Longevialle C. , Borredon P.
Published: July 2017

The exceptionally severe conditions of vibration and acceleration stresses sometimes encountered in aeronautics led the authors to develop a method to study the effects of such stresses on the spinal column. The experiment, conducted in a laboratory, specified the action of paravertebral muscle contraction on the transfer functions of intervertebral discs, and quantified the mechanical changes in the articular system resulting from the ablation of the nucleus pulposus. The validity of this method was tested through several types of examinations: radiological, histological, and physical. This latter test essentially included studies of the harmonic distortion of collected signals, of the coherence function relative to disc transfer functions, of signal amplitude and time average distribution histograms.

The results of these examinations demonstrate the value of the method and the rationale of using a transfer function to study the response of the lumbar intervertebral disc to vibration.
Vibration Effects on Digit-Symbol Coding
Authors: Bittner Alvah C. , Woldstad Jeffrey C. , Carter Robert C.
Published: July 2017

Performance of a Digit Symbol Coding task was investigated with three trials each before, during, and after whole-body sinusoidal vibration. Four inexperienced (i.e., not previously vibration-exposed) and two experienced subjects were tested at 8 Hz at 0.21 gz (rms). Results indicated that individual differences and related (group) interactions accounted for respectively 51.1% and 5.0% of the total sum-of-squares. Simple vibration effects accounted for 14.8% of the variance. The present and previous results indicate: (1) performance decrement reductions with practice under vibration; and (2) the operation of an experience-practice interaction on performance after vibration. It was concluded that research into human performance under vibration should utilize control groups, randomization, and repeated measures methodologies. With regard to the current international standard on human whole-body vibration exposure, ISO 26, 1–1978, it is recommended that research be directed at the underexplored realm of psychophysiological and biomechanical effects during long-term exposures.
An Assesment of dB(A) for Predicting Loudness and Annoyance of Noise Containing Low Frequency Components
Authors: Kjellberg A. , Goldstein M. , Gamberale F.
Published: July 2017

The value of dB(A) as a predictor of loudness and annoyance for noise with low frequency components has been assessed in an experiment using a matching technique. Twenty subjects compared two noise stimuli within the dynamic range 49–86 dB(A) by adjusting one of the sounds until it appeared as equally loud or equally annoying as the other. One noise was dominated by energy in the low frequency range 15–50 Hz. In the other sound this 15–50 Hz component was weak. At equal dB(A) levels, the noise dominated by the low frequency component was perceived as 4–7 dB louder and 5–8 dB more annoying than the other noise. Other frequency weightings were assessed; PLdB underestimated loudness to the same extent as the dB(A), while dB(C) overestimated. The dB(B) and dB(D) were more closely in accordance with experimental results, but they nonetheless underestimated by up to 3–4 dB. Methodological problems in connection with the matching technique are discussed.
Experimental Investigation of Atmospheric Turbulence and Infrasound Upon the Ocean's Surface
Authors: Ivannikov A.N. , Makeev S.V. , Pavlov V.I.
Published: July 2017

In this paper the original results of the observation of low frequency atmospheric pressure fluctuations are presented The results have been obtained over the Pacific Ocean surface during the 17th expedition of the “Academician Nesmejanov” ship. The theoretical expressions for the degree law of the amplitude spectrum decrease and its connection with the wind velocity were found. Analysis of the experimental results was compared with the proposed theoretical model of turbulence. The spikes on the background of fluctuation spectra have been discovered.
Results of Measurements and Limits Proposal for Low Frequency Noise in the Living Environment
Authors: Mirowska Marianna
Published: July 2017

The paper presents measurement results of several low frequency noise sources, existing in houses (fans, air-conditioners, pumps). The measurements were carried out in dwellings, whose inhabitants complained about noise annoyance. Vercammen's proposal for low frequency limits, inside a dwelling, is discussed and the results of our own investigations on this topic are presented.
Generation of Low-Frequency Ground Vibrations by Sound Waves Propagating in Underground Gas Pipes
Authors: Krylov V.V.
Published: July 2017

The hypothesis is examined about sources of disturbing low-frequency hums arising from buried gas or petrol pipes in which turbulent flows of gas or liquid generate sound waves of high amplitude propagating in pipe-lines as in waveguides. Theoretical investigation of this problem shows that if the velocities of sound inside the pipes (450 m/s for methane) are higher than the velocities of Rayleigh surface waves in the ground (typically 300–600 m/s) then ground Rayleigh waves are effectively generated by sound waves propagating inside the pipes, the mechanism of generation being similar to that of sonic boom from supersonic jets. The Rayleigh waves then propagate to buildings and cause building vibration and structure-borne noise. Central frequencies of generated Rayleigh wave spectra are in the range of 5–20 Hz and depend on pipe-depth. The amplitudes of ground vibration velocity may achieve 70 dB (relative to 10−9 m/s). This is quite enough to annoy some people both due to the direct impact of vibrations and to structure-borne noise. The results obtained may contribute to a fuller understanding of the nature of low-frequency hums.
Vibration Condition Monitoring of Brickwork Columns
Authors: Bensalem A. , Fairfield C. A. , Sibbald A.
Published: July 2017

This paper describes the development of a condition monitoring and analysis technique, based on the pulse echo and impulse excitation method, for brickwork structures. The method is applied to structural brickwork columns with different brick and mortar strength combinations. Dynamic time integration finite element analysis modelled the columns’ behaviour under impact loading. The results were transformed to the frequency domain for obtaining the resonant frequencies: the results were successfully compared to those found experimentally and by natural frequency analysis. The effect of a controlled defect was then analysed. Good prediction of dynamic response and resonant frequencies was achieved and the technique is recommended for condition monitoring of brickwork structures.
Finite Element Simulation of a Flexible Manipulator-Part 2: Parallel Processing Techniques
Authors: Tokhi M.O. , Shaheed M.H. , Ramos-Hernandez D.N. , Poerwanto H.
Published: July 2017

This paper presents an investigation into the performance evaluation of homogeneous and heterogeneous parallel architectures in the real-time implementation of finite element (FE) simulation algorithm of a flexible manipulator. The algorithm is implemented on a number of homogeneous and heterogeneous architectures incorporating high-performance processors. The partitioning and mapping of the algorithms on both the homogeneous and heterogeneous architectures are investigated and finally a comparative assessment of the performance of the architectures in implementing the algorithm revealing the capabilities of the architectures in relation to the nature of the algorithm is presented in terms of execution time and speedup.
Global Open Access Theological Education
Authors: Bartlotti Leonard N.
Published: July 2017

Len Bartlotti did his doctoral research on proverbs, Islam, and identity among Pashtuns (Afghans), and serves as Research Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. He served fourteen years in Asia and is founder and former Executive Director of the InterLit Foundation Publishers and Educational Consultants.
Mission as Transformation
Authors: Samuel Vinay
Published: July 2017

Keynote address at the All India Consultation of Evangelicals in Social Concern from January 27-30 2002. Reprinted with permission from Drishtikone - the magazine of the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief available from EFICOR, 308, B-Block Community Centre, Janakpuri, New Delhi 110058. E-mail eficorhq@vsnl.com; website www.eficoronline.org.
Underground Evangelism: Missions During the Cold War
Authors: Gouverneur Joe
Published: July 2017

From the 1950s until the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, there were an untold number of Bible Smuggling organizations. Millions of dollars were raised every month during this period, and there were countless Christian spies who made contact with persecuted Christians and brought them contraband bibles. This paper is an analysis of East European evangelical missions before and after the great transformation of 1989. A few of these missions were able to adjust to the post-Cold War era and have effective ministries in Eastern Europe today. The sources used in this treatment are texts dealing with premillennial eschatology, popular evangelical writings, and interviews with mission leaders, and personal observations based upon author's experience as a former bible courier and leader of one of the largest East European missions. A major source for this paper has been the flagship American evangelical magazine, Christianity Today.
Apostolic Networks in Britain: An analytic overview
Authors: Kay William K.
Published: July 2017

This paper provides an analytical overview of the apostolic networks in Britain. There are several ways to understand the success of the apostolic networks. They can be seen as an extreme answer to an extreme problem an answer to a profound secularisation leading to declining church attendance and influence within society. The apostolic networks appear to fit into post-modern society better than conventional denominational structures. In terms of their organization, despite appearances, these networks are however hierarchical like the denominational structures which they challenge. The difference is in the characteristic informality with which these networks can collaborate with each other even when they grow.
The Spirit and Justice
Authors: Paul Robin
Published: July 2017

This article, which illustrates the practical effect of caste in employment practices in India, is the first in the series announced in the editorial of October-December 1984. The series will describe models of involvement which illustrate the relationship between evangelism and social responsibility.
By Grace Alone
Authors: Nürnberger Klaus
Published: July 2017

This article is taken from a lecture to a convention of white Lutheran pastors who struggle to find their role in the present South African dilemma. The author hopes it will convey more of the actual atmosphere in one section of the community than a theoretical treatment could. Lutherans call their theology ‘evangelical’ because it is based on the gospel (the gift of God's grace) in contradistinction (the demand of God). His contribution to the discussion at a recent conference of the ecumenical ‘National Initiative for Reconciliation’ has been added at the end.
From Chernobyl to Ceausescu
Authors: Elliott Mark
Published: July 2017

The almost immediate Western detection and news reportage of the Chernobyl nuclear accident underscored the urgency of Gorbachev's call for glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). While state-sanctioned church leaders played a minimal role in the coming of glasnost, other believers, through clandestine samizdat (self-publication), figure prominently in the launching of the Soviet information revolution. In contrast to the USSR, the churches and the media, especially television, played an immediate, transparent, and successful part in the East European upheavals of 1989.
A Christian Attitude to the State – An Indian Perspective
Authors: Samuel Vinay K.
Published: July 2017

Three traditions have influenced the idea of the state in India – the Hindu Rajah, the Islamic View and the European Secular State. From biblical and theological considerations, Christians must reject the totalism and ego-centrism of modern states and work for greater accountability and decentralised decision-making.
Five theses on the significance of modern African Christianity: a Manifesto
Authors: Bediako Kwame
Published: July 2017

This paper is a further refinement of ‘A Manifesto’ recently published in the maiden issue of Studies in World Christianity (The Edinburgh Review of Theology and Religion);, vol. 1.1, 1995, pp. 51-67. In the present form it was delivered as the keynote address at the recent African Christianity Project conference held in March 1995 in Edinburgh and also at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies Summer School on Institutional Development, in June-July 1995.
Incidental Group Language Therapy: Verbal and Preverbal Children
Authors: Masters Janis Biggs , Pine Shirley J.
Published: July 2017

The purpose of this study was to determine if incidental language intervention with preschool language-delayed children increased the frequency of verbal and gestural speech acts. Subjects were four preverbal and four verbal children with mental retardation. The verbal subjects were selected to be peer language models for the preverbal subjects during a six-week language intervention programme based on incidental teaching. Nine speech acts were inspected for distributional changes between baseline and post-testing. The verbal preschool subjects appear to have facilitated an increase in communicative intentions by their preverbal peers based on a significant increase in frequency and distribution of the nine speech acts.
Description and Treatment of Abnormal Vowels in a Phonologically Disordered Child
Authors: Gibbon F. , Shockey L. , Reid J.
Published: July 2017

Children with difficulties in acquiring the target vowel system are undoubtedly rarer than those with disorders that primarily affect the consonant system, bat pose a considerable challenge to the speech and language therapist. At present, relatively little is known about patterns of disruption in vowel systems, and still less about effective methods of treatment. This case study describes the vowel system of a child with a severe phonological disorder. A short course of six sessions of treatment is outlined which focused on developing diphthong production. An eclectic approach was adopted, with many of the principles derived from both familiar traditional and more recently advocated approaches to the remediation of phonological disorders. Follow-up data at four and eight months post-treatment showed improvement in the vowel system. The clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
Auditory-Pointing Task Performance of Children Aged 6;0
Authors: Fisher John
Published: July 2017

An Auditory-Pointing Span task was developed and then trialled with 43 language-normal, prep children aged 6;0 and with 8 language-disabled children. The language-disabled group performed below the prep mean. There were also differences in the factors underlying the two groups' performance. The Auditory-Pointing Span task appears to be a useful item in a battery of language tests.
Methods of Attentional Recall Used with a Group of Language-Disordered Children
Authors: Singleton Jennifer
Published: July 2017

This paper describes a piece of research carried out in a Unit for language-disordered children, in which the author observes a variety of methods of attentional recall used with the children displaying the weakest attentional skills. The efficacy of the various methods is examined, and the implications of the difficulties involved in recalling the children's attention are discussed in terms of educational needs.
A tested phonological therapy in practice
Authors: Bowen Caroline , Cupples L.
Published: July 2017

The focus here is a detailed case description of a broad-based model for treat ing developmental phonological disorders. Successful treatment comprising 27 consultations over 17 months, of a girl aged 4;4 at the outset, with a mod erate phonological disability, is examined in detail. The model’s strength is in its combination of family education, metalinguistic tasks, phonetic produc tion procedures, multiple exemplar techniques and homework. Treatment is administered in planned alternating therapy blocks and breaks from therapy attendance.
One plus one equals three! Improving vocabulary acquisition and learning in pupils with speech and language impairments
Authors: Sim Iain
Published: July 2017

This study describes the use of science with secondary-aged pupils to help devel op vocabulary acquisition in pupils with speech and language difficulties. It suggests that the teaching of specific vocabulary teaching objectives in practi cal teaching context can support children’s learning of scientific concepts.

… the spoken word remains the simplest and the most powerful means of communication we have. (Jonathan Dimbleby, Richard Dimbleby Lecture, BBC 1996.)
Coding parent/child interaction as a clinical outcome: a research note
Authors: Law James , Barnett Gillian , Kot Anne
Published: July 2017

This paper presents a video coding system designed as a synthesis of a variety of other methods which is being used as a measurement of clinical outcome. It has been developed for a current study investigating the effectiveness of intervention to improve the language and communication skills of three-year-old language-impaired children and their parents. Five coding categories are used, three relating to the adult input (discourse structure, communicative function and linguistic behaviour) and two to the child input (discourse structure and linguistic behaviour). The coding system is discussed in relation to a series of hypotheses developed for the intervention study.
Assessment of the perceptual threshold of touch (PTT) with high-frequency transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (Hf/TENS) in elderly patients with stroke: a reliability study
Authors: Eek Elsy , Engardt Margareta
Published: July 2017

Objective: To evaluate the inter-rater reliability and reliability between occasions of assessing the perceptual threshold of touch (PTT) with high-frequency transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (Hf/TENS) in elderly patients with stroke.

Design: A test–retest study of reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and limits of agreement.

Setting: Geriatric rehabilitation unit.

Subjects: Thirty-two consecutive patients with stroke 3 65 years of age.

Main outcome measures: Two-channel current stimulator TENS CEFAR Tempo with four self-adhesive skin electrodes. The stimulator delivered a high-frequency constant current of 40 Hz. The strength of the stimulation was quantifiable and assessed in milliampere (mA).

Interventions: The assessments were performed on the hands and feet by two raters. The PTT was identified as the level registered in milliampere (mA) at which the patients perceived a tingling sensation.

Results: The ICC values (0.94–0.99) were shown to be good for inter-rater reliability, as well as reliability between occasions. However an additional analysis with limits of agreement showed a high level of agreement for assessment of the hand but a moderate to low agreement for assessment of the foot where some bias was also identified. Clinical acceptable reliability: 3 1 mA for the hand and 3 5 mA for the foot are so far recommended for establishing real differences in clinical measures.

Conclusion: Hf/TENS shows an overall high reliability for assessing the PTT of the hand and moderate to low reliability for the foot. Additional research with exclusion of bias is needed to determine the reliability of assessing the foot.
Community patient education and exercise for people with fibromyalgia: a parallel group randomized controlled trial
Authors: Hammond Alison , Freeman Kaye
Published: July 2017

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a community patient education -exercise programme, using a cognitive-behavioural approach, for people with fibromyalgia.

Design: A randomized, parallel group trial with assessments at 0, 4 and 8 months.

Setting: Community leisure centres.

Subjects: People with fibromyalgia ( n=183) attending a rheumatology outpatient department at a large district general hospital.

Interventions: Participants were randomized to a patient education-exercise group ( n=97) or relaxation (attention control) group ( n=86).

Main measures: The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (0-80; lower score means better health). Secondary outcomes included: the Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale(pain and other symptoms subscales: 1 -10 scale; higher scores mean greater self-efficacy) and self-reported improvement.

Results: Fifty participants withdrew or were unable to attend and 133 completed and returned baseline questionnaires: patient education group ( n=71); relaxation group ( n=62); 120/133 participants were women. Average age was 48. 53 (SD 10.89) years. Follow-up ranged between 73 and 82% of questionnaires returned. At four months, there was a difference in average changes in total Fibromyalgia ImpactQuestionnaire scores between the two groups: patient education group -3.38 (SD 9.35); relaxation group 0.3 (SD 8.85); P=0.02. Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale scores were significantly higher in the patient education group: pain 0.59 (SD 1.45)compared to the relaxation group’s -0.12 (SD 1.22); P=0.003; other symptoms (patient education group 0.72 (SD 1.33); relaxation group 0.03 (SD 1.16); P=0.002). At eight months these differences were no longer apparent. Forty-seven per cent in the patient education group self-reported improvement compared with 13% in the relaxation group (ϰ=13.65; P=0.0001).

Conclusion: Short-term improvements resulted from the education -exercise programme but were not sustained. Appropriate selection may improve efficacy.
Feline Insular Amyloid: Immunohistochemical and Immunochemical Evidence that the Amyloid is Insulin-related
Authors: Johnson K. H. , Westermark P. , Nilsson G. , Sletten K. , O'Brien T. D. , Hayden D. W.
Published: July 2017

Utilizing islet amyloid-laden pancreatic tissues from six diabetic cats, we demonstrated substantial immunoreactivity (peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique) of the islet amyloid with antiserum to a B chain-rich insulin fraction, but no reactivity with antisera to insulin, glucagon, or somatostatin. Islet amyloid was purified from two cats and a protein unique to the diabetic and islet amyloid-laden cats was separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Immunoreactivity of this protein with antiserum to the B chain-rich insulin fraction was also shown by immunoblotting. Attempts to obtain the amino acid composition of the purified unique protein (represented by a single 25,000 dalton band on gel electrophoresis) were not successful because the amount of protein was too small. These results provide important additional evidence that an insulin-related protein is involved in the formation of islet amyloid. Our study also shows that the diabetic cat provides several advantages for the continued study of the etiopathogenic relationship of islet amyloid and diabetes mellitus.
The History of Childhood Since the “Invention of Childhood”: Some Issues in the Eighties
Authors: Bellingham Bruce
Published: July 2017

One approach to the history of childhood examines change in private dispositions toward the young. Another approach concentrates on the proliferation of public institutions for managing child life. The history of sentiments has led to a futile debate over the relative extent of dispositional change or continuity in feeling for children without considering the ways in which notionally primordial or elemental dispositions were constructed or contaminated by the normative, politicized meanings of childhood. The upshot is that the symbolic politics of childhood arising from intergroup moral conflict, returns to haunt current interpretations in the guise of timeless psychological or bio-social truths. Study of the official processing of children errs in the opposite direction, losing sight of the personal thought and action of children and their parents, as if their historical experiences were fundamentally comprised of policy and administration. Actual children vanish and an implausibly intrusive account is offered of policy itself. Family history, especially accounts of agrarian and working class family strategies, helps put each history of childhood in a more realistic context and may bridge the two.
Industrialization and Household and Family Life Course Characteristics: Appalachian Kentucky Young Adults in 1880 and 1910
Authors: Arcury Thomas A.
Published: July 2017

Using a life course approach, this analysis examines the effects of industrialization on household and family characteristics for the predominately rural population of Appalachian Kentucky in 1880 and 1910. The household and family characteristics of males and females aged 15–19, 20–24 and 25–29 are described, and variation in these characteristics is examined in terms of six contextual variables. While samples from the 1880 and 1910 general populations do not differ, the samples from the 1910 general population and the 1910 coal mine population do differ. Individuals from the industrial 1910 coal mine sample achieve adult household and family statuses at significantly earlier ages. This analysis demonstrates the effects industrialization—separate from urbanization—can have on households and families.
Fishing Families in Three Danish Coastal Communities
Authors: Johansen Hans Chr. , Madsen Per , Degn Ole
Published: July 2017

Earlier studies of population in Denmark have dealt mainly with demographic behavior in rural areas that depended on agriculture and where restricted access to limited resources resulted in very high ages at first marriage and small average household size. This study concentrates on another agrarian variant—fishing communities. Developments in three coastal communities were analyzed for the period 1787–1901. The inhabitants lived mainly from fishing. Given the technology of the day, this was an occupation with nearly unlimited resources. Furthermore, there were no legal restrictions on the partitioning of land in the hamlets on the coast or on fishing in nearby coastal waters. These conditions resulted in earlier marriages, but not in a different family type. Young people in the hamlets established their own households when they married, and fishermen conformed to the nuclear family pattern dominant in the Nordic countries.
Women, Families and the Provincial Hospital for the Insane, British Columbia, 1905-1915
Authors: Kelm Mary-Ellen
Published: July 2017

The article examines the role of the family in the lives of women in a turn-of-the-century psychiatric institution in British Columbia, Canada. The continued connection between institutionalized women and their families is highlighted. Evidence drawn from the psychiatric case files of 774 women patients at British Columbia's Provincial Hospital for the Insane show that families significantly influenced such factors of institutional life as the conditions of care, the timing of discharge and the possibility of readmission. Conclusions presented here underscore the negotiated and conflictual nature of asylum practice.
Did Economic Literacy Influence Macroeconomic Policy Preferences of the General Public during the Financial Crisis?
Authors: Evans Brent A.
Published: July 2017

Based on survey data including residents of all fifty states, I provide an analysis on the relationship between economic education and policy recommendations of the American public during the financial crisis. Mirroring the methodological approach set forth in Walstad (1997), I find that economic literacy was correlated with three of the six policies studied. Specifically, economic literacy is positively correlated with support for decreased taxes and a smaller government, and negatively correlated with supporting a ceiling on CEO salaries. No other personal variable, including race, gender, income or educational attainment, is found to correlate with policy preferences as frequently as economic literacy. These findings corroborate with Walstad's results, which were based upon survey data compiled 18 years prior.
Assessing the Effect of Quantitative Easing on Foreign Direct Investment in Brazil
Authors: Bahmani Sahar , Toms Jeremy
Published: July 2017

Using econometric analysis, this paper examines the impact of quantitative easing undertaken by the Federal Reserve, on the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil from the United States. This paper focuses on quantitative easing and U.S. investment abroad and its impact specifically on emerging economies, such as Brazil. This study finds that an increase in quantitative easing leads to an increase in capital flows from the U.S. into Brazil. It is found that Brazil's GDP, the U.S. monetary base, and the foreign exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Brazilian real all have a strong impact on the level of foreign direct investment into Brazil. A substantial positive relationship between GDP and FDI is also established.
George Orwell as a Public Choice Economist
Authors: Makovi Michael
Published: July 2017

George Orwell is famous for his two final fictions, Animal Farm (Orwell 1945a) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell 1949a). These two works are sometimes understood to defend capitalism against socialism. But as Orwell was a committed socialist, this could not have been his intention. Orwell's criticisms were directed not against socialism per se but against the Soviet Union and similarly totalitarian regimes. Instead, these fictions were intended as Public Choice-style investigations into which political systems furnished suitable incentive structures to prevent the abuse of power. This is demonstrated through a study of Orwell's non-fiction works, where his opinions and intentions are more explicit.
An Investigation of the Effects of Fiber Volume Fraction on the Impact Properties of Fiber Reinforced Composite Laminated Plates
Authors: Ruhala L. A. , Engel R. S.
Published: July 2017

The effects of fiber volume fraction (Vf) on the impact properties of glass-epoxy laminated composite plates were studied. The plates had a constant amount of fiber, and the weight of epoxy was varied to produce a range of fiber volume fractions from 40-70%. The plates were impacted at low velocity in a drop tower impactor with energies varying from 10 J to 40 J. Load, deflection and energy absorbed data were analyzed with the purpose of determining the effects of fiber and void volume fractions on the impact response of the plates. Damage modes were also investigated.
Low Velocity Impact Fatigue Studies on Glass Epoxy Composite Laminates with Varied Material and Test Parameters-Effect of Incident Energy and Fibre Volume Fraction
Authors: Khan Bijoysri , Rao R. M. V. G. K. , Venkataraman N.
Published: July 2017

An effort was made to study the effects of fibre volume fraction and incident energy on the impact damage tolerance of composite laminates subjected to low velocity impacts at constant strike velocities. Repeated drop tests were conducted using an in-house built drop weight impact tester. Delamination area was used as a parameter for quantifying damage while the number of drops (impacts) to failure used to assess the damage tolerance limits. The delamination area was found to increase and then saturate after a certain number of drops. Impact fatigue studies showed the existence of a critical incident energy (EC) around which design of composite structures can be based. Also the minimum incident energy required to fracture the sample in a single impact (ESDT) was evaluated from the data. One of the interesting observations made was that for any given incident energy, the delamination area was found to be minimum at a certain fibre volume fraction (0.5 in this case) of the laminate. This was explained on lines of failure mechanisms reported earlier.
Effect of Environmental Exposure on the External Strengthening of Concrete with Composites-Short Term Bond Durability
Authors: Karbhari V. M. , Engineer M.
Published: July 2017

The pressing need for rehabilitation and retrofit strategies that encompasses new and emerging materials and technologies, results from the need to simultaneously repair existing structures while attempting to increase both their performance levels and life spans. A large number of techniques currently exist for strengthening highway bridges ranging from the use of external post-tensioning to the addition of epoxy bonded steel plates to the tension surface. The use of composite plates for the purpose of external reinforcement has considerable potential. However, there is a critical need to investigate the degradation of the composite-concrete interface after exposure to environmental conditions that include moisture, sea water, freezing and freeze-thaw. In this investigation, the effect of five different environmental conditions on the performance of plated beams is considered from aspects related to materials and durability. It is shown that the selection of the appropriate resin system is critical to success, and the dangers of selecting systems with low glass transition temperatures and drastic drops in instantaneous modulus as a function of temperature are discussed. Two different resin systems are compared using the same fibrous reinforcement and an overall view of durability at the concrete-composite interface is elucidated.
Influence of Unidirectional Composite Compression Specimen Thickness and Loading Method
Authors: Xie M. , Adams D. F.
Published: July 2017

A combined numerical and experimental study was performed to investigate the effect of both specimen thickness and loading method on the compressive strength of a unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymer composite. A three-dimensional finite element analysis was used to study the stress distribution within a tabbed coupon specimen. The compressive load can be applied directly on the ends of the specimen, or be generated by longitudinal shear forces on the tab surfaces. The end loading method was found to be superior to the shear loading method, yielding a less severe stress concentration at the tab termination points and a similar stress concentration at the outer ends of the specimen. For thick specimens this benefit is more obvious and therefore a higher compressive strength should be obtained for a thick specimen subjected to end loading. Hercules AS4/3501-6 unidirectional carbon/epoxy composite specimens of various thicknesses were tested using both ASTM D3410, Procedure B (shear loading) and the Wyoming End-Loaded Side-Supported Test Method (end loading). The experimental data were found to correlate very well with the numerical predictions.
Measurement of Tensile Properties using Filament Wound Ring Specimens
Authors: Yoon Sung-Ho , Kim Chun-Gon , Cho Won-Man
Published: July 2017

In this study, the tensile properties of a filament wound ring specimens were evaluated by split disk test and compared to the theoretical values obtained by the rule of mixtures. The circumference-wound ring specimens were prepared from 4 types of material systems. The research results showed that the measured strengths of the composite systems were considerably lower than the theoretical values due to the local bending stresses around the split disk edges. For the measurement of elastic moduli of the filament wound ring specimens, the effect of friction on the strain of the ring must be taken into account. But the effect of friction between the split disk fixture and the ring specimen can be eliminated by averaging the moduli for loading and unloading state with maintaining the same crosshead rates. The measured elastic moduli of ring showed very good agreement with the theoretical values.
The Importance of the Temperature and Lateral Pressure on the CFRP Joints Strength under Uniaxial Loading
Authors: Scarponi Claudio , Marini Giuseppe , Montanari Paolo
Published: July 2017

The purpose of the present paper is to provide the assessment and evaluation results of the temperature and lateral pressure influence on the CFRP pin loaded joints strength while they are subjected to tension.

The subject study is composed of the following two main parts:

1. the Experimental Results, which are obtained through the application of four (4) different lateral pressure conditions (none, low, medium, and high), and range of temperatures (room, + 60°C, + 80°C, -55°C, -100°C, and -150°C)

2. the Theoretical Results, which are obtained through the use of 2D finite element analysis

In addition, the study provides an in depth description of the employed test methodology and a comparison of the numerical and experimental final results.