bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Significance of Friendship for Women in Later Life
Authors: Jerrome Dorothy
Published: November 2008

As middle-class women enter retirement, through giving up a job or losing a spouse or dependent relative, they adopt different friendship strategies. Some extend and deepen existing relationships; some make new friends; some develop the role of ‘good neighbour’; some grow closer to siblings. One of the most popular ways of making friends is to join a voluntary association, but this strategy is not always successful. Between them, friends provide a variety of services, supports and company. Old friends contribute something unique to the acceptance of ageing and adjustment to changing circumstances. Middle-class friendships have a hedonistic quality which matches the lifestyle of middle-class women in retirement.
Cost Information and Residential Care of the Elderly
Authors: Knapp Martin
Published: November 2008

A notable feature of most recent policy statements regarding care of the elderly is a reference to the costs of care. Public expenditure cuts at a time when the numbers of old people, and dependent old people, are increasing have heightened the already growing concern about the resources needed for providing care. This paper has two basic aims. The subsidiary aim is to examine this growing concern, with particular reference to the British experience since 1948 and with an especial focus on residential care services. This examination provides an historical and contextual basis for the discussion which is the principle aim of the paper. This aim is to explain how information on costs which is currently available to the policy maker and care provider can be gainfully employed in the planning of care services for the elderly. Again, attention is mainly focussed on residential care, but the approach has more general relevance. The starting point for this discussion is an examination of why costs vary – either between homes or between areas or between providers. A fairly comprehensive review of previous costs studies in this area is provided.
Demographic Statistics and Old Age Ideology
Authors: Bytheway W. R.
Published: November 2008

Introductory descriptions of the contemporary ‘old age phenomenon’ tend to draw heavily upon demographic statistics. An analysis of such descriptions in popular books on retirement show that the ways in which these are presented and interpreted reflect a certain set of beliefs concerning the concept of old age. Critical to this ideology is the dissociation of old age and death. Together with indicators of the unprecedented expansion of old age, this creates an image of old age that has doubtful validity.
Pre-Retirement Education: The British and American Experience
Authors: Phillipson Chris
Published: November 2008

As a result of the institutionalization of retirement and the development of an ageing population, a keen discussion has emerged concerning the nature of retirement education. Two major research projects (at the Universities of Keele and Surrey) have begun; and the number of books and articles devoted to the theme has expanded enormously over the past two years. However, despite this attention, pre-retirement education (PRE) is still struggling to find a secure foundation within the range of occupational and social policies affecting the older worker. There remains a feeling that it has yet to demonstrate its full value or potential – either to employer or employee. In this paper I shall argue that the reasons for this can be traced partly to the post-war origins of PRE, and the way these origins influenced the trajectory taken by retirement education. I shall go on to examine the effectiveness of PRE; to look at arguments about the adequacy of its present structure; and finally, look at the likely shape of future developments in the area of retirement education.
Professional Practice and Patient Care: Multidisciplinary Teamwork in Geriatric Wards
Authors: Evers Helen
Published: November 2008

This paper aims to examine aspects of the nature of multidisciplinary teamwork in geriatric care. First, some of the medical profession's current views of teamwork in geriatrics will be summarized. Second, case studies from a research project on care of geriatric patients in hospital will be used to illustrate some of the strengths and limitations of the adoption of a teamwork approach by health care professionals. Evidence from research suggests that under only a few circumstances does care of the geriatric patient match the images of teamwork as portrayed in the professional literature. This finding in part reflects piecemeal developments in interprofessional responsibilities and relationships in policy and practice of care of the elderly.
Dominant and Competing Paradigms in Gerontology: Towards a Political Economy of Ageing
Authors: Estes Carroll L. , Swan James H. , Gerard Lenore E.
Published: November 2008

The origins and influence of social science perspectives have conditioned theoretical and empirical developments in the field of gerontology. Yet little systematic examination has been afforded to the role of social science in the production of gerontological knowledge in providing the underlying rationale for American social policy for the aged. This paper examines the dominant U.S. social science perspectives or paradigms and discusses the reasons for their centrality in American gerontological thought. The paper concludes with a proposal for an alternative line of inquiry — a political economy of ageing — which takes as problematic the effects of social history, the world economy, capitalism and social class on the ageing process and the aged and the policy interventions designed for them.
Cognitive Ageing and Psychological Growth
Authors: Labouvie-Vief Gisela , Blanchard-Fields Fredda
Published: November 2008

The present paper argues that some apparent deficits found in cognitive ageing may result from models that focus on youth-centered, formal-logical standards of thinking. An alternative model of adult development is proposed which explains these apparent deficits in terms of progressive reorganizations where decline in performance may be a consequence of the growth of more complex and highly differentiated skills. More specifically, the contextualization of formal logic or the reintegration of logic and affect found in older adult thinking is seen to represent a mature level of cognitive differentiation characterized by an autonomous, socially-oriented, and dialectical mode of reasoning. This theoretical perspective is substantiated by a review of the literature evidencing this kind of progression. Future research implications are discussed.
From Public Assistance Institutions to ‘Sunshine Hotels’
Authors: Means Robin , Smith Randall
Published: November 2008

This article traces the development of residential care for elderly people in the period 1939 to 1948. It begins by looking at the nature of such institutions in the period just prior to the Second World War and then discusses the complex impact of war upon such provision. Particular attention is paid to how evacuation hostels, run by local authorities and voluntary organisations, changed notions about the role of the state in the care of elderly people. The paper concludes by looking at how such changed notions were incorporated into the 1948 National Assistance Act.
Inequalities in Old Age
Authors: Taylor Rex , Ford Graeme
Published: November 2008

This paper examines the distribution of personal resources - financial, social, health and psychological - between age cohorts, sex groups and social classes in a random sample of community elderly. As expected, the young elderly, males and those from middle-class backgrounds have a disproportionate share of three out of four of these resources, but for social support the balance of advantage is reversed. When age, sex and class are combined to yield eight subgroups, younger working-class males consistently rank high on all resources and older working-class females consistently rank low. Older middle-class females rank low on all resources other than on close friends.
Income Maintenance for the Soviet Aged
Authors: Porket Joseph L.
Published: November 2008

Hitherto, Western analysts of Soviet affairs have largely neglected Soviet persons beyond retirement age. These persons constitute a heterogeneous and expanding social category, and their lot has a number of dimensions. The present examination concentrates on their economic status and participation in social production, regarding both as an outcome of the Soviet régime's changing policies. It indicates a modest level of success in retaining the working involvement of retired people during the early post-retirement years. At the same time it uncovers many issues and situations which are familiar to gerontologists in Western countries.
Patient Turnover in a new Psychogeriatric Day Hospital: a Pluralistic Evaluation
Authors: Smith Gilbert , Cantley Caroline , Ritman Valerie
Published: November 2008

Studies designed to evaluate the services of a health or welfare institution face the major difficulty of selecting evaluative criteria to serve as measures of successful performance. This paper explores that difficulty in the context of a study of a new psychogeriatric day hospital. The study and its methods of data collection are described. ‘Patient turnover’ features prominently as a measure of success within the hospital. Consultants, nurses, general practitioners, social workers, staff of a related hospital and patients’ relatives interpret this measure in different ways and adopt different strategies to pursue ‘success’ in their own interests. These differences are described. The paper concludes that a ‘pluralistic evaluation’ has several advantages as compared to other approaches.
Later Life Satisfaction and Household Structure: Living with Others and Living Alone
Authors: Fengler Alfred P. , Danigelis Nicholas , Little Virginia C.
Published: November 2008

In a survey of 1,400 older Americans over 65, two household structures, elders living with others and elders living alone, were compared with older married couples. Results indicated that elders living with others had a greater degree of incapacity and lower income than married couples, but on most indices there were few differences. Elders in three-generation families had somewhat lower general life satisfaction, but the greatest number of elderly people with low life satisfaction were widows who lived alone. Widows living alone were less likely than married couples to own their homes and more likely to perceive that their income was inadequate, that transportation needs were unmet and that no one would care for them in an emergency, all conditions strongly associated with low life satisfaction.
Assessing Self Esteem and its Sources in Elderly People
Authors: Coleman Peter G.
Published: November 2008

A new form of measure is presented for assessing not only self esteem but also subjectively perceived sources of self esteem in elderly people. Such instruments have been developed for use both in the Netherlands and in England, using seven categories of sources of self esteem. First results have demonstrated their validity and potential application. The Dutch studies carried out so far have highlighted changes in level of self esteem in Dutch old people moving into homes for the elderly and the importance of the homes themselves as sources of self esteem. The English studies have shown differences in sources of self esteem in elderly people living in ordinary housing, residential homes and special sheltered housing. It is concluded that such instruments could play an important role in studies of individual adaptation to ageing and in the evaluation of different types of welfare provision.
Religion in an Old Age Home: Symbolic Adaptation as a Survival Strategy
Authors: Kazan Haim
Published: November 2008

Based on an ethnographic study of an old age home in Israel, this essay presents an analysis of how religious activity is used as part of a survival strategy by elderly residents in an institution for the well-aged. The study describes the symbolic manipulation of religious symbols and the social meaning of religion in an old age home in terms of four behavioural levels: (a) the synagogue members and their study groups; (b) the rabbi's lack of identification with his congregants; (c) the relationship to the non-religious management of the home; and (d) the differentiation of categories of residents in terms of ‘proper functioning’. Religion in this context is thus seen as an important social resource used in interactions with the social structure of the institution.
The Family Costs of Looking After Handicapped Elderly Relatives
Authors: Nissel Muriel
Published: November 2008

This article is principally concerned with the measurement and evaluation of the cost of the time which families devote to the care of handicapped elderly relatives living with them. One way of measuring the contribution is by means of time diaries which document the amount of time given to caring activities throughout the 24 hours of the day. How this was done in a small pilot study, carried out in Oxfordshire, England, is described. It is preceded by a brief general discussion of some of the factors which determine time use and by a description of the empirical findings from a few of the existing surveys. Some broad estimates of the indirect financial costs involved are offered, including an estimate using a different approach based on the loss of opportunity suffered by women who are prevented from undertaking paid work.
Cognition and Elderly People
Authors: Pratt James D. , Wood Larry E.
Published: November 2008

An overview of the experimental literature on ageing and cognition in the areas of sensation and perception, attention and performance, learning and memory, and intelligence and problem solving is provided. The review indicates definite deficits in most functions, and therefore provides a basis for understanding the origin of the stereotypes of the elderly as senile, obsolete, and useless. However, when viewed in a broad, integrated perspective, there seems to be grounds for a less pessimistic outlook than most people have. The most positive findings are some recent ones in the area of memory, which show that the elderly are able to make use of the knowledge they have accumulated over a lifetime to perform some tasks as good as or better than younger adults. Some researchers have begun to lay plans for the development of intervention programmes for the elderly, and we suggest some areas which may be profitable for further development. There are, however, some difficult motivational issues that need to be dealt with. It seems that many elderly persons claim to be functioning to their own satisfaction, from a cognitive perspective.
The Public Appeal of Sheltered Housing
Authors: Thompson Catherine , West Patrick
Published: November 2008

In the light of the shortfall in provision of sheltered housing in the UK and recent cricticisms of this form of care, this paper examines its public appeal both in terms of its popularity relative to other care arrangements and the ideas and images associated with it. Using questionnaire data about preferred and projected care arrangements, idealised solutions are compared with actual arrangements made by a group of predominantly old and disabled persons. The contrast suggests that some of the features which characterize sheltered housing as an idealised solution may be achieved in other settings. The implications for the emphasis that sheltered housing should receive in planning for the frail elderly are discussed, particularly in the light of recent international trends to encourage a policy of ‘staying put’.
Kinship and Social Support of the Elderly: The Case of the United States
Authors: Lee Gary R.
Published: November 2008

This paper deals with two related issues: (1) the extent to which older persons who require some assistance in the tasks of or resources needed for daily living actually receive such assistance from informal networks; and (2) the consequences of the receipt of this assistance for the older person.
Care in the Community
Authors: Wenger G. Clare
Published: November 2008

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of old people over the age of sixty-five living in rural Wales. Particular attention is paid to those who were over eighty in 1983, compared with the 1979 over-eighties. Whilst the findings demonstrate increased inputs of statutory domiciliary support with increased dependency, such support is clearly supplementary to the role of informal services. The paper shows that despite increased levels of dependency amongst the old elderly, levels of domiciliary services have not kept pace. Rationing mechanisms appear to focus services on the over-eighty-fives so that levels of support to younger age groups are essentially reduced.
The State, the Voluntary Sector and New Developments in Provision for the Old of Minority Racial Groups
Authors: Blakemore Kenneth
Published: November 2008

In many urban communities the fastest-growing groups of old people are those from the various minority racial and ethnic groups. This paper reviews the progress of a range of the new services, clubs and social centres which have been recently developed to meet the needs of the minorities. The services are examined in terms of their objectives, degree of specialisation (by ethnic group, gender and age) and adequacy of resources. As most of these projects have been initiated by voluntary groups and have experienced difficult development problems, the implications of this pattern of growth are assessed. In particular, reasons for the lack of sustained support from government and statutory organisations are discussed. Racial disadvantage affects all the minority groups, though different ethnic groups appear to be developing different strategies for the care of the old. However, prospects for either fully developed alternative services for the minorities or for multicultural services appear to be bleak in the forseeable future.
People Processing: Towards a Typology of Selected General Practitioner Referral and Admission Practices in Care of Elderly People
Authors: Cantley Caroline , Hunter David
Published: November 2008

Service providers are able by virtue of the nature of their work to shape how services operate and to influence who receives them. Of the many occupational groups involved in delivering care to the elderly general practitioners perform a pivotal role. While the ‘gatekeeper’ function of GPs is widely acknowledged there is little understanding of how this is actually performed or of the criteria underpinning decisions in regard to referrals and admissions. Old people display a complex of presenting conditions both physical and social with which the GP has to contend. At the same time services do not operate in isolation but interact in many subtle and not so subtle ways. To illustrate these themes the paper identifies and explores a set of considerations that appear to influence a group of GPs' use of services when referring patients to the geriatric service and admitting them to local hospital beds under their control.
Family Relations of Aged Colonial Jews: A Testamentary Analysis
Authors: Kart Cary S. , Engler Carol
Published: November 2008

Content analysis of wills probated in New York State between 1704 and 1799 is used to reconstruct the family relations of aged colonial Jews. The modernisation theory of ageing provides a backdrop for this beginning effort to specify variations in family life in history. In general, regardless of marital status, aged Jewish colonial testators followed a familistic inheritance pattern. Individual wills contained articulated and vindictive bequests. It is suggested that while the Jewish family was an important mechanism for maintaining cultural cohesion and identity, it was also an important support structure in adapting to the realities of a Christian colonial America that was rapidly modernising. Future work in the history of the family relations of aged individuals will have to be comparative.
Tax Problems and the Elderly: Form Filling and Compliance Costs
Authors: James Simon , Lewis Alan , Maloney Julie
Published: November 2008

The purpose of this paper is to explore the difficulties elderly taxpayers experience when complying with the tax system operated in the United Kingdom. Some of these problems arise from particular characteristics of the UK system, which are difficult for taxpayers to understand. Results from the survey reported here point to disproportionately high compliance costs experienced by elderly and recently retired taxpayers. The policy implications of these findings are discussed in terms of such matters as the improved distribution of explanatory leaflets and the need for simplification and improved comprehensibility of tax and other bureaucratic literature. Throughout the paper comparisons are drawn particularly between Britain and the USA.
The Social Dynamics of Early Withdrawal from the Labour Force in France
Authors: Guillemard Anne-Marie
Published: November 2008

Out of a vast set of empirical research data about the making of old-age policy (retirement, jobs, way of life) in France since 1945, a sociological interpretation is proposed of the social dynamics that have underlain the exceptional development of programmes for the early withdrawal of elderly persons from the labour force. During a long initial phase, each of the major social actors (the state, the labour unions and the employers' national organisation) attempted to impose its own version of a policy of jobs for older workers. Thereafter (1975–1977), arguments and viewpoints began [gradually] converging. Under pressure from the economy and owing to the new line-up of political forces, all actors agreed, for various reasons, on a policy of literally ‘unemploying’ older workers. The rapid expansion of this policy has plunged French old-age policy not only into a financial crisis, as these so-called ‘pre-retirement’ schemes ate up more than half the unemployment fund in 1984, but also into a crisis of legitimacy and of motivation. As a consequence of this ‘unemployment’ policy, the life-span has been socially redefined and the very meanings of old age and of retirement have been confused.
Adjustment to Retirement: What We Know and What We Need to Know
Authors: Braithwaite V. A. , Gibson D. M.
Published: November 2008

Difficulty in adjusting to retirement has consistently emerged as a problem for approximately a third of retirees. A body of research has converged on a description of the poor adjuster as one in poor health, with inadequate income, a negative pre-retirement attitude, but with an increased likelihood of adaptation over time. Findings relating to other factors such as socio-economic status, occupation, activity, career fulfilment, job satisfaction and work commitment are far less conclusive, with interpretation hampered by a failure to control for the more well established correlates of retirement adjustment. This paper reviews the empirical work in this field, evaluates the goal hierarchy model and the political economy of old age literature as bases for explaining differences in retirement adjustment, and proposes a theoretical framework for future research which brings these two perspectives together.
The Elderly in Poland: An Overview of Selected Problems and Changes
Authors: Synak Brunon
Published: November 2008

This paper draws on gerontological studies conducted in Poland over the last 20 years to outline a number of changes in the socio-economic circumstances of the elderly population. It begins by examining the impact of demographic factors, with particular emphasis on the post-Second World War migrations and the more recent move to the towns, and goes on to describe trends in health and functional status. It is shown that self-assessed health and even life expectancy have decreased over the last five years, and a number of explanations are suggested. The main part of the paper uses national surveys conducted in the 1960s and in the 1980s to identify changes in the family situation of the elderly. Despite an overall reduction in many forms of family support, it is shown that help from parents and children has increased particularly over the last five years. It is concluded that while various services need to be developed along Western lines, this development should be accompanied by a strengthening of various forms of family care.
The Household Structure of the Elderly Population in Britain
Authors: Dale Angela , Evandrou Maria , Arber Sara
Published: November 2008

This paper uses nationally representative data from the General Household Survey for 1980 to investigate the household structure of the elderly in Britain. Household structure is analysed in terms of its relationship to the marital status, age, gender and physical disability of the elderly person. 79% of the elderly either live alone or with their spouse only. As many as 95% of all the elderly in non-institutional accommodation retain their own households – of the rest, the majority move to live with married children, most usually daughters.
Equity and Efficiency in Community Care: Supply and Financing in an Age of Fiscal Austerity
Authors: Davies Bleddyn
Published: November 2008

From the confrontation of fiscal austerity and growing needs in the United Kingdom has come a new ideology: ‘efficiency-focused mana-gerialism’. Common arguments and the adaptation of structures to reflect them can be seen in all areas of policy, but nowhere more clearly than in the long-term social care of the elderly, the subject of this paper. Perhaps the strand of policy analysis which most influences and epitomises the new managerialism is the work of the Audit Commission for Local Authorities in England and Wales, whose arguments and proposals have gained great and widespread influence. The commission's ‘three Es’ – economy, efficiency and effectiveness – have become among the most fashionable slogans of our time.
Culture and Consumption among the Elderly: Three Research Objectives in an Emerging Field
Authors: Mccracken Grant
Published: November 2008

The ‘person–object relations’ of the elderly has yet to be fully exploited as an opportunity for gerontological research and insight. We have yet to examine in any exhaustive way how elderly people treat consumer goods and consumption activities as sources of cultural meaning, and how they manipulate this meaning in order to accomplish certain kinds of social and cultural work in their lives. The object of the present paper is to review the emerging field of person–object studies and to note three of the research objectives that emerge from it for the study of people in later life. It will examine the way in which they use objects (1) for mnemonic (aide-mémoire) purposes, (2) to negotiate transitions in self and status definition, and (3) as instruments of cross-generational influence. Each of these questions will be discussed with illustrative material from an ethnographic research project now in progress. Practical implications of each question are noted.
Life-style of Older People: Improvement or Threat to their Health?
Authors: Mertens Frits , Wimmers Michel
Published: November 2008

The transition from independent living to a residential home or to sheltered housing challenges the resilience of all elderly people. This paper reports a study which used longitudinal design, within which 455 Dutch people were interviewed twice a year over a five-year period. Drawn from five different groups, the sample represented people at different stages of independence, ranging from those who needed no assistance through to a group of new residents in an elderly persons' home. The focus was on preparedness for and the adaptation experience of relocation to a dependent setting. A battery of psychological, social and medical measures was employed to produce serial data which were subjected to discriminant analysis. The dominant finding is that attitudes to dependency are central to the maintenance of self-esteem and well-being.
Elderly People in Sweden: Current Realities and Future Plans
Authors: Thorslund Mats , Johansson Lennarth
Published: November 2008

The Swedish population is one of the oldest in the world with the consequence that the country has a very high proportion of long-term institutional beds to meet the care needs of elderly people. Studies of the pathways to institutional care showed that alternative home care options had been given too little consideration and that a quarter of residents could have been satisfactorily supported in the community. The Sundsvall Intervention Programme was based upon a distribution of these research findings to institutions and practitioners, followed by a joint training programme on assessment and resource allocation. The first phase of the intervention yielded an unrealised potential for elderly people to remain at home; but it met continuing resistance from professionals and kin. The exercise indicates the need to combine service innovation with locally relevant systems which engage all of the interested parties – elderly people, their relatives, care providers, service managers and politicians.
Brain, Mind and Dementia: With Particular Reference to Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Kitwood Tom
Published: November 2008

A new theoretical framework for understanding and working with the dementing illnesses of old age is presented, and explicated with particular reference to senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. For several reasons the commonly accepted model, which assumes a simple linear causal relationship between neuropathology and dementia, is inadequate. A more comprehensive model, grounded in a monistic view of the mind-brain relationship, must take into account not only the psychological states that correspond to particular brain states, but also both developmental and pathological aspects of brain structure. Using this we can describe the dementing process, ‘normal’ psychological functioning in old age, pseudodementia and ‘benign senescent forgetfulness’. Further, the scope for some degree of ‘rementia’ is explored.
Forum: Neglect, Abuse and the Taking of Life in Old People's Homes
Authors: Diessenbacher Hardy
Published: November 2008

Violence to elderly people in residetial institutions is well documented. In this paper both violence and resulting death are examined in the German context. A thesis is put forward that is not lack of humanity but lack of professional routine which is the main cause.
Mild Dementia: Perceptions and Problems
Authors: Pollitt P. A. , O'Connor D. W. , Anderson I.
Published: November 2008

The focus of this paper is on the beginnings of dementia – on the grey area where normal and abnormal ageing seem to overlap, but where a diagnosis can be established. We look at a group of elderly people diagnosed as suffering from mild dementia and at the relatives most closely involved with them and whom we had assumed to be their carers. Our principal interest is in the relatives' perception of the deterioration in intellectual function, and in their awareness of and response to problems associated with it. Contrary to expectation, these relatives did not see themselves as carers, or the elderly person as demented. Spouses often saw their partner as no more disabled than themselves; and, more generally, the relationship between them often showed a high degree of reciprocity. Sons and daughters were usually aware of changes in their parents' behaviour but tended to explain them in terms of normal ageing. Improvement in the process of early identification and the creation of more appropriate services are generally seen as desirable. Questions are raised about the usefulness and justification for intervention in a situation which is not yet recognised by those involved as requiring it.
Population Ageing and its Impact Upon Health Resource Requirements at Government and Familial Levels in Japan
Authors: Ogawa Naohiro
Published: November 2008

Rapid economic growth in post-war Japan, has been accompanied by unprecedented population ageing. In this paper the impact of Japan's ageing population is analysed in respect of (i) health-care services (ii) allocation of resources to health care and (iii) the manpower requirements to support health in old age. These projections are based upon macroeconomic modelling techniques.
Factors Affecting the Use of Social and Health Services Among the Elderly
Authors: Wan Thomas T. H. , Odell Barbara Gill
Published: November 2008

This study has systematically examined the use of health and social services among non-institutionalized elderly people according to the Andersen model which groups factors influencing use into predisposing, enabling and need variables. Need for service as evidenced by physical and psychological functioning was the most important predictor of use of physician services and hospitalization. Predisposing factors had the most effect on use of dental services. On the other hand, knowledge of services, an enabling factor, was most relevant to use of social services. Since this factor is manipulable to planned change, several program strategies were suggested for increasing awareness of social services particularly among the impaired elderly.
Monetary cost of self-reported diet in relation to biomarker-based estimates of nutrient intake in young Japanese women
Authors: Murakami Kentaro , Sasaki Satoshi , Takahashi Yoshiko , Uenishi Kazuhiro ,   the Japan Dietetic Students’ Study for Nutrition and Biomarkers Group
Published: November 2008

Objective

All previous studies on monetary diet cost have examined the relationship of monetary cost of self-reported diet to self-reported, rather than biomarker-based, estimates of dietary intake. The present cross-sectional study examined the association between monetary costs of self-reported diet and biomarker-based estimates of nutrient intake.

Design

Monetary diet cost (Japanese yen/1000 kJ) was calculated based on dietary intake information from a self-administered, comprehensive diet history questionnaire using retail food prices. Biomarker-based estimates of nutrient intake (percentage of energy for protein and mg/1000 kJ for K and Na) were estimated based on 24 h urinary excretion and estimated energy expenditure.

Setting

A total of fifteen universities and colleges in Japan.

Subjects

A total of 1046 female Japanese dietetic students aged 18–22 years.

Results

Total monetary diet cost showed a significant positive association with biomarker-based estimates of protein, K and Na. Vegetables and fish were not only the main contributors to total monetary diet cost (16·4 % and 15·5 %, respectively) but also were relatively strongly correlated with total monetary diet cost (Pearson’s correlation coefficient: 0·70 and 0·68, respectively). Monetary cost of vegetables was significantly positively associated with all three nutrients, while that of fish showed a significant and positive association only with protein.

Conclusions

Total monetary cost of self-reported diet was positively associated with biomarker-based estimates of protein, K and Na intake in young Japanese women, and appeared mainly to be explained by the monetary costs of vegetables and fish.
Trends in dietary intakes of vitamins A, C and E among Japanese men and women from 1974 to 2001
Authors: Kato Yoshimi , Ikehara Satoyo , Maruyama Koutatsu , Inagawa Mieko , Oshima Miyuki , Yokota Kimiko , Yamazaki Taeko , Kishi Masa , Murai Sachiko , Umesawa Mitsumasa , Ma Enbo , Yamagishi Kazumasa , Tanigawa Takeshi , Kurokawa Michinori , Sato Shinichi , Shimamoto Takashi , Iso Hiroyasu
Published: November 2008

Objective

To investigate long-term trends in dietary intakes of vitamins A, C and E in Japanese adults.

Design

Time series by community-based nutrition survey.

Setting

Two rural communities (Ikawa and Kyowa) between 1974 and 2001 in Japan.

Subjects

A total of 3713 men and 3726 women aged 40–69 years.

Methods

Dietary intake data were collected by the 24 h dietary recall.

Results

In Ikawa, mean intake of vitamin A (β-carotene and retinol) increased by 13–40 %; vitamins C and E increased by approximately 23–33 % among men and women from 1974–1977 to 1998–2000. In Kyowa, mean intake of vitamin A, primarily retinol, increased by 13–21 % among men and women; vitamin C from fruits decreased by 16 % among men; and vitamin E increased by 29 % among women from 1982–1986 to 1998–2001. Mean intake of vitamin E in the latest survey period was lower than the Adequate Intake among men and women in both communities. Generally, there were increased intakes of β-carotene and vitamin C from green/yellow and other vegetables; increased retinol intake from fish/shellfish, eggs, milk/dairy products and fats/oils; and increased vitamin E intake from green/yellow and other vegetables, fish/shellfish, eggs, milk/dairy products and fats/oils.

Conclusions

Mean intakes of the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E increased among middle-aged Japanese men and women between the 1970s and the 1990s except for decreased vitamin C among Kyowa men. The lower mean intake of vitamin E than the Adequate Intake should be considered a potential public health issue for the prevention of CVD.
Modeling the trajectories of satellite‐tracked drifters in the Adriatic Sea during a summertime bora event
Authors: Beg Paklar Gordana , Žagar Nedjeljka , Žagar Mark , Vellore Ramesh , Koračin Darko , Poulain Pierre‐Marie , Orlić Mirko , Vilibić Ivica , Dadić Vlado
Published: November 2008

During the summertime bora episode of 22–25 June 1995, characterized by hazardous weather conditions with strong winds of over 20 m s−1, two satellite‐tracked drifters were present in the Adriatic shelf area. One was on the open sea south of the Istrian Peninsula, while the other, which measured the surface current of 70 cm s−1, was tracked along the western coastal strip. An oceanographic model, forced by the outputs of mesoscale meteorological models and by river discharges, was applied to simulate drifter trajectories during the event. Process‐oriented studies performed to determine governing forcings for the drifter movements in different areas of the Adriatic revealed that strong current along the western Adriatic coast resulted from a combined influence of the wind stress and the river discharges. The wind was responsible for the strong drifter movements, while the baroclinic current due to the coastal buoyancy fluxes prevented the drifter from moving close to the shore and from colliding with the coast. At the same time, drifter movements in the open sea resulted from the wind action solely. Differences in the alongshore and offshore vertical density profiles, primarily due to the river inflows, caused 3 times stronger currents in the coastal area as compared to the currents in the open sea. The proper formulation of the drag coefficient was crucial for the successful simulations of the drifter trajectories, as simulations with increased values of the drag coefficient reproduced well the effects of the sea surface roughness and atmospheric instability above the sea.
Excess degassing from volcanoes and its role on eruptive and intrusive activity
Authors: Shinohara Hiroshi
Published: November 2008

Volcanoes emit larger amounts of volcanic gas than can be dissolved in the volume of erupted magma during a variety of volcanic processes, including explosive and effusive eruption and noneruptive continuous degassing. Degassing of unerupted magma with a much larger volume than that of erupted magma caused such a large degassing; erupted magma represents only a small portion of the magma that drives volcanic activity. Evaluation of the magma‐gas differentiation process causing the excess degassing is necessary to understand eruption processes, magma chamber evolution, and crustal growth by magma intrusion. Three mechanisms are proposed to explain various degassing modes, including eruption of bubble‐accumulated magma, degassing of a convecting magma column, and permeable gas transportation from a deep magma chamber. Examples of large degassing in excess of the erupted magma are common in subduction zone volcanism but are rare in rift‐ and hot spot–associated volcanism.
Functional clustering of time series: An insight into length scales in subglacial water flow
Authors: Huzurbazar S. , Humphrey Neil F.
Published: November 2008

We analyzed water pressure measurements taken at 10‐min intervals over 49 days in an array of 16 boreholes penetrating a small mountain glacier. We sought temporal and spatial patterns that would define clusters of boreholes that behaved similarly. Because we are interested primarily in changes in pressure with time, we used functional data analysis, which involves fitting mathematical functions to the time series, in order to smooth out the otherwise noisy first derivatives in the time series. Our objective of the analysis is to identify clusters of boreholes with similar behavior, in this case similar rate of change of water pressure, to help elucidate poorly understood subglacial water flow. Though the data are collected over time, treating these time series as functional data allows for a computationally intensive but relatively simple exploratory cluster analysis. The functional cluster analysis reveals a spatially and temporally complex basal water system. We use the clustering to infer evolving regions of local connectivity in the basal water systems and additionally infer a connected englacial water system. The spatial scale of the borehole clusters is of order 50 m, while the time scale is less than 9 days, although not well constrained by our cluster sampling interval.
Depth and homogeneity in regional flood frequency analysis
Authors: Chebana F. , Ouarda T. B. M. J.
Published: November 2008

Regional frequency analysis (RFA) consists generally of two steps: (1) delineation of hydrological homogeneous regions and (2) regional estimation. Existing regionalization methods which adopt this two‐step approach suffer from two principal drawbacks. First, the restriction of the regional estimation to a particular region by excluding some sites can correspond to a loss of some information. Second, the definition of a region generates a border effect problem. To overcome these problems, a new method is proposed in the present paper. The proposed method is based on three elements: (1) a weight function to treat the border effect problem, (b) a function to evaluate how “similar” each site is to the target one, and (c) an iterative procedure to improve estimation results. Element (b) is treated using the statistical notion of depth functions which is introduced to provide a ranking of stations in a multivariate context. Furthermore, the properties of depth functions meet the characteristics sought in RFA. It is shown that the proposed method is flexible and general and that traditional RFA methods represent special cases of the depth‐based approach corresponding to particular weight functions. A comparison is carried out with the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) approach. Results indicate that the depth‐based approach performs better than does CCA both in terms of relative bias and relative root mean squares error.
Metrics for evaluating linear features
Authors: Levy Gad , Coon Max , Nguyen Giang , Sulsky Deborah
Published: November 2008

Novel metrics designed to evaluate the skill of geophysical models in simulating discontinuities and linear features are introduced and tested using a sea‐ice model and remotely sensed observations of leads. The metrics are formulated as frequency‐based indices of agreement, thus maintaining the simplicity desired in model development and operational applications, while remedying known shortcomings of common existing skill metrics. User‐selectable spatial scales and features of significance allow for the general use of the metrics in variable applications, scales, and observation types.
Mode trapping in the plasmasphere
Authors: Turkakin H. , Marchand R. , Kale Z. C.
Published: November 2008

As a result of its steplike density profile, combined with the monotonically increasing dipole magnetic field close to the Earth, compressional waves propagating outside the plasmapause can tunnel through and be trapped in a narrow layer that acts as a potential well. The spectrum and the spatial structure of these resonant localized modes are discussed for representative plasmasphere parameters. Data from Sub‐Auroral Magnetometer Network, British Geological Survey, and International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects station pairs are used to infer representative density profiles in the plasmasphere. These data are then used to analyze the existence and properties of trapped compressional modes near the plasmapause.
On the anticritical temperature for spacecraft charging
Authors: Lai Shu T. , Tautz Maurice
Published: November 2008

In recent years, evidence has been found for the existence of a critical temperature for the onset of spacecraft charging to high voltages. High‐voltage charging affects scientific instruments on board and is related to spacecraft anomalies. However, less attention has been given to low‐voltage charging which can also affect scientific experiments on board and is relevant to surface chemistry. There also can exist an anticritical temperature for low‐voltage spacecraft surface charging. Ambient electrons at very low temperatures tend to cause negative surface charging, albeit at low voltages, and as the electron temperature increases, the charging ceases at a critical value depending on the surface material. We present the theory and numerical results of anticritical temperatures for typical surface materials in Maxwellian space plasmas. The change in anticritical temperature due to a low‐incident‐energy enhancement of the electron backscatter yield, consistent with recent measurements, is discussed. Approximate expressions for the anticritical temperature upper limits are given on the basis of Taylor expansions at low temperature of the charging onset equation. It is shown that that the existence of the anticritical temperature slightly modifies the possible triple‐root configurations in the flux‐voltage characteristic curve for a material. The surface charging effect of a Maxwellian plasma with flux components spanning the anticritical and critical temperatures is considered. A comparison with an empirical low‐voltage charging curve is given.
The effects of hard‐spectra solar proton events on the middle atmosphere
Authors: Seppälä A. , Clilverd M. A. , Rodger C. J. , Verronen P. T. , Turunen E.
Published: November 2008

The stratospheric and mesospheric impacts of the solar proton events of January 2005 are studied here using ion and neutral chemistry modeling and subionospheric radio wave propagation observations and modeling. This period includes three SPEs, among them an extraordinary solar proton storm on 20 January, during which the >100 MeV proton fluxes were unusually high, making this event the hardest in solar cycle 23. The radio wave results show a significant impact to the lower ionosphere/middle atmosphere from the hard spectrum event of 20 January with a sudden radio wave amplitude decrease of about 10 dB. Results from the Sodankylä Ion and Neutral Chemistry model predict large impacts on the mesospheric NOx (400–500%) and ozone (−30 to −40% NH, −15% SH) in both the northern (winter) and the southern (summer) polar regions. The direct stratospheric effects, however, are only about 10–20% enhancement in NOx, which result in −1% change in O3. Imposing a much larger extreme SPE lasting 24 hours rather than just 1 hour produced only about 5% ozone depletion in the stratosphere. Only a massive hard‐spectra SPE with high‐energy fluxes over ten times larger than observed here (>30 MeV fluence of 1.0 × 109 protons/cm2), as, e.g., the Carrington event of 1859 (>30 MeV fluence of 1.9 × 1010 protons/cm2), could presumably produce significant in situ impacts on stratospheric ozone.