Predictors of Exceptional Longevity: Effects of Early-Life Childhood Conditions, Midlife Environment and Parental Characteristics.

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Gavrilov, Leonid A; Gavrilova, Natalia S

Knowledge of strong predictors of mortality and longevity is very important for actuarial science and practice. Earlier studies found that parental characteristics as well as early-life conditions and midlife environment play a significant role in survival to advanced ages. However, little is known about the simultaneous effects of these three factors on longevity. This ongoing study attempts to fill this gap by comparing centenarians born in the United States in 1890-91 with peers born in the same years who died at age 65. The records for centenarians and controls were taken from computerized family histories, which were then linked to 1900 and 1930 U.S. censuses. As a result of this linkage procedure, 765 records of confirmed centenarians and 783 records of controls were obtained. Analysis with multivariate logistic regression found that parental longevity and some midlife characteristics proved to be significant predictors of longevity while the role of childhood conditions was less important. More centenarians were born in the second half of the year compared to controls, suggesting early origins of longevity. We found the existence of both general and gender-specific predictors of human longevity. General predictors common for men and women are paternal and maternal longevity. Gender-specific predictors of male longevity are the farmer occupation at age 40, Northeastern region of birth in the United States and birth in the second half of year. A gender-specific predictor of female longevity is surprisingly the availability of radio in the household according to the 1930 U.S. census. Given the importance of familial longevity as an independent predictor of survival to advanced ages, we conducted a comparative study of biological and nonbiological relatives of centenarians using a larger sample of 1,945 validated U.S. centenarians born in 1880-95. We found that male gender of centenarian has significant positive effect on survival of adult male relatives

Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments.

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Curtis, Deb; Carter, Margie

While the early childhood field has formed standards to help in recognizing quality programs for children, practitioners seldom use values to guide in selection of materials or to help plan early childhood environments. This book draws on a variety of educational approaches, including Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia, to outline hundreds of…

Children's Storytelling: The Effect of Preschool and Family Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Fekonja-Peklaj, Urska; Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Kranjc, Simona

2010-01-01

Storytelling reflects children's pragmatic language ability, which develops rapidly in early childhood and is related to various characteristics of the child's environment. This study examines the effect of preschool, maternal education and quality of the home environment on children's storytelling skills. The sample included 229 Slovenian…

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin H Larsen

Full Text Available Consistent individual differences in behaviour have been well documented in a variety of animal taxa, but surprisingly little is known about the fitness and life-history consequences of such individual variation. In wild salmonids, the timing of fry emergence from gravel spawning nests has been suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess whether behavioural traits measured in the laboratory predict growth, survival, and migration status in the wild. Atlantic salmon fry were sorted with respect to emergence time from artificial spawning nest into three groups: early, intermediate, and late. These emergence groups were hatchery-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had no significant effects on survival, growth, and migration status in the stream, although migration propensity was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher for early emerging individuals that were reared separately. In addition, despite individuals showing considerable variation in behaviour across treatment groups, this was not translated into differences in growth, survival, and migration status. Hence, our study adds to the view that fitness (i.e., growth and survival and

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Martin H; Johnsson, Jörgen I; Winberg, Svante; Wilson, Alexander D M; Hammenstig, David; Thörnqvist, Per-Ove; Midwood, Jonathan D; Aarestrup, Kim; Höglund, Erik

2015-01-01

Consistent individual differences in behaviour have been well documented in a variety of animal taxa, but surprisingly little is known about the fitness and life-history consequences of such individual variation. In wild salmonids, the timing of fry emergence from gravel spawning nests has been suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess whether behavioural traits measured in the laboratory predict growth, survival, and migration status in the wild. Atlantic salmon fry were sorted with respect to emergence time from artificial spawning nest into three groups: early, intermediate, and late. These emergence groups were hatchery-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had no significant effects on survival, growth, and migration status in the stream, although migration propensity was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher for early emerging individuals that were reared separately. In addition, despite individuals showing considerable variation in behaviour across treatment groups, this was not translated into differences in growth, survival, and migration status. Hence, our study adds to the view that fitness (i.e., growth and survival) and life

Effect of socioeconomic status disparity on child language and neural outcome: how early is early?

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Hurt, Hallam; Betancourt, Laura M

2016-01-01

It is not news that poverty adversely affects child outcome. The literature is replete with reports of deleterious effects on developmental outcome, cognitive function, and school performance in children and youth. Causative factors include poor nutrition, exposure to toxins, inadequate parenting, lack of cognitive stimulation, unstable social support, genetics, and toxic environments. Less is known regarding how early in life adverse effects may be detected. This review proposes to elucidate "how early is early" through discussion of seminal articles related to the effect of socioeconomic status on language outcome and a discussion of the emerging literature on effects of socioeconomic status disparity on brain structure in very young children. Given the young ages at which such outcomes are detected, the critical need for early targeted interventions for our youngest is underscored. Further, the fiscal reasonableness of initiating quality interventions supports these initiatives. As early life adversity produces lasting and deleterious effects on developmental outcome and brain structure, increased focus on programs and policies directed to reducing the impact of socioeconomic disparities is essential.

Blood pressure in young adulthood and residential greenness in the early-life environment of twins.

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Bijnens, Esmée M; Nawrot, Tim S; Loos, Ruth Jf; Gielen, Marij; Vlietinck, Robert; Derom, Catherine; Zeegers, Maurice P

2017-06-05

Previous research shows that, besides risk factors in adult life, the early-life environment can influence blood pressure and hypertension in adults. However, the effects of residential traffic exposure and residential greenness in the early-life on blood pressure in young adulthood are currently unknown. Ambulatory (24-h) blood pressures of 278 twins (132 pairs) of the East Flanders Prospective Twins Study were obtained at the age of 18 to 25 years. Prenatal and adulthood residential addresses were geocoded and used to assign prenatal and postnatal traffic and greenness indicators. Mixed modelling was performed to investigate blood pressure in association with greenness while adjusting for potential confounding factors. Night-time systolic blood pressure was inversely associated with greenness at the residential address in twins living at the same address their entire life (non-movers, n = 97, 34.9%). An interquartile increase in residential greenness exposure (1000 m radius) was associated with a 3.59 mmHg (95% CI: -6.0 to -1.23; p = 0.005) lower adult night systolic blood pressure. Among twins who were living at a different address than their birth address at time of the measurement (n = 181, 65.1%), night-time blood pressure was inversely associated with residential surrounding greenness at adult age as well as with residential greenness in early-life. However after additional adjustment for residential greenness exposure in adulthood, only residential greenness exposure in early-life was significantly associated with night systolic blood pressure. While no significant effect of adult residential greenness with adult blood pressure was observed, while accounting for the early-life greenness exposure. Lower residential greenness in the early-life environment was independently associated with a higher adult blood pressure. This indicates that residential greenness has persistent effects on blood pressure.

Early social environment affects the endogenous oxytocin system: a review and future directions

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Emily eAlves

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Endogenous oxytocin plays an important role in a wide range of human functions including birth, milk ejection during lactation and facilitation of social interaction. There is increasing evidence that both variations in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR and concentrations of oxytocin are associated with differences in these functions. The causes for the differences that have been observed in tonic and stimulated oxytocin release remain unclear. Previous reviews have suggested that across the life course, these differences may be due to individual factors, e.g. genetic variation (of the OXTR, age or sex, or be the result of early environmental influences such as social experiences, stress or trauma partly by inducing epigenetic changes. This review has three aims. First, we briefly discuss the endogenous oxytocin system, including physiology, development, individual differences and function. Secondly, current models describing the relationship between the early life environment and the development of the oxytocin system in humans and animals are discussed. Finally, we describe research designs that can be used to investigate the effects of the early environment on the oxytocin system, identifying specific areas of research that need further attention.

Aspherical Supernovae: Effects on Early Light Curves

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Afsariardchi, Niloufar; Matzner, Christopher D.

2018-04-01

Early light from core-collapse supernovae, now detectable in high-cadence surveys, holds clues to a star and its environment just before it explodes. However, effects that alter the early light have not been fully explored. We highlight the possibility of nonradial flows at the time of shock breakout. These develop in sufficiently nonspherical explosions if the progenitor is not too diffuse. When they do develop, nonradial flows limit ejecta speeds and cause ejecta–ejecta collisions. We explore these phenomena and their observational implications using global, axisymmetric, nonrelativistic FLASH simulations of simplified polytropic progenitors, which we scale to representative stars. We develop a method to track photon production within the ejecta, enabling us to estimate band-dependent light curves from adiabatic simulations. Immediate breakout emission becomes hidden as an oblique flow develops. Nonspherical effects lead the shock-heated ejecta to release a more constant luminosity at a higher, evolving color temperature at early times, effectively mixing breakout light with the early light curve. Collisions between nonradial ejecta thermalize a small fraction of the explosion energy; we will address emission from these collisions in a subsequent paper.

Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments.

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Kaniewski, David; Van Campo, Elise; Morhange, Christophe; Guiot, Joël; Zviely, Dov; Shaked, Idan; Otto, Thierry; Artzy, Michal

2013-12-18

A common belief is that, unlike today, ancient urban areas developed in a sustainable way within the environmental limits of local natural resources and the ecosystem's capacity to respond. This long-held paradigm is based on a weak knowledge of the processes underpinning the emergence of urban life and the rise of an urban-adapted environment in and beyond city boundaries. Here, we report a 6000-year record of environmental changes around the port city of Akko (Acre), Israel, to analyse ecological processes and patterns stemming from the emergence and growth of urban life. We show that early urban development deeply transformed pre-existing ecosystems, swiftly leading to an urban environment already governed by its own ecological rules and this, since the emergence of the cities.

Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments

Science.gov (United States)

Kaniewski, David; van Campo, Elise; Morhange, Christophe; Guiot, Joël; Zviely, Dov; Shaked, Idan; Otto, Thierry; Artzy, Michal

2013-12-01

A common belief is that, unlike today, ancient urban areas developed in a sustainable way within the environmental limits of local natural resources and the ecosystem's capacity to respond. This long-held paradigm is based on a weak knowledge of the processes underpinning the emergence of urban life and the rise of an urban-adapted environment in and beyond city boundaries. Here, we report a 6000-year record of environmental changes around the port city of Akko (Acre), Israel, to analyse ecological processes and patterns stemming from the emergence and growth of urban life. We show that early urban development deeply transformed pre-existing ecosystems, swiftly leading to an urban environment already governed by its own ecological rules and this, since the emergence of the cities.

Exploring direct and indirect influences of physical work environment on job satisfaction for early-career registered nurses employed in hospitals.

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Djukic, Maja; Kovner, Christine T; Brewer, Carol S; Fatehi, Farida; Greene, William H

2014-08-01

We explored direct and indirect influences of physical work environment on job satisfaction in a nationally representative sample of 1,141 early-career registered nurses. In the fully specified model, physical work environment had a non-significant direct effect on job satisfaction. The path analysis used to test multiple indirect effects showed that physical work environment had a positive indirect effect (p nurse-physician relations, quantitative workload, organizational constraints, distributive justice, promotional opportunity, local and non-local job opportunities. The findings make important contributions to the understanding of the relationship between physical work environment and job satisfaction. The results can inform health care leaders' insight about how physical work environment influences nurses' job satisfaction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

CHEMICAL ABUNDANCE PATTERNS AND THE EARLY ENVIRONMENT OF DWARF GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corlies, Lauren; Johnston, Kathryn V.; Bryan, Greg; Tumlinson, Jason

2013-01-01

Recent observations suggest that abundance pattern differences exist between low metallicity stars in the Milky Way stellar halo and those in the dwarf satellite galaxies. This paper takes a first look at what role the early environment for pre-galactic star formation might have played in shaping these stellar populations. In particular, we consider whether differences in cross-pollution between the progenitors of the stellar halo and the satellites could help to explain the differences in abundance patterns. Using an N-body simulation, we find that the progenitor halos of the main halo are primarily clustered together at z = 10 while the progenitors of the satellite galaxies remain on the outskirts of this cluster. Next, analytically modeled supernova-driven winds show that main halo progenitors cross-pollute each other more effectively while satellite galaxy progenitors remain more isolated. Thus, inhomogeneous cross-pollution as a result of different high-z spatial locations of each system's progenitors can help to explain observed differences in abundance patterns today. Conversely, these differences are a signature of the inhomogeneity of metal enrichment at early times

Early enriched environment exposure protects spatial memory and accelerates amyloid plaque formation in APP(Swe/PS1(L166P mice.

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Francesca Montarolo

Full Text Available Enriched environment exposure improves several aspects of cognitive performance in Alzheimer's disease patients and in animal models and, although the role of amyloid plaques is questionable, several studies also assessed their response to enriched environment, with contrasting results. Here we report that rearing APP(Swe/PS1(L166P mice in an enriched environment since birth rescued the spatial memory impairment otherwise present at 6 months of age. At the same time, the exposure to the enriched environment caused a transient acceleration of plaque formation, while there was no effect on intracellular staining with the 6E10 antibody, which recognizes β-amyloid, full length amyloid precursor protein and its C-terminal fragments. The anticipation of plaque formation required exposure during early development, suggesting an action within critical periods for circuits formation. On the other hand, chronic neuronal activity suppression by tetrodotoxin decreased the number of plaques without affecting intracellular amyloid. These results indicate that enriched environment exposure since early life has a protective effect on cognitive deterioration although transiently accelerates amyloid deposition. In addition, the effects of the enriched environment might be due to increased neuronal activity, because plaques were reduced by suppression of electrical signaling by tetrodotoxin.

Stress responsiveness and anxiety-like behavior: The early social environment differentially shapes stability over time in a small rodent.

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Sangenstedt, Susanne; Jaljuli, Iman; Sachser, Norbert; Kaiser, Sylvia

2017-04-01

The early social environment can profoundly affect behavioral and physiological phenotypes. We investigated how male wild cavy offspring, whose mothers had either lived in a stable (SE) or an unstable social environment (UE) during pregnancy and lactation, differed in their anxiety-like behavior and stress responsiveness. At two different time points in life, we tested the offspring's anxiety-like behavior in a dark-light test and their endocrine reaction to challenge in a cortisol reactivity test. Furthermore, we analyzed whether individual traits remained stable over time. There was no effect of the early social environment on anxiety-like behavior and stress responsiveness. However, at an individual level, anxiety-like behavior was stable over time in UE- but not in SE-sons. Stress responsiveness, in turn, was rather inconsistent in UE-sons and temporally stable in SE-sons. Conclusively, we showed for the first time that the early social environment differentially shapes the stability of behavioral and endocrine traits. At first glance, these results may be surprising, but they can be explained by the different functions anxiety-like behavior and stress responsiveness have. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mapping the Early Language Environment Using All-Day Recordings and Automated Analysis.

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Gilkerson, Jill; Richards, Jeffrey A; Warren, Steven F; Montgomery, Judith K; Greenwood, Charles R; Kimbrough Oller, D; Hansen, John H L; Paul, Terrance D

2017-05-17

This research provided a first-generation standardization of automated language environment estimates, validated these estimates against standard language assessments, and extended on previous research reporting language behavior differences across socioeconomic groups. Typically developing children between 2 to 48 months of age completed monthly, daylong recordings in their natural language environments over a span of approximately 6-38 months. The resulting data set contained 3,213 12-hr recordings automatically analyzed by using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System to generate estimates of (a) the number of adult words in the child's environment, (b) the amount of caregiver-child interaction, and (c) the frequency of child vocal output. Child vocalization frequency and turn-taking increased with age, whereas adult word counts were age independent after early infancy. Child vocalization and conversational turn estimates predicted 7%-16% of the variance observed in child language assessment scores. Lower socioeconomic status (SES) children produced fewer vocalizations, engaged in fewer adult-child interactions, and were exposed to fewer daily adult words compared with their higher socioeconomic status peers, but within-group variability was high. The results offer new insight into the landscape of the early language environment, with clinical implications for identification of children at-risk for impoverished language environments.

Effects of solar electromagnetic radiation on the terrestrial environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dickinson, R.E.

1986-01-01

The general intent of this essay is to discuss the effect of solar electromagnetic radiation on the terrestrial environment. Instead of giving a systematic approach considering all environment processes where solar emission is the primary energy source and all important materials which have been generated by solar driven processes, the author sketches an impression of the range of the effects of solar radiation on the environment by surveying a number of topics of particular current interest, in varying levels of detail. These include atmospheric chemistry, some aspects of the transfer of radiation within the atmosphere, global energy balance and climate feedbacks, especially those due to clouds, impacts of fossil fuel energy use, evolution of early life processes, photosynthesis and plant productivity as it relates to photosynthesis and the global carbon cycle. (Auth.)

Adequacy of the Regular Early Education Classroom Environment for Students with Visual Impairment

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Brown, Cherylee M.; Packer, Tanya L.; Passmore, Anne

2013-01-01

This study describes the classroom environment that students with visual impairment typically experience in regular Australian early education. Adequacy of the classroom environment (teacher training and experience, teacher support, parent involvement, adult involvement, inclusive attitude, individualization of the curriculum, physical…

The Combined Influence of Air Pollution and Home Learning Environment on Early Cognitive Skills in Children

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Lanair A. Lett

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Cognitive skills are one component of school readiness that reflect a child’s neurodevelopment and are influenced by environmental and social factors. Most studies assess the impact of these factors individually, without taking into consideration the complex interactions of multiple factors. The objective of this study was to examine the joint association of markers of environmental pollution and of social factors on early cognitive skills in an urban cohort of children. For this, we chose isophorone in ambient air as a marker of industrial air pollution. Low quality home learning environments was chosen as a marker of the social factors contributing to cognitive development. Using a subpopulation from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N = 4050, isophorone exposure was assigned using the 2002 National Air Toxics Assessment. Home learning environment was assessed with a modified version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME Inventory, and standardized math assessment scores were used as a measure of early cognitive skills. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the effect of both exposures on math scores. After adjustment for confounders, children living in areas with ambient isophorone in the upper quintile of exposure (>0.49 ng/m3 had math scores that were 1.63 points lower than their less exposed peers [95% CI: −2.91, −0.34], and children with lower HOME scores (at or below 9 out of 12 had math scores that were 1.20 points lower than children with better HOME scores [95% CI: −2.30, −0.10]. In adjusted models accounting for identified confounders and both exposures of interest, both high isophorone exposure and low HOME score remained independently associated with math scores [−1.48, 95% CI: −2.79, −0.18; −1.05, 95% CI: −2.15, 0.05, respectively]. There was no statistical evidence of interaction between the two exposures, although children with both higher isophorone

The Combined Influence of Air Pollution and Home Learning Environment on Early Cognitive Skills in Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lett, Lanair A; Stingone, Jeanette A; Claudio, Luz

2017-10-26

Cognitive skills are one component of school readiness that reflect a child's neurodevelopment and are influenced by environmental and social factors. Most studies assess the impact of these factors individually, without taking into consideration the complex interactions of multiple factors. The objective of this study was to examine the joint association of markers of environmental pollution and of social factors on early cognitive skills in an urban cohort of children. For this, we chose isophorone in ambient air as a marker of industrial air pollution. Low quality home learning environments was chosen as a marker of the social factors contributing to cognitive development. Using a subpopulation from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N = 4050), isophorone exposure was assigned using the 2002 National Air Toxics Assessment. Home learning environment was assessed with a modified version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory, and standardized math assessment scores were used as a measure of early cognitive skills. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the effect of both exposures on math scores. After adjustment for confounders, children living in areas with ambient isophorone in the upper quintile of exposure (>0.49 ng/m³) had math scores that were 1.63 points lower than their less exposed peers [95% CI: -2.91, -0.34], and children with lower HOME scores (at or below 9 out of 12) had math scores that were 1.20 points lower than children with better HOME scores [95% CI: -2.30, -0.10]. In adjusted models accounting for identified confounders and both exposures of interest, both high isophorone exposure and low HOME score remained independently associated with math scores [-1.48, 95% CI: -2.79, -0.18; -1.05, 95% CI: -2.15, 0.05, respectively]. There was no statistical evidence of interaction between the two exposures, although children with both higher isophorone exposure and a low HOME score had a

Effects of the in vitro chemical environment during early embryogenesis on subsequent development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rieger, D. [Guelph Univ., ON (Canada). Animal Biotechnology Embryo Lab.

1998-12-31

The development of the preimplantation embryo seems morphologically very simple, and embryologists previously assumed that an embryo that developed to the blastocyst stage was fully capable of normal development after transfer to the uterus of a recipient female. This complacency was disturbed by reports that exposure of early embryos to mutagens such as methylnitrosourea led to fetal abnormalities, decreased birth rates, and decreased life-span. Even more disturbing are recent reports that culture of early embryos in supposedly benign conditions can adversely affect their subsequent development. Techniques have been developed for the production of cattle and sheep embryos by in-vitro fertilization and by cloning. Such embryos must be cultured for several days before they can be transferred, and, in some cases, this has been related to abortion, very high birthweight, physical abnormalities and peri-natal mortality of the calves and lambs. This syndrome may result from an unbalanced development of the trophoblast relative to the inner-cell mass, possibly related to the presence of serum, glucose, or ammonium in the culture medium. An analogous phenomenon has been observed in human in-vitro fertilization where babies from single pregnancies have below-normal birth-weight. There is also evidence to suggest that the in-vitro environment of the gametes before fertilization can affect subsequent embryonal and fetal development. Exposure of mouse oocytes to vitrification solutions has been shown to lead to fetal malformations, and treatment of bull sperm with glutathione improves early embryo development. The common thread in these diverse observations is that development can be affected by events that occur long before any defect is apparent. Consequently, the production of a morphologically normal embryo is no guarantee that fetal development and post-natal life will be normal. This is of immediate concern in human reproductive medicine due to the increasing use of

A Virtual Bioinformatics Knowledge Environment for Early Cancer Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Crichton, Daniel; Srivastava, Sudhir; Johnsey, Donald

2003-01-01

Discovery of disease biomarkers for cancer is a leading focus of early detection. The National Cancer Institute created a network of collaborating institutions focused on the discovery and validation of cancer biomarkers called the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). Informatics plays a key role in enabling a virtual knowledge environment that provides scientists real time access to distributed data sets located at research institutions across the nation. The distributed and heterogeneous nature of the collaboration makes data sharing across institutions very difficult. EDRN has developed a comprehensive informatics effort focused on developing a national infrastructure enabling seamless access, sharing and discovery of science data resources across all EDRN sites. This paper will discuss the EDRN knowledge system architecture, its objectives and its accomplishments.

The family environment predicts long-term academic achievement and classroom behavior following traumatic brain injury in early childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Durber, Chelsea M; Yeates, Keith Owen; Taylor, H Gerry; Walz, Nicolay Chertkoff; Stancin, Terry; Wade, Shari L

2017-07-01

This study examined how the family environment predicts long-term academic and behavioral functioning in school following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in early childhood. Using a concurrent cohort, prospective design, 15 children with severe TBI, 39 with moderate TBI, and 70 with orthopedic injury (OI) who were injured when they were 3-7 years of age were compared on tests of academic achievement and parent and teacher ratings of school performance and behavior on average 6.83 years postinjury. Soon after injury and at the longer term follow-up, families completed measures of parental psychological distress, family functioning, and quality of the home environment. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined group differences in academic outcomes and their associations with measures of the early and later family environment. The severe TBI group, but not the moderate TBI group, performed worse than did the OI group on all achievement tests, parent ratings of academic performance, and teacher ratings of internalizing problems. Higher quality early and late home environments predicted stronger academic skills and better classroom behavior for children with both TBI and OI. The early family environment more consistently predicted academic achievement, whereas the later family environment more consistently predicted classroom functioning. The quality of the home environment predicted academic outcomes more strongly than did parental psychological distress or family functioning. TBI in early childhood has long-term consequences for academic achievement and school performance and behavior. Higher quality early and later home environments predict better school outcomes for both children with TBI and children with OI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Role of executive functioning and home environment in early reading development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Segers, P.C.J.; Damhuis, C.M.P.; Sande, E. van de; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2016-01-01

We examined the role of executive functioning (EF) and home environment in the prediction of early reading development. In a longitudinal design, we followed 101 Dutch children from kindergarten to second grade. EF (attentional control, action control, short-term memory (STM)) and home factors

Influences of early child nutritional status and home learning environment on child development in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Phuong H; DiGirolamo, Ann M; Gonzalez-Casanova, Ines; Young, Melissa; Kim, Nicole; Nguyen, Son; Martorell, Reynaldo; Ramakrishnan, Usha

2018-01-01

Early childhood development plays a key role in a child's future health, educational success, and economic status. However, suboptimal early development remains a global challenge. This study examines the influences of quality of the home learning environment (HOME) and child stunting in the first year of life on child development. We used data collected from a randomized controlled trial of preconceptional micronutrient supplementation in Vietnam (n = 1,458). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III were used to assess cognition, language, and motor development domains at 2 years. At 1 year, 14% of children were stunted, and 15%, 58%, and 28% of children lived in poor, medium, and high HOME environments, respectively. In multivariate generalized linear regression models, living in a high HOME environment was significantly associated with higher scores (0.10 to 0.13 SD) in each of the developmental domains. Stunted children scored significantly lower for cognitive, language, and motor development (-0.11 to -0.18), compared to nonstunted children. The negative associations between stunting on development were modified by HOME; the associations were strong among children living in homes with a poor learning environment whereas they were nonsignificant for those living in high-quality learning environments. In conclusion, child stunting the first year of life was negatively associated with child development at 2 years among children in Vietnam, but a high-quality HOME appeared to attenuate these associations. Early interventions aimed at improving early child growth as well as providing a stimulating home environment are critical to ensure optimal child development. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Environment and Climate of Early Human Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, Naomi E.

2015-05-01

Evaluating the relationships between climate, the environment, and human traits is a key part of human origins research because changes in Earth's atmosphere, oceans, landscapes, and ecosystems over the past 10 Myr shaped the selection pressures experienced by early humans. In Africa, these relationships have been influenced by a combination of high-latitude ice distributions, sea surface temperatures, and low-latitude orbital forcing that resulted in large oscillations in vegetation and moisture availability that were modulated by local basin dynamics. The importance of both climate and tectonics in shaping African landscapes means that integrated views of the ecological, environmental, and tectonic histories of a region are necessary in order to understand the relationships between climate and human evolution.

Early social environment influences the behaviour of a family-living lizard.

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Julia L; Noble, Daniel W A; Byrne, Richard W; Whiting, Martin J

2017-05-01

Early social environment can play a significant role in shaping behavioural development. For instance, in many social mammals and birds, isolation rearing results in individuals that are less exploratory, shyer, less social and more aggressive than individuals raised in groups. Moreover, dynamic aspects of social environments, such as the nature of relationships between individuals, can also impact the trajectory of development. We tested if being raised alone or socially affects behavioural development in the family-living tree skink, Egernia striolata . Juveniles were raised in two treatments: alone or in a pair. We assayed exploration, boldness, sociability and aggression repeatedly throughout each juvenile's first year of life, and also assessed social interactions between pairs to determine if juveniles formed dominant-subordinate relationships. We found that male and/or the larger skinks within social pairs were dominant. Developing within this social environment reduced skink growth, and subordinate skinks were more prone to tail loss. Thus, living with a conspecific was costly for E. striolata . The predicted negative effects of isolation failed to materialize. Nevertheless, there were significant differences in behavioural traits depending on the social environment (isolated, dominant or subordinate member of a pair). Isolated skinks were more social than subordinate skinks. Subordinate skinks also became more aggressive over time, whereas isolated and dominant skinks showed invariable aggression. Dominant skinks became bolder over time, whereas isolated and subordinate skinks were relatively stable in their boldness. In summary, our study is evidence that isolation rearing does not consistently affect behaviour across all social taxa. Our study also demonstrates that the social environment plays an important role in behavioural development of a family-living lizard.

The Dutch famine of 1944-45 as a human laboratory: changes in the early life environment and adult health

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lumey, L.H.; van Poppel, F.W.A.; Lumey, L.H.; Vaiserman, A.

2013-01-01

Studies of men and women exposed to the Dutch famine of 1944-1945 (also known as the Dutch ‘Hunger winter’) during different periods of life are important because they provide an opportunity to look at long-term effects of disturbances in the early life environment. For ethical and practical

Effects of early life trauma are dependent on genetic predisposition: a rat study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Russell Vivienne A

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Trauma experienced early in life increases the risk of developing a number of psychological and/or behavioural disorders. It is unclear, however, how genetic predisposition to a behavioural disorder, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, modifies the long-term effects of early life trauma. There is substantial evidence from family and twin studies for susceptibility to ADHD being inherited, implying a strong genetic component to the disorder. In the present study we used an inbred animal model of ADHD, the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR, to investigate the long-term consequences of early life trauma on emotional behaviour in individuals predisposed to developing ADHD-like behaviour. Methods We applied a rodent model of early life trauma, maternal separation, to SHR and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY, the normotensive control strain from which SHR were originally derived. The effects of maternal separation (removal of pups from dam for 3 h/day during the first 2 weeks of life on anxiety-like behaviour (elevated-plus maze and depressive-like behaviour (forced swim test were assessed in prepubescent rats (postnatal day 28 and 31. Basal levels of plasma corticosterone were measured using radioimmunoassay. Results The effect of maternal separation on SHR and WKY differed in a number of behavioural measures. Similar to its reported effect in other rat strains, maternal separation increased the anxiety-like behaviour of WKY (decreased open arm entries but not SHR. Maternal separation increased the activity of SHR in the novel environment of the elevated plus-maze, while it decreased that of WKY. Overall, SHR showed a more active response in the elevated plus-maze and forced swim test than WKY, regardless of treatment, and were also found to have higher basal plasma corticosterone compared to WKY. Maternal separation increased basal levels of plasma corticosterone in SHR females only, possibly through adaptive

The influence of the neighborhood physical environment on early child health and development: A review and call for research.

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, Hayley; Zubrick, Stephen R; Foster, Sarah; Giles-Corti, Billie; Bull, Fiona; Wood, Lisa; Knuiman, Matthew; Brinkman, Sally; Houghton, Stephen; Boruff, Bryan

2015-05-01

This review examines evidence of the association between the neighborhood built environment, green spaces and outdoor home area, and early (0-7 years) child health and development. There was evidence that the presence of child relevant neighborhood destinations and services were positively associated with early child development domains of physical health and wellbeing and social competence. Parents׳ perceptions of neighborhood safety were positively associated with children׳s social-emotional development and general health. Population representative studies using objective measures of the built environment and valid measures of early child development are warranted to understand the impact of the built environment on early child health and development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environment-effect reporting. Chapter 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hermens, P.A.H.

1989-01-01

Environment-effect reporting is a tool in the resolution of one or more government bodies about activities which may have important disadvantageous impacts upon the environment. This chapter gives a treatment of environment-effect reporting as a process consisting of the preparation, draw-up, judgement and use of an environment-effect report (MER), followed by an evaluation. The contentsof an environment-effect report are indicated. The role of environment-effect reporting in relation with other procedures is discussed. Some experience with the application of environment-effect reporting is presented and a number of experiences in the application are discussed. (H.W.). 5 refs.; 3 figs.; 3 tabs

Unpacking socio-economic risks for reading and academic self-concept in primary school: Differential effects and the role of the preschool home learning environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Crampton, Alexandria; Hall, James

2017-09-01

Uncertainty remains concerning how children's reading and academic self-concept are related and how these are differentially affected by social disadvantage and home learning environments. To contrast the impacts of early socio-economic risks and preschool home learning environments upon British children's reading abilities and academic self-concept between 7 and 10 years. n = 3,172 British children aged 3-10 years and their families. A secondary analysis of the nationally representative UK EPPE database. Multilevel structural equation modelling calculated the direct, indirect, and total impacts of early socio-economic risks (0-3 years) and preschool home learning environments (3-5 years) upon children's reading ability and academic self-concept between 7 and 10 years. Early socio-economic risk had different effects upon children's reading ability and academic self-concept. Early socio-economic risks affected children's reading at ages 7 and 10 both directly and indirectly via effects upon preschool home learning environments. By contrast, early socio-economic risks had only indirect effects upon children's academic self-concept via less stimulating home learning environments in the preschool period and by limiting reading abilities early on in primary school. Although the impacts of early socio-economic risks are larger and more easily observed upon reading than upon academic self-concept, they can impact both by making it less likely that children will experience enriching home learning environments during the preschool period. This has implications for social policymakers, early educators, and interventionists. Intervening early and improving preschool home learning environments can do more than raise children's reading abilities; secondary benefits may also be achievable upon children's self-concept. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

The influence of galaxy environment on the stellar initial mass function of early-type galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Rosani, Giulio; Pasquali, Anna; La Barbera, Francesco; Ferreras, Ignacio; Vazdekis, Alexandre

2018-06-01

In this paper, we investigate whether the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies depends on their host environment. To this purpose, we have selected a sample of early-type galaxies from the SPIDER catalogue, characterized their environment through the group catalogue of Wang et al., and used their optical Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra to constrain the IMF slope, through the analysis of IMF-sensitive spectral indices. To reach a high enough signal-to-noise ratio, we have stacked spectra in velocity dispersion (σ0) bins, on top of separating the sample by galaxy hierarchy and host halo mass, as proxies for galaxy environment. In order to constrain the IMF, we have compared observed line strengths and predictions of MIUSCAT/EMILES synthetic stellar population models, with varying age, metallicity, and `bimodal' (low-mass tapered) IMF slope (Γ _b). Consistent with previous studies, we find that Γ _b increases with σ0, becoming bottom-heavy (i.e. an excess of low-mass stars with respect to the Milky Way like IMF) at high σ0. We find that this result is robust against the set of isochrones used in the stellar population models, as well as the way the effect of elemental abundance ratios is taken into account. We thus conclude that it is possible to use currently state-of-the-art stellar population models and intermediate resolution spectra to consistently probe IMF variations. For the first time, we show that there is no dependence of Γb on environment or galaxy hierarchy, as measured within the 3 arcsec SDSS fibre, thus leaving the IMF as an intrinsic galaxy property, possibly set already at high redshift.

Thermal and maternal environments shape the value of early hatching in a natural population of a strongly cannibalistic freshwater fish

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pagel, T.; Bekkevold, Dorte; Pohlmeier, S.

2015-01-01

Hatching early in the season is often assumed to elevate fitness, particularly in cannibalistic fish in which size-dependent predation mortality is a major selective force. While the importance of the thermal environment for the growth of fish is undisputed, the relevance of maternal effects...... represented by juvenile growth rate), but not female total length, to jointly contribute to explain within- and among-season size variation in juvenile pike. While there was no statistical evidence for maternal effects on offspring growth rate, fast female juvenile growth positively correlated...... in the wild and that early hatching does not generally produce size advantages in light of stochastically varying temperature conditions...

An Empirical Investigation of the Dimensionality of the Physical Literacy Environment in Early Childhood Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Dynia, Jaclyn M.; Schachter, Rachel E.; Piasta, Shayne B.; Justice, Laura M.; O'Connell, Ann A.; Yeager Pelatti, Christina

2018-01-01

This study investigated the dimensionality of the physical literacy environment of early childhood education classrooms. Data on the classroom physical literacy environment were collected from 245 classrooms using the Classroom Literacy Observation Profile. A combination of confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis was used to identify five…

Positive work environments of early-career registered nurses and the correlation with physician verbal abuse.

Science.gov (United States)

Brewer, Carol S; Kovner, Christine T; Obeidat, Rana F; Budin, Wendy C

2013-01-01

Verbal abuse in the workplace is experienced by registered nurses (RNs) worldwide; physicians are one of the main sources of verbal abuse. To examine the relationship between levels of physician verbal abuse of early-career RNs and demographics, work attributes, and perceived work environment. Fourth wave of a mailed national panel survey of early career RNs begun in 2006. RNs' perception of verbal abuse by physicians was significantly associated with poor workgroup cohesion, lower supervisory and mentor support, greater quantitative workload, organizational constraints, and nurse-colleague verbal abuse, as well as RNs' lower job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to stay. RNs working in unfavorable work environments experience more physician abuse and have less favorable work attitudes. Causality is unclear: do poor working conditions create an environment in which physicians are more likely to be abusive, or does verbal abuse by physicians create an unfavorable work environment? Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parent-directed approaches to enrich the early language environments of children living in poverty.

Science.gov (United States)

Leffel, Kristin; Suskind, Dana

2013-11-01

Children's early language environments are critical for their cognitive development, school readiness, and ultimate educational attainment. Significant disparities exist in these environments, with profound and lasting impacts upon children's ultimate outcomes. Children from backgrounds of low socioeconomic status experience diminished language inputs and enter school at a disadvantage, with disparities persisting throughout their educational careers. Parents are positioned as powerful agents of change in their children's lives, however, and evidence indicates that parent-directed intervention is effective in improving child outcomes. This article explores the efficacy of parent-directed interventions and their potential applicability to the wider educational achievement gap seen in typically developing populations of low socioeconomic status and then describes efforts to develop such interventions with the Thirty Million Words Project and Project ASPIRE (Achieving Superior Parental Involvement for Rehabilitative Excellence) curricula. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Early-Life Effects on Adult Physical Activity: Concepts, Relevance, and Experimental Approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Garland, Theodore; Cadney, Marcell D; Waterland, Robert A

Locomotion is a defining characteristic of animal life and plays a crucial role in most behaviors. Locomotion involves physical activity, which can have far-reaching effects on physiology and neurobiology, both acutely and chronically. In human populations and in laboratory rodents, higher levels of physical activity are generally associated with positive health outcomes, although excessive exercise can have adverse consequences. Whether and how such relationships occur in wild animals is unknown. Behavioral variation among individuals arises from genetic and environmental factors and their interactions as well as from developmental programming (persistent effects of early-life environment). Although tremendous progress has been made in identifying genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in behavior, early-life effects are not well understood. Early-life effects can in some cases persist across multiple generations following a single exposure and, in principle, may constrain or facilitate the rate of evolution at multiple levels of biological organization. Understanding the mechanisms of such transgenerational effects (e.g., exposure to stress hormones in utero, inherited epigenetic alterations) may prove crucial to explaining unexpected and/or sex-specific responses to selection as well as limits to adaptation. One area receiving increased attention is early-life effects on adult physical activity. Correlational data from epidemiological studies suggest that early-life nutritional stress can (adversely) affect adult human activity levels and associated physiological traits (e.g., body composition, metabolic health). The few existing studies of laboratory rodents demonstrate that both maternal and early-life exercise can affect adult levels of physical activity and related phenotypes. Going forward, rodents offer many opportunities for experimental studies of (multigenerational) early-life effects, including studies that use maternal

Exploring the Potential of a Wearable Camera to Examine the Early Obesogenic Home Environment: Comparison of SenseCam Images to the Home Environment Interview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schrempft, S.; Jaarsveld, C.H.M. van; Fisher, A.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: The obesogenic home environment is usually examined via self-report, and objective measures are required. OBJECTIVE: This study explored whether the wearable camera SenseCam can be used to examine the early obesogenic home environment and whether it is useful for validation of

The hELENa project - I. Stellar populations of early-type galaxies linked with local environment and galaxy mass

OpenAIRE

Sybilska, A.; Lisker, T.; Kuntschner, H.; Vazdekis, A.; van de Ven, G.; Peletier, R.; Falcón-Barroso, J.; Vijayaraghavan, R.; Janz, J.

2017-01-01

We present the first in a series of papers in T$h$e role of $E$nvironment in shaping $L$ow-mass $E$arly-type $N$earby g$a$laxies (hELENa) project. In this paper we combine our sample of 20 low-mass early types (dEs) with 258 massive early types (ETGs) from the ATLAS$^{\\mathrm{3D}}$ survey - all observed with the SAURON integral field unit (IFU) - to investigate early-type galaxies' stellar population scaling relations and the dependence of the population properties on local environment, exten...

MASSIVE GALAXIES ARE LARGER IN DENSE ENVIRONMENTS: ENVIRONMENTAL DEPENDENCE OF MASS–SIZE RELATION OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoon, Yongmin; Im, Myungshin; Kim, Jae-Woo, E-mail: yymx2@astro.snu.ac.kr, E-mail: mim@astro.snu.ac.kr [Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU), Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-01-01

Under the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmological models, massive galaxies are expected to be larger in denser environments through frequent hierarchical mergers with other galaxies. Yet, observational studies of low-redshift early-type galaxies have shown no such trend, standing as a puzzle to solve during the past decade. We analyzed 73,116 early-type galaxies at 0.1 ≤  z  < 0.15, adopting a robust nonparametric size measurement technique and extending the analysis to many massive galaxies. We find for the first time that local early-type galaxies heavier than 10{sup 11.2} M {sub ⊙} show a clear environmental dependence in mass–size relation, in such a way that galaxies are as much as 20%–40% larger in the densest environments than in underdense environments. Splitting the sample into the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and non-BCGs does not affect the result. This result agrees with the ΛCDM cosmological simulations and suggests that mergers played a significant role in the growth of massive galaxies in dense environments as expected in theory.

Home Environment Quality Mediates the Effects of an Early Intervention on Children's Social-Emotional Development in Rural Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

Finch, Jenna E.; Obradovic, Jelena; Yousafzai, Aisha

2016-01-01

Over 200 million children under the age of 5 are not fulfilling their developmental potential due to poverty, poor health, and lack of cognitive stimulation. Experiences in early childhood have long term-effects on brain development and thus the cognitive and social-emotional skills that promote children's school success. Further, early childhood…

The effect of the cluster environment on galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitmore, B.C.

1990-01-01

Various observations indicate that the cluster environment can affect the structure and dynamics of galaxies. This review concentrates on the effect the environment can have on three of the most basic properties of a galaxy; the morphological type, the size, and the distribution of mass. A reexamination of the morphology - density relation suggests that the fundamental driver may be related to some global property of the cluster, such as the distance from the cluster center, rather than some local property, such as membership in a local subclump within the cluster. While there is good evidence that the size of a galaxy can be increased (ie.e., cD galaxies) or decreased (i.e., early type galaxies near the centers of clusters) by the cluster environment, it is not clear what physical mechanism is responsible. There is tentative evidence that rotation curves of spiral galaxies near the centers of clusters are falling, perhaps indicating that the dark halo has been stripped off. Rotation curves for spiral galaxies in compact groups are even more bizarre, providing strong evidence that the group environment has affected the kinematics of these galaxies. (author)

Early-Type Galaxy Star Formation Histories in Different Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzpatrick, Patrick; Graves, G.

2014-01-01

We use very high-S/N stacked spectra of ˜29,000 nearby quiescent early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to investigate variations in their star formation histories (SFHs) with environment at fixed position along and perpendicular to the Fundamental Plane (FP). We separate galaxies in the three-dimensional FP space defined by galaxy effective radius Re, central stellar velocity dispersion σ, and surface brightness residual from the FP, ΔIe. We use the SDSS group catalogue of Yang et al. to further separate galaxies into three categories by their “identities” within their respective dark matter halos: central “Brightest Group Galaxies” (BGGs); Satellites; and Isolateds (those which are “most massive” in a dark matter halo with no Satellites). Within each category, we construct high-S/N mean stacked spectra to determine mean singleburst ages, [Fe/H], and [Mg/Fe] based on the stellar population synthesis models of R. Schiavon. This allows us to study variations in the stellar population properties (SPPs) with local group environment at fixed structure (i.e., fixed position in FP-space). We find that the SFHs of quiescent ETGs are almost entirely determined by their structural parameters σ and ΔIe. Any variation with local group environment at fixed structure is only slight: Satellites have the oldest stellar populations, 0.02 dex older than BGGs and 0.04 dex older than Isolateds; BGGs have the highest Fe-enrichments, 0.01 dex higher than Isolateds and 0.02 dex higher than Satellites; there are no differences in Mg-enhancement between BGGs, Isolateds, and Satellites. Our observation that, to zeroth-order, the SFHs of quiescent ETGs are fully captured by their structures places important qualitative constraints on the degree to which late-time evolutionary processes (those which occur after a galaxy’s initial formation and main star-forming lifetime) can alter their SFHs/structures.

Maternal-by-environment but not genotype-by-environment interactions in a fish without parental care.

Science.gov (United States)

Vega-Trejo, Regina; Head, Megan L; Jennions, Michael D; Kruuk, Loeske E B

2018-01-01

The impact of environmental conditions on the expression of genetic variance and on maternal effects variance remains an important question in evolutionary quantitative genetics. We investigate here the effects of early environment on variation in seven adult life history, morphological, and secondary sexual traits (including sperm characteristics) in a viviparous poeciliid fish, the mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki. Specifically, we manipulated food availability during early development and then assessed additive genetic and maternal effects contributions to the overall phenotypic variance in adults. We found higher heritability for female than male traits, but maternal effects variance for traits in both sexes. An interaction between maternal effects variance and rearing environment affected two adult traits (female age at maturity and male size at maturity), but there was no evidence of trade-offs in maternal effects across environments. Our results illustrate (i) the potential for pre-natal maternal effects to interact with offspring environment during development, potentially affecting traits through to adulthood and (ii) that genotype-by-environment interactions might be overestimated if maternal-by-environment interactions are not accounted for, similar to heritability being overestimated if maternal effects are ignored. We also discuss the potential for dominance genetic variance to contribute to the estimate of maternal effects variance.

Early intervention as a catalyst for effective early childhood ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... of positive attitudes towards children with disabilities in a country like Ghana. ... As Ghana strides towards mainstreaming early childhood education in the quest ... an integrated, inclusive and effective early intervention programme becomes ...

Effects of early support intervention on workplace ergonomics--a two-year followup study.

Science.gov (United States)

Turja, Johanna; Kaleva, Simo; Kivistö, Marketta; Seitsamo, Jorma

2012-01-01

The purpose of the controlled longitudinal study was to determine the effect of a tailored early support intervention method on workers' workplace ergonomics. The main areas of the early support intervention were training, guidance and support for supervisors in finding weak signals of impaired ergonomics. Supervisors were also trained to bring up these weak signals in discussion with employees and to make necessary changes at the workplace. The data consisted of 301 intervention subjects and 235 control subjects working in the field of commerce. The questionnaires were carried out in 2008 and in 2010, and the response rates among both groups were 45%. We used multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance (MANOVA) to test the difference in the groups at two points of time. The main result was that in the areas of work environment, the interaction between group and time was statistically significant (p=0.0004). The work environment improved in the intervention group, but deteriorated in the control. Working methods improved due to the interventions, but physical load factors increased over time in both groups. According to the study, tailored early support intervention has a generally beneficial impact on workers' workplace ergonomics in the areas of work methods, work environment and accident factors.

Effects of early life stress on amygdala and striatal development

Science.gov (United States)

Fareri, Dominic S.; Tottenham, Nim

2016-01-01

Species-expected caregiving early in life is critical for the normative development and regulation of emotional behavior, the ability to effectively evaluate affective stimuli in the environment, and the ability to sustain social relationships. Severe psychosocial stressors early in life (early life stress; ELS) in the form of the absence of species expected caregiving (i.e., caregiver deprivation), can drastically impact one’s social and emotional success, leading to the onset of internalizing illness later in life. Development of the amygdala and striatum, two key regions supporting affective valuation and learning, is significantly affected by ELS, and their altered developmental trajectories have important implications for cognitive, behavioral and socioemotional development. However, an understanding of the impact of ELS on the development of functional interactions between these regions and subsequent behavioral effects is lacking. In this review, we highlight the roles of the amygdala and striatum in affective valuation and learning in maturity and across development. We discuss their function separately as well as their interaction. We highlight evidence across species characterizing how ELS induced changes in the development of the amygdala and striatum mediate subsequent behavioral changes associated with internalizing illness, positing a particular import of the effect of ELS on their interaction. PMID:27174149

Effects of early life stress on amygdala and striatal development.

Science.gov (United States)

Fareri, Dominic S; Tottenham, Nim

2016-06-01

Species-expected caregiving early in life is critical for the normative development and regulation of emotional behavior, the ability to effectively evaluate affective stimuli in the environment, and the ability to sustain social relationships. Severe psychosocial stressors early in life (early life stress; ELS) in the form of the absence of species expected caregiving (i.e., caregiver deprivation), can drastically impact one's social and emotional success, leading to the onset of internalizing illness later in life. Development of the amygdala and striatum, two key regions supporting affective valuation and learning, is significantly affected by ELS, and their altered developmental trajectories have important implications for cognitive, behavioral and socioemotional development. However, an understanding of the impact of ELS on the development of functional interactions between these regions and subsequent behavioral effects is lacking. In this review, we highlight the roles of the amygdala and striatum in affective valuation and learning in maturity and across development. We discuss their function separately as well as their interaction. We highlight evidence across species characterizing how ELS induced changes in the development of the amygdala and striatum mediate subsequent behavioral changes associated with internalizing illness, positing a particular import of the effect of ELS on their interaction. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Effects of early life stress on amygdala and striatal development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominic S. Fareri

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Species-expected caregiving early in life is critical for the normative development and regulation of emotional behavior, the ability to effectively evaluate affective stimuli in the environment, and the ability to sustain social relationships. Severe psychosocial stressors early in life (early life stress; ELS in the form of the absence of species expected caregiving (i.e., caregiver deprivation, can drastically impact one’s social and emotional success, leading to the onset of internalizing illness later in life. Development of the amygdala and striatum, two key regions supporting affective valuation and learning, is significantly affected by ELS, and their altered developmental trajectories have important implications for cognitive, behavioral and socioemotional development. However, an understanding of the impact of ELS on the development of functional interactions between these regions and subsequent behavioral effects is lacking. In this review, we highlight the roles of the amygdala and striatum in affective valuation and learning in maturity and across development. We discuss their function separately as well as their interaction. We highlight evidence across species characterizing how ELS induced changes in the development of the amygdala and striatum mediate subsequent behavioral changes associated with internalizing illness, positing a particular import of the effect of ELS on their interaction.

An Examination of Classroom Social Environment on Motivation and Engagement of College Early Entrant Honors Students

Science.gov (United States)

Maddox, Richard S.

2010-01-01

This study set out to examine the relationships between the classroom social environment, motivation, engagement and achievement of a group of early entrant Honors students at a large urban university. Prior research on the classroom environment, motivation, engagement and high ability students was examined, leading to the assumption that the…

[Influence of social environment on caries prevalence in early childhood].

Science.gov (United States)

Tusek, Ivan; Carević, Momir; Tusek, Jasmina

2011-01-01

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a special form of caries that affects decideous teeth with rapid progression and numerous complications. The aim of the study was to define the prevalence of ECC in children of the South Backa area, the importance of social environment for the prevalence and severity of ECC, and define the model for its prevention. The survey was the cross-sectional analytical study in the 10% sample of children, aged 13-64 months, different sex, social status and human environment. Severity and prevalence of ECC were assessed by dental check-ups. The epidemiological data were obtained by the interview of parents. The tests of significant statistical differences were performed by the analysis variance and chi2 (p family (46.9%) and in part-time employed mothers (47.2%) who had only elementary education (59.3%) and were poorly informed about oral health. The highest prevalence (47.1%) of ECC was found in children whose parents had the lowest income per month. Type 1 of ECC was the most presented one (75.0%). The higher prevalence and more severe ECC were found in the third and the next born male child from rural environment.

Infant titi monkey behavior in the open field test and the effect of early adversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Larke, Rebecca H; Toubiana, Alice; Lindsay, Katrina A; Mendoza, Sally P; Bales, Karen L

2017-09-01

The open field test is commonly used to measure anxiety-related behavior and exploration in rodents. Here, we used it as a standardized novel environment in which to evaluate the behavioral response of infant titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus), to determine the effect of presence of individual family members, and to assess how adverse early experience alters infant behavior. Infants were tested in the open field for 5 days at ages 4 and 6 months in four successive 5 min trials on each day. A transport cage, which was situated on one side of the open field, was either empty (non-social control) or contained the father, mother, or sibling. Infant locomotor, vocalization, and exploratory behavior were quantified. Results indicated that age, sex, social condition, and early experience all had significant effects on infant behavior. Specifically, infants were generally more exploratory at 6 months and male infants were more exploratory than females. Infants distinguished between social and non-social conditions but made few behavioral distinctions between the attachment figure and other individuals. Infants which had adverse early life experience demonstrated greater emotional and physical independence, suggesting that early adversity led to resiliency in the novel environment. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of copper on early developmental stages of Lessonia nigrescens Bory (Phaeophyceae)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Contreras, Loretto [Departamento de Ecologia, Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Post-code 6513677, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile); Medina, Matias H. [Departamento de Ecologia, Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Post-code 6513677, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile); CIIMAR - Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigacao Marinha e Ambiental, Laboratory of Ecotoxicology, Universidade do Porto (Portugal); Andrade, Santiago [Departamento de Ecologia, Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Post-code 6513677, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile); Oppliger, Valeria [Departamento de Ecologia, Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Post-code 6513677, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile); Correa, Juan A. [Departamento de Ecologia, Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Post-code 6513677, Alameda 340, Santiago (Chile)]. E-mail: jcorrea@bio.puc.cl

2007-01-15

Copper effects on the early developmental gametophytic and sporophytic stages of the kelp Lessonia nigrescens were tested in gradients of increasing concentrations of ASV-labile copper. The results demonstrated a high sensitivity to copper of all life-history stages of the alga, where even the lowest tested concentration affected spore release as well as their subsequent settlement. More significant, concentrations higher than 7.87 {mu}g L{sup -1} totally interrupted the development of the spores after they settle. This effect led to a failure in the formation of male and female gametophytes and, as a consequence, to a complete disruption of the normal life cycle of the kelp. Thus, we suggest that the absence of L. nigrescens from copper-enriched environments results from the high sensitivity of its early life cycle stages, which limits growth and maturation of the gametophytic microscopic phase and, as a consequence, prevents development of the macroscopic sporophytic phase. - Early developmental stages of Lessonia nigrescens are highly sensitive to copper.

Effects of copper on early developmental stages of Lessonia nigrescens Bory (Phaeophyceae)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Contreras, Loretto; Medina, Matias H.; Andrade, Santiago; Oppliger, Valeria; Correa, Juan A.

2007-01-01

Copper effects on the early developmental gametophytic and sporophytic stages of the kelp Lessonia nigrescens were tested in gradients of increasing concentrations of ASV-labile copper. The results demonstrated a high sensitivity to copper of all life-history stages of the alga, where even the lowest tested concentration affected spore release as well as their subsequent settlement. More significant, concentrations higher than 7.87 μg L -1 totally interrupted the development of the spores after they settle. This effect led to a failure in the formation of male and female gametophytes and, as a consequence, to a complete disruption of the normal life cycle of the kelp. Thus, we suggest that the absence of L. nigrescens from copper-enriched environments results from the high sensitivity of its early life cycle stages, which limits growth and maturation of the gametophytic microscopic phase and, as a consequence, prevents development of the macroscopic sporophytic phase. - Early developmental stages of Lessonia nigrescens are highly sensitive to copper

Effect of nitrite on early-life stages of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kroupová, H.; Prokeš, Miroslav; Mácová, S.; Peňáz, Milan; Baruš, Vlastimil; Novotný, L.; Máchová, J.

2010-01-01

Roč. 29, č. 3 (2010), s. 535-540 ISSN 0730-7268. [International Workshop on Aquatic Toxicology and Biomonitoring /1./. Vodňany, 27.08.2008-29.08.2008] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519 Keywords : Embryo–larval toxicity test * Lowest-observed-effect concentration * No-observed-effect concentration * Early development * Histopathology Subject RIV: DN - Health Impact of the Environment Quality Impact factor: 3.026, year: 2010

Coping with a changing environment: The effects of early life stress

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vindas, Marco A.; Madaro, Angelico; Fraser, Thomas W.K.

2016-01-01

to environmental changes is particularly evident at early life stages. We investigated the performance of salmon, previously subjected to an unpredictable chronic stress (UCS) treatment at an early age (10 month old parr), over several months and life stages. The UCS fish showed overall higher specific growth...... rates compared with unstressed controls after smoltification, a particularly challenging life stage, and after seawater transfer. Furthermore, subjecting fish to acute stress at the end of the experiment, we found that UCS groups had an overall lower hypothalamic catecholaminergic and brain stem...... serotonergic response to stress compared with control groups. In addition, serotonergic activity was negatively correlated with final growth rates,which implies that serotonin responsive individuals have growth disadvantages. Altogether, our results may imply that a subduedmonoaminergic response in stressful...

[Air pollutant exposure during pregnancy and fetal and early childhood development. Research protocol of the INMA (Childhood and Environment Project)].

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Esplugues, Ana; Fernández-Patier, Rosalía; Aguilera, Inma; Iñíguez, Carmen; García Dos Santos, Saúl; Aguirre Alfaro, Amelia; Lacasaña, Marina; Estarlich, Marisa; Grimalt, Joan O; Fernández, Marieta; Rebagliato, Marisa; Sala, María; Tardón, Adonina; Torrent, Maties; Martínez, María Dolores; Ribas-Fitó, Núria; Sunyer, Jordi; Ballester, Ferran

2007-01-01

The INMA (INfancia y Medio Ambiente [Spanish for Environment and Childhood]) project is a cooperative research network. This project aims to study the effects of environment and diet on fetal and early childhood development. This article aims to present the air pollutant exposure protocol during pregnancy and fetal and early childhood development of the INMA project. The information to assess air pollutant exposure during pregnancy is based on outdoor measurement of air pollutants (nitrogen dioxide [NO2], volatile organic compounds [VOC], ozone, particulate matter [PM10, PM2,5 ] and of their composition [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons]); measurement of indoor and personal exposure (VOC and NO2); urinary measurement of a biological marker of hydrocarbon exposure (1-hydroxypyrene); and data gathered by questionnaires and geographic information systems. These data allow individual air pollutant exposure indexes to be developed, which can then be used to analyze the possible effects of exposure on fetal development and child health. This protocol and the type of study allow an approximation to individual air pollutant exposure to be obtained. Finally, the large number of participants (N = 4,000), as well as their geographic and social diversity, increases the study's potential.

Early developmental responses to seedling environment modulate later plasticity to light spectral quality.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric J B von Wettberg

Full Text Available Correlations between developmentally plastic traits may constrain the joint evolution of traits. In plants, both seedling de-etiolation and shade avoidance elongation responses to crowding and foliage shade are mediated by partially overlapping developmental pathways, suggesting the possibility of pleiotropic constraints. To test for such constraints, we exposed inbred lines of Impatiens capensis to factorial combinations of leaf litter (which affects de-etiolation and simulated foliage shade (which affects phytochrome-mediated shade avoidance. Increased elongation of hypocotyls caused by leaf litter phenotypically enhanced subsequent elongation of the first internode in response to low red:far red (R:FR. Trait expression was correlated across litter and shade conditions, suggesting that phenotypic effects of early plasticity on later plasticity may affect variation in elongation traits available to selection in different light environments.

The hELENa project - I. Stellar populations of early-type galaxies linked with local environment and galaxy mass

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sybilska, A.; Lisker, T.; Kuntschner, H.; Vazdekis, A.; van de Ven, G.; Peletier, R.; Falcón-Barroso, J.; Vijayaraghavan, R.; Janz, J.

2017-01-01

We present the first in a series of papers in The role of Environment in shaping Low-mass Early-type Nearby galaxies (hELENa) project. In this paper, we combine our sample of 20 low-mass early types (dEs) with 258 massive early types (ETGs) from the ATLAS3D survey - all observed with the SAURON

The Workplace as Learning Environment in Early Childhood Teacher Education: An Investigation of Work-Based Education

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Kaarby, Karen Marie Eid; Lindboe, Inger Marie

2016-01-01

The article focuses on the workplace as a learning environment in work-based early childhood teacher education in Norway. The main question is: Which understandings of the workplace as a learning environment are to be found in regulations and policy documents, among students and among staff managers? Taking as the point of departure, a theoretical…

Nature and the Outdoor Learning Environment: The Forgotten Resource in Early Childhood Education

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Cooper, Allen

2015-01-01

Longitudinal studies now confirm the economic, academic, and social importance of high-quality early childhood education. At the same time, a substantial body of research indicates that an outdoor learning and play environment with diverse natural elements advances and enriches all of the domains relevant to the development, health, and well-being…

Organizational change, psychosocial work environment, and non-disability early retirement: a prospective study among senior public employees.

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Breinegaard, Nina; Jensen, Johan Høy; Bonde, Jens Peter

2017-05-01

Objective This study examines the impact of organizational change and psychosocial work environment on non-disability early retirement among senior public service employees. Methods In January and February 2011, Danish senior public service employees aged 58-64 years (N=3254) from the Capital Region of Denmark responded to a survey assessing psychosocial work environment (ie, social capital, organizational justice, and quality of management). Work-unit organizational changes (ie, change of management, merging, demerging, and relocation) were recorded from January 2009 to March 2011. Weekly data on non-disability early retirement transfer were obtained from the DREAM register database, which holds weekly information about all public benefit payments in Denmark. Hazard ratios (HR) for early retirement following employees' 60 th birthday were estimated with Cox regression adjusted for age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Results Exposure to change of management [HR 1.37, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.13-1.66], mergers (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.02-1.48), and relocation of work unit (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.01-1.54) increased rate of non-disability early retirement, while demerging of work unit did not (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.79-1.33). Work units with lower levels of social capital (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.05-1.41), organizational justice, (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.04-1.32), and quality of management (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.25) increased rate of early retirement. Conclusion Organizational change and poor psychosocial work environment contribute to non-disability early retirement among senior public service employees, measured at work-unit level.

Laying a Firm Foundation: Embedding Evidence-Based Emergent Literacy Practices Into Early Intervention and Preschool Environments.

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Terrell, Pamela; Watson, Maggie

2018-04-05

As part of this clinical forum on curriculum-based intervention, the goal of this tutorial is to share research about the importance of language and literacy foundations in natural environments during emergent literacy skill development, from infancy through preschool. Following an overview of intervention models in schools by Powell (2018), best practices at home, in child care, and in preschool settings are discussed. Speech-language pathologists in these settings will be provided a toolbox of best emergent literacy practices. A review of published literature in speech-language pathology, early intervention, early childhood education, and literacy was completed. Subsequently, an overview of the impact of early home and preschool literacy experiences are described. Research-based implementation of best practice is supported with examples of shared book reading and child-led literacy embedded in play within the coaching model of early intervention. Finally, various aspects of emergent literacy skill development in the preschool years are discussed. These include phonemic awareness, print/alphabet awareness, oral language skills, and embedded/explicit literacy. Research indicates that rich home literacy environments and exposure to rich oral language provide an important foundation for the more structured literacy environments of school. Furthermore, there is a wealth of evidence to support a variety of direct and indirect intervention practices in the home, child care, and preschool contexts to support and enhance all aspects of oral and written literacy. Application of this "toolbox" of strategies should enable speech-language pathologists to address the prevention and intervention of literacy deficits within multiple environments during book and play activities. Additionally, clinicians will have techniques to share with parents, child care providers, and preschool teachers for evidence-based literacy instruction within all settings during typical daily

Home Literacy Environments and Foundational Literacy Skills for Struggling and Nonstruggling Readers in Rural Early Elementary Schools

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Tichnor-Wagner, Ariel; Garwood, Justin D.; Bratsch-Hines, Mary; Vernon-Feagans, Lynne

2016-01-01

Factors such as weak early literacy skills and living in poverty may put young students at risk for reading disabilities. While home literacy activities and access to literacy materials have been associated with positive reading outcomes for urban and suburban students, little is known about home literacy environments of rural early elementary…

External-environmental and internal-health early life predictors of adolescent development.

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Hartman, Sarah; Li, Zhi; Nettle, Daniel; Belsky, Jay

2017-12-01

A wealth of evidence documents associations between various aspects of the rearing environment and later development. Two evolutionary-inspired models advance explanations for why and how such early experiences shape later functioning: (a) the external-prediction model, which highlights the role of the early environment (e.g., parenting) in regulating children's development, and (b) the internal-prediction model, which emphasizes internal state (i.e., health) as the critical regulator. Thus, by using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the current project draws from both models by investigating whether the effect of the early environment on later adolescent functioning is subject to an indirect effect by internal-health variables. Results showed a significant indirect effect of internal health on the relation between the early environment and adolescent behavior. Specifically, early environmental adversity during the first 5 years of life predicted lower quality health during childhood, which then led to problematic adolescent functioning and earlier age of menarche for girls. In addition, for girls, early adversity predicted lower quality health that forecasted earlier age of menarche leading to increased adolescent risk taking. The discussion highlights the importance of integrating both internal and external models to further understand the developmental processes that effect adolescent behavior.

Effects of early comprehensive interventions on child neurodevelopment in poor rural areas of China: a moderated mediation analysis.

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Liu, S; Wang, Z; Zhao, C; Huang, X; Liang, X; Wang, X; Lu, S; Scherpbier, R W

2018-06-01

To examine the effects of early comprehensive interventions on home environment and child neurodevelopment among children younger than 3 years in poor rural areas of China, as well as the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. Non-randomized intervention study was conducted among 216 children aged 0-3 years in Shanxi province of China. Based on a 2 × 2 factor design, children in Lin and Fenxi County were assigned to an intervention group with duration less than 1 year (n = 26) or an intervention group with duration longer than 1 year (n = 82), while children in Fangshan County served as a control group with duration less than 1 year (n = 30) or a control group with duration longer than 1 year (n = 78). The control group received national public health services (NPHS), while the intervention group received NPHS plus comprehensive interventions covering health, nutrition, early psychosocial stimulation, and child protection. Home environment (Infant-Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment [HOME]) and child neurodevelopment (Ages and Stages Questionnaire [ASQ]) were measured by observation and interview with mothers after the intervention program. The intervention group showed significantly higher overall HOME, organization, learning materials, and involvement than the control group, only for a duration longer than 1 year. Children in the intervention group performed better in overall ASQ, fine motor, problem-solving, and personal-social than children in the control group. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that there were significantly indirect effects of treatment on overall ASQ through overall HOME, organization, and involvement only when the duration was longer than 1 year. Early comprehensive interventions longer than 1 year improve home environment and promote child neurodevelopment among children younger than 3 years in poor rural areas. What is more, effects of early comprehensive interventions longer than 1 year on

Can reactivity to stress and family environment explain memory and executive function performance in early and middle childhood?

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Piccolo, Luciane da Rosa; Salles, Jerusa Fumagalli de; Falceto, Olga Garcia; Fernandes, Carmen Luiza; Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo

2016-01-01

According to the literature, children's overall reactivity to stress is associated with their socioeconomic status and family environment. In turn, it has been shown that reactivity to stress is associated with cognitive performance. However, few studies have systematically tested these three constructs together. To investigate the relationship between family environment, salivary cortisol measurements and children's memory and executive function performance. Salivary cortisol levels of 70 children aged 9 or 10 years were measured before and after performing tasks designed to assess memory and executive functions. Questionnaires on socioeconomic issues, family environment and maternal psychopathologies were administered to participants' families during the children's early childhood and again when they reached school age. Data were analyzed by calculating correlations between variables and conducting hierarchical regression. High cortisol levels were associated with poorer working memory and worse performance in tasks involving executive functions, and were also associated with high scores for maternal psychopathology (during early childhood and school age) and family dysfunction. Family environment variables and changes in cortisol levels explain around 20% of the variance in performance of cognitive tasks. Family functioning and maternal psychopathology in early and middle childhood and children's stress levels were associated with children's working memory and executive functioning.

Social environment and weather during early life influence gastro-intestinal parasite loads in a group-living mammal.

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Rödel, Heiko G; Starkloff, Anett

2014-10-01

Conditions experienced during early life have been frequently shown to exert long-term consequences on an animal's fitness. In mammals and birds, the time around and shortly after weaning is one of the crucial periods early in life. However, little is known about how social and abiotic environmental conditions experienced around this time affect fitness-related traits such as endoparasite loads. We studied consequences of social interactions and rainy weather conditions around and after weaning on gastro-intestinal nematode loads in juvenile European rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus. Infestations with the gastric nematode Graphidium strigosum and with the intestinal nematode Passalurus ambiguus were higher in animals experiencing more rain during early life. This might have been due to the higher persistence of nematodes' infective stages outside the host body together with the animals' lower energy allocation for immune defence under more humid and thus energetically challenging conditions. In contrast, infestations with P. ambiguus were lower in animals with more positive social interactions with mother and litter siblings. We propose that social support provided by familiar group members buffered negative stress effects on immune function, lowering endoparasite infestations. This is supported by the negative correlation between positive social behaviour and serum corticosterone concentrations, indicating lower stress in juveniles which integrated more successfully into the social network of their group. In conclusion, the findings offer a pathway showing how differences in the abiotic environment and social life conditions experienced early in life could translate into long-term fitness consequences via the effects on endoparasite loads.

Childhood socioeconomic status and risk in early family environments: predictors of global sleep quality in college students.

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Counts, Cory J; Grubin, Fiona C; John-Henderson, Neha A

2018-06-01

Low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood associates with poor sleep quality in adulthood. Separately, childhood family environments shape health into adulthood. Here, we investigated whether these early life factors independently or interactively inform global sleep quality in college students. Cross-sectional. College students at a state university (N = 391). As a measure of childhood SES, we asked participants to consider their families' socioeconomic standing relative to the rest of the society during their childhood. We used the Risky Family questionnaire to measure adversity and the presence of warmth and affection in the family environment during childhood, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index as a measure of current global sleep quality. We used linear regressions adjusting for age and sex to examine relationships between childhood SES, risk in childhood family environments, and global sleep quality. Lower childhood SES and greater risk in childhood family environments independently predicted poor sleep quality. Importantly, in low-risk family environments, there was no significant difference in sleep quality as a function of childhood SES. However, students who were from low childhood SES backgrounds who also reported high levels of risk in their early family environments had the worst sleep quality. Findings highlight the importance of considering socioeconomic and family environments in childhood as informants of sleep quality across the lifespan. Compromised sleep quality in college students could affect academic performance and health over time. Copyright © 2018 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The importance of early investigation and publishing in an emergent health and environment crisis.

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Murase, Kaori

2016-10-01

To minimize the damage resulting from a long-term environmental disaster such as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, early disclosure of research data by scientists and prompt decision making by government authorities are required in place of careful, time-consuming research and deliberation about the consequences and cause of the accident. A Bayesian approach with flexible statistical modeling helps scientists and encourages government authorities to make decisions based on environmental data available in the early stages of a disaster. It is evident from Fukushima and similar accidents that classical research methods involving statistical methodologies that require rigorous experimental design and complex data sets are too cumbersome and delay important actions that may be critical in the early stages of an environmental disaster. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:680-682. © 2016 SETAC. © 2016 SETAC.

The Complex Interaction between Home Environment, Socioeconomic Status, Maternal IQ and Early Child Neurocognitive Development: A Multivariate Analysis of Data Collected in a Newborn Cohort Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luca Ronfani

Full Text Available The relative role of socioeconomic status (SES, home environment and maternal intelligence, as factors affecting child cognitive development in early childhood is still unclear. The aim of this study is to analyze the association of SES, home environment and maternal IQ with child neurodevelopment at 18 months.The data were collected prospectively in the PHIME study, a newborn cohort study carried out in Italy between 2007 and 2010. Maternal nonverbal abilities (IQ were evaluated using the Standard Progressive Matrices, a version of the Raven's Progressive Matrices; a direct evaluation of the home environment was carried out with the AIRE instrument, designed using the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment model; the socioeconomic characteristics were evaluated using the SES index which takes into account parents occupation, type of employment, educational level, homeownership. The study outcome was child neurodevelopment evaluated at 18 months, with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development Third Edition (BSID III. Linear regression analyses and mediation analyses were carried out to evaluate the association between the three exposures, and the scaled scores of the three main scales of BSID III (cognitive, language and motor scale, with adjustment for a wide range of potential explanatory variables.Data from 502 mother-child pairs were analyzed. Mediation analysis showed a relationship between SES and maternal IQ, with a complete mediation effect of home environment in affecting cognitive and language domains. A direct significant effect of maternal IQ on the BSID III motor development scale and the mediation effect of home environment were found.Our results show that home environment was the variable with greater influence on neurodevelopment at 18 months. The observation of how parents and children interact in the home context is crucial to adequately evaluate early child development.

The hELENa project - I. Stellar populations of early-type galaxies linked with local environment and galaxy mass

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Sybilska, A.; Lisker, T.; Kuntschner, H.; Vazdekis, A.; van de Ven, G.; Peletier, R.; Falcón-Barroso, J.; Vijayaraghavan, R.; Janz, J.

2017-09-01

We present the first in a series of papers in The role of Environment in shaping Low-mass Early-type Nearby galaxies (hELENa) project. In this paper, we combine our sample of 20 low-mass early types (dEs) with 258 massive early types (ETGs) from the ATLAS3D survey - all observed with the SAURON integral field unit - to investigate early-type galaxies' stellar population scaling relations and the dependence of the population properties on local environment, extended to the low-σ regime of dEs. The ages in our sample show more scatter at lower σ values, indicative of less massive galaxies being affected by the environment to a higher degree. The shape of the age-σ relations for cluster versus non-cluster galaxies suggests that cluster environment speeds up the placing of galaxies on the red sequence. While the scaling relations are tighter for cluster than for the field/group objects, we find no evidence for a difference in average population characteristics of the two samples. We investigate the properties of our sample in the Virgo cluster as a function of number density (rather than simple clustrocentric distance) and find that dE ages correlate with the local density such that galaxies in regions of lower density are younger, likely because they are later arrivals to the cluster or have experienced less pre-processing in groups, and consequently used up their gas reservoir more recently. Overall, dE properties correlate more strongly with density than those of massive ETGs, which was expected as less massive galaxies are more susceptible to external influences.

Studies of volatiles and organic materials in early terrestrial and present-day outer solar system environments

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Sagan, Carl; Thompson, W. Reid; Chyba, Christopher F.; Khare, B. N.

1991-01-01

A review and partial summary of projects within several areas of research generally involving the origin, distribution, chemistry, and spectral/dielectric properties of volatiles and organic materials in the outer solar system and early terrestrial environments are presented. The major topics covered include: (1) impact delivery of volatiles and organic compounds to the early terrestrial planets; (2) optical constants measurements; (3) spectral classification, chemical processes, and distribution of materials; and (4) radar properties of ice, hydrocarbons, and organic heteropolymers.

THE SLACS SURVEY. VIII. THE RELATION BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT AND INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Treu, Tommaso; Gavazzi, Raphael; Gorecki, Alexia; Marshall, Philip J.; Koopmans, Leon V. E.; Bolton, Adam S.; Moustakas, Leonidas A.; Burles, Scott

2009-01-01

We study the relation between the internal structure of early-type galaxies and their environment using 70 strong gravitational lenses from the SLACS Survey. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database is used to determine two measures of overdensity of galaxies around each lens-the projected

E-Books in the Early Literacy Environment: Is There Added Value for Vocabulary Development?

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Roskos, Kathleen A.; Sullivan, Shannon; Simpson, Danielle; Zuzolo, Nicole

2016-01-01

Using a theory of affordances, this study examines the introduction of e-books into the early literacy environment as resources that can increase children's opportunity for learning vocabulary. Added value was observed under conditions of (1) book browsing, (2) instruction, and (3) a print-only condition. A total of 33 4-year-olds (18 boys, 15…

Early Childhood Educators' Use of Natural Outdoor Settings as Learning Environments: An Exploratory Study of Beliefs, Practices, and Barriers

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Ernst, Julie

2014-01-01

In efforts to encourage use of natural outdoor settings as learning environments within early childhood education, survey research was conducted with 46 early childhood educators from northern Minnesota (United States) to explore their beliefs and practices regarding natural outdoor settings, as well investigate predictors of and barriers to the…

Early-type galaxies: mass-size relation at z ˜ 1.3 for different environments

Science.gov (United States)

Raichoor, A.; Mei, S.; Stanford, S. A.; Holden, B. P.; Nakata, F.; Rosati, P.; Shankar, F.; Tanaka, M.; Ford, H.; Huertas-Company, M.; Illingworth, G.; Kodama, T.; Postman, M.; Rettura, A.; Blakeslee, J. P.; Demarco, R.; Jee, M. J.; White, R. L.

2011-12-01

We combine multi-wavelength data of the Lynx superstructure and GOODS/CDF-S to build a sample of 75 visually selected early-type galaxies (ETGs), spanning different environments (cluster/group/field) at z ˜ 1.3. By estimating their mass, age (SED fitting, with a careful attention to the stellar population model used) and size, we are able to probe the dependence on the environment of the mass-size relation. We find that, for ETGs with 10^{10} < M / M_⊙ < 10^{11.5}, (1) the mass-size relation in the field did not evolve overall from z ˜ 1.3 to present; (2) the mass-size relation in cluster/group environments at z ˜ 1.3 lies at smaller sizes than the local mass-size relation (R_{e,z ˜ 1.3}/R_{e,z = 0} ˜ 0.6-0.8).

Early childhood environment related to microbial exposure and the occurrence of atopic disease at school age.

Science.gov (United States)

de Meer, G; Janssen, N A H; Brunekreef, B

2005-05-01

There is a growing body of evidence that the early childhood environment with respect to day care attendance, older siblings, pet ownership, and early life airway infections may protect from developing atopic disease. Few studies have distinguished between atopic sensitization and symptoms, and none have evaluated independent contributions for all of these different environmental conditions. Examine independent effects on atopic sensitization and symptoms of day care attendance, older siblings, pet ownership, and early infancy's airway disease. A cross-sectional survey among 8-13-year-old school children with complete data for 1555 children. After adjustment for confounders, atopic sensitization occurred less frequently in children that had attended a day care centre (OR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55-0.98) or had a cat or dog before 2 years of age (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.61-0.99). Having older siblings yielded a nonsignificant trend towards protection (OR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.70-1.11). For symptoms, there was no relation with having older sibs, day care attendance and pet ownership, although there was a trend towards protection for the combination of atopy and symptoms. In contrast, children with doctors' treated airway disease before age 2, more frequently reported recent symptoms of wheeze, asthma, rhinitis, or dermatitis (all P atopic sensitization. Protection against symptoms only occurred if atopic sensitization was present as well.

Early subtropical forest growth is driven by community mean trait values and functional diversity rather than the abiotic environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kröber, Wenzel; Li, Ying; Härdtle, Werner; Ma, Keping; Schmid, Bernhard; Schmidt, Karsten; Scholten, Thomas; Seidler, Gunnar; von Oheimb, Goddert; Welk, Erik; Wirth, Christian; Bruelheide, Helge

2015-09-01

While functional diversity (FD) has been shown to be positively related to a number of ecosystem functions including biomass production, it may have a much less pronounced effect than that of environmental factors or species-specific properties. Leaf and wood traits can be considered particularly relevant to tree growth, as they reflect a trade-off between resources invested into growth and persistence. Our study focussed on the degree to which early forest growth was driven by FD, the environment (11 variables characterizing abiotic habitat conditions), and community-weighted mean (CWM) values of species traits in the context of a large-scale tree diversity experiment (BEF-China). Growth rates of trees with respect to crown diameter were aggregated across 231 plots (hosting between one and 23 tree species) and related to environmental variables, FD, and CWM, the latter two of which were based on 41 plant functional traits. The effects of each of the three predictor groups were analyzed separately by mixed model optimization and jointly by variance partitioning. Numerous single traits predicted plot-level tree growth, both in the models based on CWMs and FD, but none of the environmental variables was able to predict tree growth. In the best models, environment and FD explained only 4 and 31% of variation in crown growth rates, respectively, while CWM trait values explained 42%. In total, the best models accounted for 51% of crown growth. The marginal role of the selected environmental variables was unexpected, given the high topographic heterogeneity and large size of the experiment, as was the significant impact of FD, demonstrating that positive diversity effects already occur during the early stages in tree plantations.

Secure Infant-Mother Attachment Buffers the Effect of Early-Life Stress on Age of Menarche.

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Sung, Sooyeon; Simpson, Jeffry A; Griskevicius, Vladas; Kuo, Sally I-Chun; Schlomer, Gabriel L; Belsky, Jay

2016-05-01

Prior research indicates that being reared in stressful environments is associated with earlier onset of menarche in girls. In this research, we examined (a) whether these effects are driven by exposure to certain dimensions of stress (harshness or unpredictability) during the first 5 years of life and (b) whether the negative effects of stress on the timing of menarche are buffered by secure infant-mother attachment. Results revealed that (a) exposure to greater harshness (but not unpredictability) during the first 5 years of life predicted earlier menarche and (b) secure infant-mother attachment buffered girls from this effect of harsh environments. By connecting attachment research to its evolutionary foundations, these results illuminate how environmental stressors and relationships early in life jointly affect pubertal timing. © The Author(s) 2016.

Resilience of the Nexus of Competitive Water Consumption between Human Society and Environment Development: Regime Shifts and Early Warning Signals

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Z.; Liu, P.; Feng, M.; Zhang, J.

2017-12-01

Based on the modeling of the water supply, power generation and environment (WPE) nexus by Feng et al. (2016), a refined theoretical model of competitive water consumption between human society and environment has been presented in this study, examining the role of technology advancement and social environmental awareness growth-induced pollution mitigation to the environment as a mechanism for the establishment and maintenance of the coexistence of both higher social water consumption and improved environment condition. By coupling environmental and social dynamics, both of which are represented by water consumption quantity, this study shows the possibility of sustainable situation of the social-environmental system when the benefit of technology offsets the side effect (pollution) of social development to the environment. Additionally, regime shifts could be triggered by gradually increased pollution rate, climate change-induced natural resources reduction and breakdown of the social environmental awareness. Therefore, in order to foresee the pending abrupt regime shifts of the system, early warning signals, including increasing variance and autocorrelation, have been examined when the system is undergoing stochastic disturbance. ADDIN EN.REFLIST Feng, M. et al., 2016. Modeling the nexus across water supply, power generation and environment systems using the system dynamics approach: Hehuang Region, China. J. Hydrol., 543: 344-359.

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: Consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Martin Hage; Johnsson, Jörgen I.; Winberg, Svante

2015-01-01

-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural...... suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess...... characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had...

Prediction and evaluation method of wind environment in the early design stage using BIM-based CFD simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sumi; Song, Doosam

2010-01-01

Drastic urbanization and manhattanization are causing various problems in wind environment. This study suggests a CFD simulation method to evaluate wind environment in the early design stage of high-rise buildings. The CFD simulation of this study is not a traditional in-depth simulation, but a method to immediately evaluate wind environment for each design alternative and provide guidelines for design modification. Thus, the CFD simulation of this study to evaluate wind environments uses BIM-based CFD tools to utilize building models in the design stage. This study examined previous criteria to evaluate wind environment for pedestrians around buildings and selected evaluation criteria applicable to the CFD simulation method of this study. Furthermore, proper mesh generation method and CPU time were reviewed to find a meaningful CFD simulation result for determining optimal design alternative from the perspective of wind environment in the design stage. In addition, this study is to suggest a wind environment evaluation method through a BIM-based CFD simulation.

Effects of Home Environment and Center-Based Child Care Quality on Children's Language, Communication, and Literacy Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Pinto, Ana Isabel; Pessanha, Manuela; Aguiar, Cecilia

2013-01-01

This study examined the joint effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language, communication, and early literacy development, while also considering prior developmental level. Participants were 95 children (46 boys), assessed as toddlers (mean age = 26.33 months; Time 1) and preschoolers (mean age = 68.71…

Influence of social environment on caries prevalence in early childhood

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tušek Ivan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Early childhood caries (ECC is a special form of caries that affects decideous teeth with rapid progression and numerous complications. Objective. The aim of the study was to define the prevalence of ECC in children of the South Bačka area, the importance of social environment for the prevalence and severity of ECC, and define the model for its prevention. Methods. The survey was the cross-sectional analytical study in the 10% sample of children, aged 13-64 months, different sex, social status and human environment. Severity and prevalence of ECC were assessed by dental check-ups. The epidemiological data were obtained by the interview of parents. The tests of significant statistical differences were performed by the analysis variance and χ2 (p<0.05 test, as well as interdependence of ECC and single characteristics that could be a predictor of the disease by the logistic regression. Results. The prevalence of ECC was 30.5%. The highest disease frequency was found in children of male sex (35.1%, out of kindergardens (54.2%, in the third and the next born child in the family (46.9% and in part-time employed mothers (47.2% who had only elementary education (59.3% and were poorly informed about oral health. The highest prevalence (47.1% of ECC was found in children whose parents had the lowest income per month. Type 1 of ECC was the most presented one (75.0%. Conclusion. The higher prevalence and more severe ECC were found in the third and the next born male child from rural environment.

Cognitive load effects on early visual perceptual processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ping; Forte, Jason; Sewell, David; Carter, Olivia

2018-05-01

Contrast-based early visual processing has largely been considered to involve autonomous processes that do not need the support of cognitive resources. However, as spatial attention is known to modulate early visual perceptual processing, we explored whether cognitive load could similarly impact contrast-based perception. We used a dual-task paradigm to assess the impact of a concurrent working memory task on the performance of three different early visual tasks. The results from Experiment 1 suggest that cognitive load can modulate early visual processing. No effects of cognitive load were seen in Experiments 2 or 3. Together, the findings provide evidence that under some circumstances cognitive load effects can penetrate the early stages of visual processing and that higher cognitive function and early perceptual processing may not be as independent as was once thought.

The Effect of Early Entrepreneurship Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huber, Laura Rosendahl; Sloof, Randolph; Van Praag, Mirjam

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of early entrepreneurship education. To this end, we conduct a randomized field experiment to evaluate a leading entrepreneurship education program that is taught worldwide in the final grade of primary school. We focus on pupils׳ development...... or negative effects. Because these earlier studies all pertain to entrepreneurship education for adolescents, our result tentatively suggests that non-cognitive entrepreneurial skills are best developed at an early age. As the entrepreneurship program has various features besides its entrepreneurship content...

Program to assess the effects of extraordinary environments on radioactive material shipping systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandoval, R.P.; Reese, R.T.

1980-01-01

The highlights of the Transportation System Safety Evaluation (TSSE) Program at Sandia National Laboratories are reviewed and the origins of the program and the relationships to other programs addressing safety concerns are outlined. The areas of current activity in the assessment of possible effects an intentional act or extreme environment could have on nuclear material shipping systems are described. Early information has been obtained on the formation of aerosols, and a significant body of experimentally determined source term data will be available for radiological consequence evaluations

Chaotic home environment is associated with reduced infant processing speed under high task demands.

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Tomalski, Przemysław; Marczuk, Karolina; Pisula, Ewa; Malinowska, Anna; Kawa, Rafał; Niedźwiecka, Alicja

2017-08-01

Early adversity has profound long-term consequences for child development across domains. The effects of early adversity on structural and functional brain development were shown for infants under 12 months of life. However, the causal mechanisms of these effects remain relatively unexplored. Using a visual habituation task we investigated whether chaotic home environment may affect processing speed in 5.5 month-old infants (n=71). We found detrimental effects of chaos on processing speed for complex but not for simple visual stimuli. No effects of socio-economic status on infant processing speed were found although the sample was predominantly middle class. Our results indicate that chaotic early environment may adversely affect processing speed in early infancy, but only when greater cognitive resources need to be deployed. The study highlights an attractive avenue for research on the mechanisms linking home environment with the development of attention control. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Language- and Literacy-Focused Professional Development on Early Educators and Children

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Markussen-Brown, Justin; Juhl, Carsten Bogh; Piasta, Shayne B.

2017-01-01

Professional development (PD) is increasingly used to improve early childhood educators' skills and lcnowledge in providing quality language and emergent literacy environments for children. However, the literature does not clearly indicate the extent to which such efforts reach their goals......, or whether improvements in educator outcomes translate to learning gains for children. In the current synthesis, we conducted meta-analyses to evaluate the effects of language- and literacy-focused PD on process quality, structural quality, and educator knowledge as primary outcomes. Furthermore, we...... estimated effects for three child outcomes: receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge. PD produced a medium effect for process quality and a large effect for structural quality but no effect for educator knowledge. PD also produced a small to medium effect for phonological...

Evolution of the Early Triassic marine depositional environment in the Croatian Dinarides

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Aljinović, Dunja; Smirčić, Duje; Horacek, Micha; Richoz, Sylvain; Krystyn, Leopold; Kolar-Jurkovšek, Tea; Jurkovšek, Bogdan

2014-05-01

In the central part of the Dinarides in Croatia, the Early Triassic depositional sequence was investigated by means of litho-, bio- and chemostratigraphy at locality Plavno (ca. 1.000m thick). Conodont and δ13C-isotope analysis were a powerfull tool to determine stage and substage boundaries. The succession begins with the second conodont zone of the Griesbachian Isarcicella staeschei and I. isarcica with low δ13C-values and a steadily increase towards the Griesbachian-Dienerian boundary. Around that boundary a minor, short, negative excursion occurs. In the Dienerian the δ13C-values increase with a steepening of the slope towards the Dienerian-Smithian boundary. Around that boundary a maximum of +5o in shallow water carbonate occurs followed by a steep and continuous drop to low, often negative values in the Smithian. Just before the Smithian-Spathian boundary a steep rise to a second maximum is documented. It is followed by decline in the Spathian and a gentle increase to a rounded peak at the Spathian-Anisian boundary. In lithological sense Plavno succession has threefold division: 1) carbonates representing the oldest Early Triassic strata (early Griesbachian); 2) dominantly red clastics (shales, siltstones and sandstones) with intercalation of oncoid/ooid or bioclast rich grainstones (uppermost Griesbachian, Dienerian and Smithian) and 3) dominantly grey carbonaceous lime mudstones, marls and calcisiltites with ammonoids representing Spathian strata. In the oldest strata (Griesbachian) in macrocrystalline subhedral dolomites rare microspheres and foraminifers Earlandia and Cornuspira point to the stressful conditions related to the end Permian mass extinction. In the uppermost Griesbachian and Dienerian strata, within dominantly clastic deposition, rare coarse oncoliths with typical microbial cortices occur. Their presence fits to the interpretation of biotical-induced precipitation related to PTB extinction and can suggest still stressful condition. The

Nonlocal non-Markovian effects in dephasing environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Dong; Wang An-Min

2014-01-01

We study the nonlocal non-Markovian effects through local interactions between two subsystems and the corresponding two environments. It has been found that the initial correlations between two environments can turn a Markovian to a non-Markovian regime with extra control on the local interaction time. We further research the nonlocal non-Markovian effects from two situations: without extra control, the nonlocal non-Markovian effects only appear under the condition that two local dynamics are non-Markovian–non-Markovian (both of the two local dynamics are non-Markovian) or Markovian–non-Markovian, but not under the condition of Markovian–Markovian; with extra control, the nonlocal non-Markovian effects can occur under the condition of Markovian–Markovian. It shows that the function of correlations between two environments has an upper bound, which makes a flow of information from the environment back to the global system beginning finitely earlier than that back to one of the two local systems, not infinitely. Then, we proposed two special ways to distribute classical correlations between two environments without initial correlations. Finally, from numerical solutions in the spin star configuration, we found that the self-correlation (internal correlation) of each environment promotes the nonlocal non-Markovian effects. (general)

Assessing the effects of ultraviolet radiation on the photosynthetic potential in Archean marine environments

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Avila-Alonso, Dailé; Baetens, Jan M.; Cardenas, Rolando; de Baets, Bernard

2017-07-01

In this work, the photosynthesis model presented by Avila et al. in 2013 is extended and more scenarios inhabited by ancient cyanobacteria are investigated to quantify the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on their photosynthetic potential in marine environments of the Archean eon. We consider ferrous ions as blockers of UV during the Early Archean, while the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a is used to quantify the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by photosynthetic organisms. UV could have induced photoinhibition at the water surface, thereby strongly affecting the species with low light use efficiency. A higher photosynthetic potential in early marine environments was shown than in the Late Archean as a consequence of the attenuation of UVC and UVB by iron ions, which probably played an important role in the protection of ancient free-floating bacteria from high-intensity UV radiation. Photosynthetic organisms in Archean coastal and ocean environments were probably abundant in the first 5 and 25 m of the water column, respectively. However, species with a relatively high efficiency in the use of light could have inhabited ocean waters up to a depth of 200 m and show a Deep Chlorophyll Maximum near 60 m depth. We show that the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, both UV and visible light, could have determined the vertical distribution of Archean marine photosynthetic organisms.

Effects of Early and Recent Maternal Employment on Children from Low-Income Families.

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Vandell, Deborah Lowe; Ramanan, Janaki

1992-01-01

Early (during the child's first three years) and recent (during the previous three years) maternal employment were associated with less family poverty and higher scores on measures of home environment. Early maternal employment predicted second grade children's math achievement, and recent maternal employment predicted their reading achievement.…

Early occurring and continuing effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, B.R.; Hahn, F.F.

1985-01-01

This chapter deals with health-risk estimates for early and continuing effects of exposure to ionizing radiations that could be associated with light water nuclear power plants accidents. Early and continuing effects considered are nonneoplastic diseases and symptoms that normally occur soon after radiation exposure, but may also occur after years have passed. They are generally associated with relatively high (greater than 1 Gy) doses. For most of the effects considered, there is a practical dose threshold. Organs of primary interest, because of their high sensitivity or the likelihood of receiving a large radiation dose, are bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, thyroid glands, lungs, skin, gonads, and eyes. In utero exposure of the fetus is also considered. New data and modeling techniques available since publication of the Reactor Safety Study (WASH 1400, 1975) were used along with data cited in the Study to develop improved health-risk models for morbidity and mortality. The new models are applicable to a broader range of accident scenarios, provide a more detailed treatment of dose protraction effects, and include morbidity effects not considered in the Reactor Safety Study. 115 references, 20 figures, 19 tables

Beliefs Associated with Support for Child-Centred Learning Environment among Hong Kong Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers

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Cheung, Sum Kwing; Ling, Elsa Ka-wei; Leung, Suzannie Kit Ying

2017-01-01

The physical, social and temporal dimensions of the classroom environment have an important role in children's learning. This study examines the level of support for child-centred learning, and its associated beliefs, that is provided by Hong Kong's pre-service early childhood teachers. Two hundred and seventy-five students from a pre-service…

Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Organization Concept

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Edwards, David L.; Burns, Howard D.; Miller, Sharon K.; Porter, Ron; Schneider, Todd A.; Spann, James F.; Xapsos, Michael

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while also expanding its mission to explore the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. Each new destination presents an opportunity to increase our knowledge of the solar system and the unique environments for each mission target. NASA has multiple technical and science discipline areas specializing in specific space environments disciplines that will help serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline areas, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environments and spacecraft effects (SENSE) organization. This SENSE organization includes disciplines such as space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, effects on spacecraft materials and systems and the transition of research information into application. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization will be composed of Technical Working Groups (TWG). These technical working groups will survey customers and users, generate products, and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, engineering effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Engineering effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system and system-level selection and the testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with the numerous programs within NASA, other federal

Does Apolipoprotein e4 Status Moderate the Association of Family Environment with Long-Term Child Functioning following Early Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury? A Preliminary Study.

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Treble-Barna, Amery; Zang, Huaiyu; Zhang, Nanhua; Martin, Lisa J; Yeates, Keith Owen; Taylor, H Gerry; Wade, Shari L; Kurowski, Brad G

2016-09-01

To examine whether apolipoprotein e4 (APOE) status moderates the association of family environment with child functioning following early traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sixty-five children with moderate to severe TBI and 70 children with orthopedic injury (OI) completed assessments 6, 12, 18 months, and 3.5 and 6.8 years post injury. DNA was extracted from saliva samples and genotyped for APOE e4 status. Linear mixed models examined moderating effects of APOE e4 status on associations between two family environment factors (parenting style, home environment) and three child outcomes (executive functioning, behavioral adjustment, adaptive functioning). Children with TBI who were carriers of the e4 allele showed poorer adaptive functioning relative to non-carriers with TBI and children with OI in the context of low authoritarianism. At high levels of authoritarianism, non-carriers with TBI showed the poorest adaptive functioning among groups. There were no main effects or interactions involving APOE and executive functioning or behavioral adjustment. The APOE e4 allele was detrimental for long-term adaptive functioning in the context of positive parenting, whereas in less optimal parenting contexts, being a non-carrier was detrimental. We provide preliminary evidence for an interaction of APOE e4 status and parenting style in predicting long-term outcomes following early TBI. (JINS, 2016, 22, 859-864).

Early handling and repeated cross-fostering have opposite effect on mouse emotionality.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra eLuchetti

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Early life events have a crucial role in programming the individual phenotype and exposure to traumatic experiences during infancy can increase later risk for a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, including mood and anxiety disorders. Animal models of postnatal stress have been developed in rodents to explore molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed short and long lasting neurobiological effects of such manipulations. The main aim of this study was to compare the behavioral and hormonal phenotype of young and adult animals exposed to different postnatal treatments. Outbred mice were exposed to i the classical Handling protocol (H: 15 min-day of separation from the mother from day 1 to 14 of life or to ii a Repeated Cross-Fostering protocol (RCF: adoption of litters from day 1 to 4 of life by different dams. Handled mice received more maternal care in infancy and showed the already described reduced emotionality at adulthood. Repeated cross fostered animals did not differ for maternal care received, but showed enhanced sensitivity to separation from the mother in infancy and altered respiratory response to 6%CO2 in breathing air in comparison with controls. Abnormal respiratory responses to hypercapnia are commonly found among humans with panic disorders, and point to RCF-induced instability of the early environment as a valid developmental model for panic disorder. The comparisons between short- and long-term effects of postnatal handling vs. RCF indicate that different types of early adversities are associated with different behavioral profiles, and evoke psychopathologies that can be distinguished according to the neurobiological systems disrupted by early-life manipulations.

Evolution of Late-type Galaxies in a Cluster Environment: Effects of High-speed Multiple Encounters with Early-type Galaxies

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Hwang, Jeong-Sun; Park, Changbom; Banerjee, Arunima; Hwang, Ho Seong

2018-04-01

Late-type galaxies falling into a cluster would evolve being influenced by the interactions with both the cluster and the nearby cluster member galaxies. Most numerical studies, however, tend to focus on the effects of the former with little work done on those of the latter. We thus perform a numerical study on the evolution of a late-type galaxy interacting with neighboring early-type galaxies at high speed using hydrodynamic simulations. Based on the information obtained from the Coma cluster, we set up the simulations for the case where a Milky Way–like late-type galaxy experiences six consecutive collisions with twice as massive early-type galaxies having hot gas in their halos at the closest approach distances of 15–65 h ‑1 kpc at the relative velocities of 1500–1600 km s‑1. Our simulations show that the evolution of the late-type galaxy can be significantly affected by the accumulated effects of the high-speed multiple collisions with the early-type galaxies, such as on cold gas content and star formation activity of the late-type galaxy, particularly through the hydrodynamic interactions between cold disk and hot gas halos. We find that the late-type galaxy can lose most of its cold gas after the six collisions and have more star formation activity during the collisions. By comparing our simulation results with those of galaxy–cluster interactions, we claim that the role of the galaxy–galaxy interactions on the evolution of late-type galaxies in clusters could be comparable with that of the galaxy–cluster interactions, depending on the dynamical history.

Evaluation of the effect of early clinical exposure on professional attitude of dental students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in 2011-2012

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H. Aghili

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction : Learning dentistry could have many tension and anxieties like encountering to a strange clinical environment. Early clinical exposure (ECE is supposed to control these stresses. ECE program is an increasingly widespread component of educational curriculum. This study aims to determine the effect of early clinical exposure on the attitude of dental students’ towards dental education and profession. Methods: An analytic study was performed on all 72 dental students studying basic science at Faculty of Dentistry of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences consisted of a short term course of introduction to clinical environment in academic year of 2011-2012. Every 12 students attended in an one day ECE course from 8 AM to 1 PM. Students ' attitude towards dental profession and education were assessed by a questionnaire included 25 items before and after the course .For data analysis descriptive paired-t-test was used. Results: All students completed the questionnaires. Students' attitude towards dental education and profession was evaluated. Mean score of students' attitude before and after exposure to clinical environment were 94.6 and 100.5 respectively .Significant differences were found in the students' attitude before and after the course (P=0.001 Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we found a positive effect of early clinical exposure on attitudes of first and second year dental students. Demographic variations had an effect on the students' attitude .Therefore we suggest that early clinical exposure should be added to educational curriculum of dental students.

Petrochronology in constraining early Archean Earth processes and environments: Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa

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Grosch, Eugene

2017-04-01

Analytical and petrological software developments over the past decade have seen rapid innovation in high-spatial resolution petrological techniques, for example, laser-ablation ICP-MS, secondary ion microprobe (SIMS, nano-SIMS), thermodynamic modelling and electron microprobe microscale mapping techniques (e.g. XMapTools). This presentation will focus on the application of petrochronology to ca. 3.55 to 3.33 billion-year-old metavolcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Onverwacht Group, shedding light on the earliest geologic evolution of the Paleoarchean Barberton greenstone belt (BGB) of South Africa. The field, scientific drilling and petrological research conducted over the past 8 years, aims to illustrate how: (a) LA-ICP-MS and SIMS U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology has helped identify the earliest tectono-sedimentary basin and sediment sources in the BGB, as well as reconstructing geodynamic processes as early as ca. 3.432 billion-years ago; (b) in-situ SIMS multiple sulphur isotope analysis of sulphides across various early Archean rock units help to reconstruct atmospheric, surface and subsurface environments on early Archean Earth and (c) the earliest candidate textural traces for subsurface microbial life can be investigated by in-situ LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of titanite, micro-XANES Fe-speciation analysis and metamorphic microscale mapping. Collectively, petrochronology combined with high-resolution field mapping studies, is a powerful multi-disciplinary approach towards deciphering petrogenetic and geodynamic processes preserved in the Paleoarchean Barberton greenstone belt of South Africa, with implications for early Archean Earth evolution.

A Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Early vs Late Tracheostomy.

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Liu, C Carrie; Rudmik, Luke

2016-10-01

The timing of tracheostomy in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation is controversial. An important consideration that is currently missing in the literature is an evaluation of the economic impact of an early tracheostomy strategy vs a late tracheostomy strategy. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the early tracheostomy strategy vs the late tracheostomy strategy. This economic analysis was performed using a decision tree model with a 90-day time horizon. The economic perspective was that of the US health care third-party payer. The primary outcome was the incremental cost per tracheostomy avoided. Probabilities were obtained from meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials. Costs were obtained from the published literature and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project database. A multivariate probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed to account for uncertainty surrounding mean values used in the reference case. The reference case demonstrated that the cost of the late tracheostomy strategy was $45 943.81 for 0.36 of effectiveness. The cost of the early tracheostomy strategy was $31 979.12 for 0.19 of effectiveness. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the late tracheostomy strategy compared with the early tracheostomy strategy was $82 145.24 per tracheostomy avoided. With a willingness-to-pay threshold of $50 000, the early tracheostomy strategy is cost-effective with 56% certainty. The adaptation of an early vs a late tracheostomy strategy depends on the priorities of the decision-maker. Up to a willingness-to-pay threshold of $80 000 per tracheostomy avoided, the early tracheostomy strategy has a higher probability of being the more cost-effective intervention.

Parenting Supports for Early Vocabulary Development: Specific Effects of Sensitivity and Stimulation through Infancy

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Vallotton, Claire; Mastergeorge, Ann; Foster, Tricia; Decker, Kalli B.; Ayoub, Catherine

2016-01-01

Growing recognition of disparities in early childhood language environments prompt examination of parent-child interactions which support vocabulary. Research links parental sensitivity and cognitive stimulation to child language, but has not explicitly contrasted their effects, nor examined how effects may change over time. We examined maternal sensitivity and stimulation throughout infancy using two observational methods – ratings of parents’ interaction qualities, and coding of discrete parenting behaviors - to assess the relative importance of these qualities to child vocabulary over time, and determine whether mothers make related changes in response to children’s development. Participants were 146 infants and mothers, assessed when infants were 14, 24, and 36 months. At 14 months, sensitivity had a stronger effect on vocabulary than did stimulation, but the effect of stimulation grew throughout toddlerhood. Mothers’ cognitive stimulation grew over time, whereas sensitivity remained stable. While discrete parenting behaviors changed with child age, there was no evidence of trade-offs between sensitive and stimulating behaviors, and no evidence that sensitivity moderated the effect of stimulation on child vocabulary. Findings demonstrate specificity of timing in the link between parenting qualities and child vocabulary which could inform early parent interventions, and supports a reconceptualization of the nature and measurement of parental sensitivity. PMID:28111526

Innovative look at dairy heifer rearing: Effect of prenatal and post-natal environment on later performance.

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Van Eetvelde, M; Opsomer, G

2017-08-01

As heifer rearing is a costly investment, dairy farmers have been stimulated to maximize early growth of their calves, mainly by enhanced liquid feeding. However, the long-term effects of this "accelerated growth" are largely unknown. Studies recently performed at Ghent University indicate that in dairy cattle, certain maternal factors (such as young age and high milk yield) and environmental factors (such as high ambient temperatures) create a suboptimal environment for the developing foetus, altering the phenotype of the newborn calf. According to the "thrifty phenotype hypothesis," these metabolic alterations prepare the newborn for similar ("matching") conditions after birth, enhancing its survival during periods of limited feeding. Yet, when an abundance of nutrients is available in post-natal life (e.g., during periods of enhanced feeding), the "mismatch" between pre- and post-natal environment results in an early catch-up growth, with potential negative consequences. The aim of the article was to discuss this mismatch between pre- and post-natal environment in dairy calves. Previous studies, especially in human medicine, have shown catch-up growth to be associated with obesity, fertility problems, metabolic diseases and a reduced lifespan. Hence, we hypothesize that, by applying programs of accelerated growth, our current management system accentuates the mismatch between the pre- and post-natal environment in dairy calves. We can conclude that, although more research is necessary, the current findings point towards a more individual approach when rearing dairy heifers. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Comparing Cultural Differences in Two Quality Measures in Chinese Kindergartens: The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised and the Kindergarten Quality Rating System

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Hu, Bi Ying

2015-01-01

This study examined the degrees of congruence between two early childhood evaluation systems on various quality concepts: the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) and Zhejiang's Kindergarten Quality Rating System (KQRS). Analysis of variance and post hoc least significant difference tests were employed to show the extent to…

The Greenhouse Effect and Built Environment Education.

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Greenall Gough, Annette; Gough, Noel

The greenhouse effect has always existed. Without the greenhouse effect, Earth could well have the oven-like environment of Venus or the deep-freeze environment of Mars. There is some debate about how much the Earth's surface temperature will rise given a certain amount of increase in the amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous…

Effects of chronic iTBS-rTMS and enriched environment on visual cortex early critical period and visual pattern discrimination in dark-reared rats.

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Castillo-Padilla, Diana V; Funke, Klaus

2016-01-01

Early cortical critical period resembles a state of enhanced neuronal plasticity enabling the establishment of specific neuronal connections during first sensory experience. Visual performance with regard to pattern discrimination is impaired if the cortex is deprived from visual input during the critical period. We wondered how unspecific activation of the visual cortex before closure of the critical period using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could affect the critical period and the visual performance of the experimental animals. Would it cause premature closure of the plastic state and thus worsen experience-dependent visual performance, or would it be able to preserve plasticity? Effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) were compared with those of an enriched environment (EE) during dark-rearing (DR) from birth. Rats dark-reared in a standard cage showed poor improvement in a visual pattern discrimination task, while rats housed in EE or treated with iTBS showed a performance indistinguishable from rats reared in normal light/dark cycle. The behavioral effects were accompanied by correlated changes in the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and atypical PKC (PKCζ/PKMζ), two factors controlling stabilization of synaptic potentiation. It appears that not only nonvisual sensory activity and exercise but also cortical activation induced by rTMS has the potential to alleviate the effects of DR on cortical development, most likely due to stimulation of BDNF synthesis and release. As we showed previously, iTBS reduced the expression of parvalbumin in inhibitory cortical interneurons, indicating that modulation of the activity of fast-spiking interneurons contributes to the observed effects of iTBS. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The wider social environment and changes in self-reported quality of life in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence: a cohort study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schneiders Josien

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social capital have been associated with adolescent well-being, but the majority of studies were cross-sectional, and the time window over which the neighbourhood may impact on development is unknown. Therefore, the contribution of the neighbourhood environment to adolescents' quality of life and the course of these effects during the period of transition from childhood to early adolescence was examined. Methods A cohort of adolescents living in Maastricht (The Netherlands, with a mean age of 11.2 years at baseline and of 13.5 years at follow-up was followed. Adolescents who responded both at baseline and at follow-up were included in the analysis (n = 475. Multilevel regression analyses estimated neighbourhood effects while controlling for individual-level effects. Neighbourhood-level socioeconomic and social capital variables, individual-level confounders, and baseline values of the outcome measures were included in the models. Results None of the neighbourhood factors was associated with changes in general health or mental health over the two-year period. However, two-year exposure to greater disparity between individual level socioeconomic status on the one hand and neighbourhood level of socioeconomic status on the other (e.g. high socioeconomic status adolescents living in deprived neighbourhoods and vice versa negatively impacted on self-esteem and satisfaction. Conclusion The neighbourhood environment per se does not contribute to change in quality of life during the transition to early adolescence. However, adolescents living in families whose socioeconomic status deviates from the mean level of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation may be negatively affected.

The wider social environment and changes in self-reported quality of life in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence: a cohort study

Science.gov (United States)

Drukker, Marjan; Kaplan, Charles; Schneiders, Josien; Feron, Frans JM; van Os, Jim

2006-01-01

Background Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social capital have been associated with adolescent well-being, but the majority of studies were cross-sectional, and the time window over which the neighbourhood may impact on development is unknown. Therefore, the contribution of the neighbourhood environment to adolescents' quality of life and the course of these effects during the period of transition from childhood to early adolescence was examined. Methods A cohort of adolescents living in Maastricht (The Netherlands), with a mean age of 11.2 years at baseline and of 13.5 years at follow-up was followed. Adolescents who responded both at baseline and at follow-up were included in the analysis (n = 475). Multilevel regression analyses estimated neighbourhood effects while controlling for individual-level effects. Neighbourhood-level socioeconomic and social capital variables, individual-level confounders, and baseline values of the outcome measures were included in the models. Results None of the neighbourhood factors was associated with changes in general health or mental health over the two-year period. However, two-year exposure to greater disparity between individual level socioeconomic status on the one hand and neighbourhood level of socioeconomic status on the other (e.g. high socioeconomic status adolescents living in deprived neighbourhoods and vice versa) negatively impacted on self-esteem and satisfaction. Conclusion The neighbourhood environment per se does not contribute to change in quality of life during the transition to early adolescence. However, adolescents living in families whose socioeconomic status deviates from the mean level of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation may be negatively affected. PMID:16707015

Effects of tributyltin on early life-stage, reproduction, and gonadal sex differentiation in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes).

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Horie, Yoshifumi; Yamagishi, Takahiro; Shintaku, Yoko; Iguchi, Taisen; Tatarazako, Norihisa

2018-07-01

Tributyltin, an organotin compound, was used worldwide as an antifouling agent in aquatic environments and there has been much concern about the toxicological and ecotoxicological properties of organotin compounds. Even though it has been prohibited worldwide, tributyltin is still detected at low concentrations in aquatic environments. Here we investigated the effects of tributyltin on the early life-stage, reproduction, and gonadal sex differentiation in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). In adults, exposure to tributyltin at 3.82 μg/L suppressed fecundity and fertility and increased mortality. At 10.48 μg/L all medaka died by the sixth day of exposure. Exposure to tributyltin during early life-stages induced no significant differences in mortality or embryonic development, but growth was suppressed in groups exposed to 0.13 and 0.68 μg/L. Furthermore, there was no abnormal gonadal development in Japanese medaka exposed to tributyltin. These results provide evidence of the negative effects of tributyltin on reproduction in a teleost fish. Tributyltin did not affect gonadal sex differentiation in Japanese medaka, but fecundity and fertility were suppressed, although it is not clear whether this suppression resulted from the endocrine-disrupting action of tributyltin or its toxicity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effectiveness of Blended Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Eryilmaz, Meltem

2015-01-01

The object of this experimental study is to measure the effectiveness of a blended learning environment which is laid out on the basis of features for face to face and online environments. The study was applied to 110 students who attend to Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey and take Introduction to Computers Course. During the application,…

Take off the heater: Utility effect and food environment effect in food consumption decisions

OpenAIRE

Lombardini-Riipinen, Chiara; Lankoski, Leena

2010-01-01

In this paper, we describe individual food consumption decisions as driven by a utility effect and a food environment effect. To outline the utility effect, we first develop a new theoretical model of individual food consumption. Next, we introduce the food environment effect by showing how the food environment can affect food consumption decisions and how this can skew the resulting food consumption vector. Finally, we analyse manipulations of the food environment as a potential form of poli...

Integrated and Early Childhood Education: Preparation for Social Development. Theme A: Relevant Provision for Early Childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Axton, J. H. M.

Factors which influence child development are listed and briefly discussed. These factors are (1) mother's childhood, (2) mother's age, (3) care during pregnancy and delivery, (4) early neonatal factors, (5) birth interval, (6) effect of repeated infection and malnutrition on brain growth and intellectual development, and (7) home environment. The…

A simplified model for calculating atmospheric radionuclide transport and early health effects from nuclear reactor accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madni, I.K.; Cazzoli, E.G.; Khatib-Rahbar, M.

1995-01-01

During certain hypothetical severe accidents in a nuclear power plant, radionuclides could be released to the environment as a plume. Prediction of the atmospheric dispersion and transport of these radionuclides is important for assessment of the risk to the public from such accidents. A simplified PC-based model was developed that predicts time-integrated air concentration of each radionuclide at any location from release as a function of time integrated source strength using the Gaussian plume model. The solution procedure involves direct analytic integration of air concentration equations over time and position, using simplified meteorology. The formulation allows for dry and wet deposition, radioactive decay and daughter buildup, reactor building wake effects, the inversion lid effect, plume rise due to buoyancy or momentum, release duration, and grass height. Based on air and ground concentrations of the radionuclides, the early dose to an individual is calculated via cloudshine, groundshine, and inhalation. The model also calculates early health effects based on the doses. This paper presents aspects of the model that would be of interest to the prediction of environmental flows and their public consequences

Understanding the Program Effectiveness of Early Mathematics Interventions for Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Environments: A Meta-Analytic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Aubrey H.; Firmender, Janine M.; Power, Joshua R.; Byrnes, James P.

2016-01-01

Research Findings: The early childhood years are critical in developing early mathematics skills, but the opportunities one has to learn mathematics tend to be limited, preventing the development of significant mathematics learning. By conducting a meta-analysis of 29 experimental and quasi-experimental studies that have been published since 2000,…

The Cumulative Disadvantages of Socially Toxic Family Environments: A Comparison of Early Life Experiences of Incarcerated Men and University Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph Michalski

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the antecedents of criminal behavior through the process of retrospective family and life course histories in which incarcerated male inmates and male university students are compared. The main focus is on early childhood experiences and parental behaviors. The study data derive from intensive, face-to-face interviews with 38 men incarcerated for violent offences and a matched group of 66 men attending university at the same time. The interviews focus on the relative importance of adverse childhood experiences and linkages with adolescence. The interviews demonstrated that nearly four-fifths of the inmates experienced toxic family environments by the time they reached adolescence, as compared with only two of the university students. Qualitative analyses flesh out the major themes, experiences, and “risk factors” that helped shape the trajectories of both groups of men. The socially toxic family environments and sub-optimal parenting practices that most inmates endured produced long-term, adverse effects in reducing their capacities for resilience, forging healthy relationships with their peers, and remaining in school.

Endocrine disruptors and the breast: early life effects and later life disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Macon, Madisa B; Fenton, Suzanne E

2013-03-01

Breast cancer risk has both heritable and environment/lifestyle components. The heritable component is a small contribution (5-27 %), leaving the majority of risk to environment (e.g., applied chemicals, food residues, occupational hazards, pharmaceuticals, stress) and lifestyle (e.g., physical activity, cosmetics, water source, alcohol, smoking). However, these factors are not well-defined, primarily due to the enormous number of factors to be considered. In both humans and rodent models, environmental factors that act as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have been shown to disrupt normal mammary development and lead to adverse lifelong consequences, especially when exposures occur during early life. EDCs can act directly or indirectly on mammary tissue to increase sensitivity to chemical carcinogens or enhance development of hyperplasia, beaded ducts, or tumors. Protective effects have also been reported. The mechanisms for these changes are not well understood. Environmental agents may also act as carcinogens in adult rodent models, directly causing or promoting tumor development, typically in more than one organ. Many of the environmental agents that act as EDCs and are known to affect the breast are discussed. Understanding the mechanism(s) of action for these compounds will be critical to prevent their effects on the breast in the future.

Early intervention for vulnerable infants and their families: an emerging agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruskal, M O; Thomasgard, M C; Shonkoff, J P

1989-12-01

Early childhood development is a complex dynamic process that begins at birth and unfolds in a transactional manner as infants interact with their environment. Children are highly adaptive organisms with powerful homeostatic mechanisms; consequently, most high-risk infants do well. Environmental factors are powerful mediators in this process, and a supportive and responsive environment may alleviate many early developmental insults, while a deficient environment can exacerbate developmental weaknesses. Available data suggest that appropriately designed early intervention services can be effective in facilitating both child and family adaptation for a variety of target groups. However, many important questions remain unanswered. For example, although interventions have been shown to improve cognitive function, effects in other important areas such as social and emotional functioning and family coping have not been well studied. Information about the impact of family variables is also incomplete as is our knowledge about which services work best for which children and families. Finally, the influence of protective factors in the child and in the environment requires further exploration. The perinatologist can make several critical contributions to the comprehensive care of high risk infants beyond their medical management. He or she can play a pivotal role in identifying those neonates who need early intervention on the basis of their biologic vulnerability, their environmental risk factors, or both. Perinatologists are also in the best position to facilitate early entry into an appropriate service system and can be important collaborators in providing comprehensive services and long-term follow-up.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effects of Family Functioning and Parenting Style on Early Entrants' Academic Performance and Program Completion

Science.gov (United States)

Huey, Erron L.; Sayler, Michael F.; Rinn, Anne N.

2013-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to examine the predictive nature of parenting style and overall family environment on the academic performance and program completion of early college entrants. Furthermore, gender and family form were examined as possible moderators to these relationships. A total of 88 early college entrants participated in…

Disturbances in Maternal Steroidogenesis and Appearance of Intrauterine Growth Retardation at High-Altitude Environments Are Established from Early Pregnancy. Effects of Treatment with Antioxidant Vitamins.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor H Parraguez

Full Text Available Pregnancies at high-altitudes are influenced by hypoxia and oxidative stress and frequently affected by IUGR. However, a common thought is that early pregnant women visiting altitude have no major complications for gestation development, since IUGR is developed during the second half of pregnancy. Thus, using a well-characterized sheep-model, we aimed to determine whether long- and/or short-term exposure to high-altitude may affect maternal steroidogenesis and therefore embryo-fetal growth from conception. The second aim was to differentiate the relative role of hypoxia and oxidative stress by assessing the effects of supplementation with antioxidant agents during this early-pregnancy stage, which were previously found to be useful to prevent IUGR. The results indicate that both long- and short-term exposure to high-altitude causes disturbances in maternal ovarian steroidogenesis and negatively affects embryo-fetal growth already during the very early stages of gestation, with the consequences being even worsened in newcomers to high-altitude. The supply of antioxidant during this period only showed discrete effects for preventing IUGR. In conclusion, the present study gives a warning for clinicians about the risks for early-pregnant women when visiting high-altitude regions and suggests the need for further studies on the effects of the length of exposure and on the interaction of the exposure with the pregnancy stage.

Local environment effects in disordered alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cable, J.W.

1978-01-01

The magnetic moment of an atom in a ferromagnetic disordered alloy depends on the local environment of that atom. This is particularly true for Ni and Pd based alloys for which neutron diffuse scattering measurements of the range and magnitude of the moment disturbances indicate that both magnetic and chemical environment are important in determining the moment distribution. In this paper we review recent neutron studies of local environment effects in Ni based alloys. These are discussed in terms of a phenomenological model that allows a separation of the total moment disturbance at a Ni site into its chemical and magnetic components

Effects of harsh parenting and positive parenting practices on youth aggressive behavior: The moderating role of early pubertal timing.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Frances R; Raine, Adrian

2018-01-01

Prior research indicates that early pubertal timing is associated with aggressive behavior, particularly in the context of adversity as postulated in the contextual amplification hypothesis. However, few studies have examined harsh parenting as the context for the effect of early pubertal timing. Even fewer studies have tested the interactive effect of early pubertal timing and positive parenting on aggressive behavior. In this study, we tested the proposition that early pubertal timing, contrary to the general conception of it as a vulnerability, indexed susceptibility, and thus early maturing individuals were affected more by their environment in a "for better and for worse" manner. The sample consisted of 411 community-recruited youth aged 11-12 years (51% boys, 80% African Americans). Participants reported Tanner Stages of pubertal development, aggressive behavior and harsh parenting practice of their parents. Puberty scores were standardized with groups of the same age, sex, and ethnicity, and those that scored the top one-third were defined as early maturing individuals. Parents reported youth's aggressive behavior and their parenting practices towards the youth, including harsh parenting and positive parenting. Early pubertal timing significantly moderated the relationship between harsh/positive parenting and aggressive behavior. Specifically, harsh parenting was positively associated with aggressive behavior to a larger degree among early maturing individuals than among on-time/late-maturing individuals. Positive parenting was inversely associated with aggressive behavior but only among early maturing individuals. This study is the first to document support for early pubertal timing as susceptibility to the environmental influences in relation to aggressive behavior. Theoretical and intervention implications are discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Quantifying parental preferences for interventions designed to improve home food preparation and home food environments during early childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Virudachalam, Senbagam; Chung, Paul J; Faerber, Jennifer A; Pian, Timothy M; Thomas, Karen; Feudtner, Chris

2016-03-01

Though preparing healthy food at home is a critical health promotion habit, few interventions have aimed to improve parental cooking skills and behaviors. We sought to understand parents' preferences and priorities regarding interventions to improve home food preparation practices and home food environments during early childhood. We administered a discrete choice experiment using maximum difference scaling. Eighty English-speaking parents of healthy 1-4 year-old children rated the relative importance of potential attributes of interventions to improve home food preparation practices and home food environments. We performed latent class analysis to identify subgroups of parents with similar preferences and tested for differences between the subgroups. Participants were mostly white or black 21-45 year-old women whose prevalence of overweight/obesity mirrored the general population. Latent class analysis revealed three distinct groups of parental preferences for intervention content: a healthy cooking group, focused on nutrition and cooking healthier food; a child persuasion group, focused on convincing toddlers to eat home-cooked food; and a creative cooking group, focused on cooking without recipes, meal planning, and time-saving strategies. Younger, lower income, 1-parent households comprised the healthy cooking group, while older, higher income, 2-parent households comprised the creative cooking group (p cooked dinner regularly, unlike the other two groups (p food preparation practices. Such interventions are important for creating healthier home food environments and preventing obesity starting from early childhood. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Family environment and child development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tina Kavčič

2005-04-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an overview of research findings on influence of family environment, especially parental behaviour, on child's development. Contemporary authors question early socialization researchers' claims that family characteristics and parental behaviour have important influence on behaviour of their children. Later researchers examined the size and durability of possible effects of family environment on child development. In addition, they focused on establishing whether it is actually the parental behaviour that influences child's development or, on the contrary, parental behaviour represents mainly a reaction to child's characteristics. Behaviour genetic studies have provided evidence that many traditional measures of family environment, including measures of parental behaviour, show genetic influence, thus reflecting genetically influenced child characteristics. Behaviour geneticists also suggest that environmental influences on child (personality development include predominantly non-shared environment, i.e. individual child's specific experiences, his/her own perceptions and interpretations of objectively same events. Based on empirically determined significant genetic effects on most behavioural traits and inconclusive results of studies on effects of family environment on child development some authors believe that it is not the parents, but rather genetic factor and/or peers who have the key role in child development. With respect to findings of behaviour genetics numerous recent studies of relations between family environment and child development involve child specific measures of (extrafamilial environment and examine the interactions between characteristics of an individual and those of his/her environment.

Ocean Acidification Effects on the Early Life-Stages of Commercially Important Flatfish of the Northeast USA

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, R. C.; Habeck, E. A.; Candelmo, A. C.; Poach, M.; Wieczorek, D.; Phelan, B.; Caldarone, E.; Cooper, K. R.

2012-12-01

The limited available evidence about effects on finfish of high CO2 levels and acidification of our oceans suggests that effects will differ across fish species, be subtle, and interact with other stressors. A carefully planned, experimental framework was developed to cast an extensive yet strategic inferential net. Three key elements of our approach are the use of 1) multiple marine finfish species of relevance to the northeastern USA that differ in their ecologies including spawning season and habitat of early life-stages; 2) a wide yet realistic range of environmental conditions (i.e., concurrent manipulation of CO2 levels and water temperatures), and 3) a diverse set of response variables related to fish sensitivity to elevated CO2 levels, water temperatures, and their interactions. The response variable set reflects fish condition, fitness, and likelihood of recruitment, and includes measures of viability, physiology, histopathology, growth, development, and behavior expressed during fish early life-stages (i.e., gametes, embryos, and larvae). Early life-stages were chosen due to the anticipation of their vulnerability to acid-base challenges in their environment. To date, factorial experiments have been implemented on summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus). Initial results reveal survival of summer flounder embryos is compromised by pH 790 ppm). These results were similar across offspring groups (i.e., embryos from different parents). Winter flounder are larger at hatching when exposed to high CO2 levels in the coolest environment implemented in our experiments (range 4 to 10 ○C). Further responses of advanced larvae of both flounder species are currently being assessed for evidence of other whole body, component organ, and biochemical impairment. This study will aid researchers and resource managers in identifying species types, life-stages, and biotic responses that are most sensitive to the expected

Exploring the Potential of a Wearable Camera to Examine the Early Obesogenic Home Environment: Comparison of SenseCam Images to the Home Environment Interview.

Science.gov (United States)

Schrempft, Stephanie; van Jaarsveld, Cornelia Hm; Fisher, Abigail

2017-10-12

The obesogenic home environment is usually examined via self-report, and objective measures are required. This study explored whether the wearable camera SenseCam can be used to examine the early obesogenic home environment and whether it is useful for validation of self-report measures. A total of 15 primary caregivers of young children (mean age of child 4 years) completed the Home Environment Interview (HEI). Around 12 days after the HEI, participants wore the SenseCam at home for 4 days. A semistructured interview assessed participants' experience of wearing the SenseCam. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), percent agreement, and kappa statistics were used as validity estimates for 54 home environment features. Wearing the SenseCam was generally acceptable to those who participated. The SenseCam captured all 54 HEI features but with varying detail; 36 features (67%) had satisfactory validity (ICC or kappa ≥0.40; percent agreement ≥80 where kappa could not be calculated). Validity was good or excellent (ICC or kappa ≥0.60) for fresh fruit and vegetable availability, fresh vegetable variety, display of food and drink (except sweet snacks), family meals, child eating lunch or dinner while watching TV, garden and play equipment, the number of TVs and DVD players, and media equipment in the child's bedroom. Validity was poor (ICC or kappa Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 12.10.2017.

The environment and schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

van Os, Jim; Kenis, Gunter; Rutten, Bart P F

2010-11-11

Psychotic syndromes can be understood as disorders of adaptation to social context. Although heritability is often emphasized, onset is associated with environmental factors such as early life adversity, growing up in an urban environment, minority group position and cannabis use, suggesting that exposure may have an impact on the developing 'social' brain during sensitive periods. Therefore heritability, as an index of genetic influence, may be of limited explanatory power unless viewed in the context of interaction with social effects. Longitudinal research is needed to uncover gene-environment interplay that determines how expression of vulnerability in the general population may give rise to more severe psychopathology.

Spatial learning and memory is preserved in rats after early development in a microgravity environment

Science.gov (United States)

Temple, Meredith D.; Kosik, Kenneth S.; Steward, Oswald

2002-01-01

This study evaluated the cognitive mapping abilities of rats that spent part of their early development in a microgravity environment. Litters of male and female Sprague-Dawley rat pups were launched into space aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space shuttle Columbia on postnatal day 8 or 14 and remained in space for 16 days. These animals were designated as FLT groups. Two age-matched control groups remained on Earth: those in standard vivarium housing (VIV) and those in housing identical to that aboard the shuttle (AGC). On return to Earth, animals were tested in three different tasks that measure spatial learning ability, the Morris water maze (MWM), and a modified version of the radial arm maze (RAM). Animals were also tested in an open field apparatus to measure general activity and exploratory activity. Performance and search strategies were evaluated in each of these tasks using an automated tracking system. Despite the dramatic differences in early experience, there were remarkably few differences between the FLT groups and their Earth-bound controls in these tasks. FLT animals learned the MWM and RAM as quickly as did controls. Evaluation of search patterns suggested subtle differences in patterns of exploration and in the strategies used to solve the tasks during the first few days of testing, but these differences normalized rapidly. Together, these data suggest that development in an environment without gravity has minimal long-term impact on spatial learning and memory abilities. Any differences due to development in microgravity are quickly reversed after return to earth normal gravity.

The impact of industry environment on early market entry decisions by B2B managers in the U.S. and Japan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Calantone, R.J.; Benedetto, Di A.C.; Song, Michael

2010-01-01

Managers form simplified mental models to cope with market environment uncertainties and to process information. A critical decision is whether to enter a high-potential market early. Large innovation and development investments involved in this decision increase uncertainty. We examine the

The ultraviolet environment of Mars: biological implications past, present, and future.

Science.gov (United States)

Cockell, C S; Catling, D C; Davis, W L; Snook, K; Kepner, R L; Lee, P; McKay, C P

2000-08-01

A radiative transfer model is used to quantitatively investigate aspects of the martian ultraviolet radiation environment, past and present. Biological action spectra for DNA inactivation and chloroplast (photosystem) inhibition are used to estimate biologically effective irradiances for the martian surface under cloudless skies. Over time Mars has probably experienced an increasingly inhospitable photobiological environment, with present instantaneous DNA weighted irradiances 3.5-fold higher than they may have been on early Mars. This is in contrast to the surface of Earth, which experienced an ozone amelioration of the photobiological environment during the Proterozoic and now has DNA weighted irradiances almost three orders of magnitude lower than early Earth. Although the present-day martian UV flux is similar to that of early Earth and thus may not be a critical limitation to life in the evolutionary context, it is a constraint to an unadapted biota and will rapidly kill spacecraft-borne microbes not covered by a martian dust layer. Microbial strategies for protection against UV radiation are considered in the light of martian photobiological calculations, past and present. Data are also presented for the effects of hypothetical planetary atmospheric manipulations on the martian UV radiation environment with estimates of the biological consequences of such manipulations.

The ultraviolet environment of Mars: biological implications past, present, and future

Science.gov (United States)

Cockell, C. S.; Catling, D. C.; Davis, W. L.; Snook, K.; Kepner, R. L.; Lee, P.; McKay, C. P.

2000-01-01

A radiative transfer model is used to quantitatively investigate aspects of the martian ultraviolet radiation environment, past and present. Biological action spectra for DNA inactivation and chloroplast (photosystem) inhibition are used to estimate biologically effective irradiances for the martian surface under cloudless skies. Over time Mars has probably experienced an increasingly inhospitable photobiological environment, with present instantaneous DNA weighted irradiances 3.5-fold higher than they may have been on early Mars. This is in contrast to the surface of Earth, which experienced an ozone amelioration of the photobiological environment during the Proterozoic and now has DNA weighted irradiances almost three orders of magnitude lower than early Earth. Although the present-day martian UV flux is similar to that of early Earth and thus may not be a critical limitation to life in the evolutionary context, it is a constraint to an unadapted biota and will rapidly kill spacecraft-borne microbes not covered by a martian dust layer. Microbial strategies for protection against UV radiation are considered in the light of martian photobiological calculations, past and present. Data are also presented for the effects of hypothetical planetary atmospheric manipulations on the martian UV radiation environment with estimates of the biological consequences of such manipulations.

Root Shock Revisited: Perspectives of Early Head Start Mothers on Community and Policy Environments and Their Effects on Child Health, Development, and School Readiness

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister, Carol L.; Thomas, Tammy L.; Green, Beth L.

2009-01-01

Racial differences in school readiness are a form of health disparity. By examining, from the perspective of low-income minority families participating in an Early Head Start study, community and policy environments as they shape and inform lived experiences, we identified several types of social and economic dislocation that undermine the efforts of parents to ready their children for school. The multiple dislocations of community triggered by housing and welfare reform and “urban renewal” are sources of stress for parents and children and affect the health and development of young children. Our findings suggest that racial differences in school readiness result not from race but from poverty and structural racism in American society. PMID:19059871

Effects of maternal obesity on early and long-term outcomes for offspring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stirrat LI

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Laura I Stirrat,1,2 Rebecca M Reynolds2,3 1Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health, Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; 2Tommy's Centre for Maternal and Fetal Health, Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; 3Endocrinology Unit, University/British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Abstract: The prevalence of maternal obesity has increased significantly in recent years, and obesity is currently the most common comorbidity of pregnancy. Pregnancies of obese women are often defined as "high-risk" for the purposes of clinical care, with many well documented risks to the mother and developing baby. Maternal physiology and metabolism is dysregulated in the context of obesity, which may contribute to some of the adverse outcomes during pregnancy. Furthermore, maternal obesity has been hypothesized to cause harmful effects for the developing baby through "early life programming." This review will examine evidence from human studies for outcomes of offspring from obese women during pregnancy, during labor, during the neonatal period, and later in life. Keywords: pregnancy, short-term, physiology, metabolism, early life programming, neonatal complications, adverse intrauterine environment

Gene-environment effects on hippocampal neurodevelopment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenthal, Eva Helga

Mental disorders like schizophrenia and autism put a heavy load on today’s societies, creating a steady call for revealing underlying disease mechanisms and the development of effective treatments. The etiology of major psychiatric illnesses is complex involving gene by environment susceptibility...... factors. Hence, a deeper understanding is needed of how cortical neurodevelopmental deficiencies can arise from such gene-environment interactions. The convergence of genetic and environmental risk factors is a recent field of research. It is now clear that disease, infection and stress factors may...... and antipsychotics mediate their effects on hippocampal neurodevelopment through deregulation of the Zbtb20 gene. A short presentation of the status of this work will shown....

An Effective Approach to Developing Function-Based Interventions in Early Childhood Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Brenna K.; Ferro, Jolenea B.

2014-01-01

Due to the unique features of early childhood classrooms, teachers routinely modify the social and physical environment to support children with mild to moderate challenges. Yet despite their access to behavioral consultants, school-based prekindergarten programs are more likely to expel young children from their classroom settings compared with…

The crucial effect of early-stage gelation on the mechanical properties of cement hydrates

Science.gov (United States)

Ioannidou, Katerina; Kanduč, Matej; Li, Lunna; Frenkel, Daan; Dobnikar, Jure; Del Gado, Emanuela

2016-07-01

Gelation and densification of calcium-silicate-hydrate take place during cement hydration. Both processes are crucial for the development of cement strength, and for the long-term evolution of concrete structures. However, the physicochemical environment evolves during cement formation, making it difficult to disentangle what factors are crucial for the mechanical properties. Here we use Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations to study a coarse-grained model of cement formation, and investigate the equilibrium and arrested states. We can correlate the various structures with the time evolution of the interactions between the nano-hydrates during the preparation of cement. The novel emerging picture is that the changes of the physicochemical environment, which dictate the evolution of the effective interactions, specifically favour the early gel formation and its continuous densification. Our observations help us understand how cement attains its unique strength and may help in the rational design of the properties of cement and related materials.

The ionizing radiation environment in space and its effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, Jim; Falconer, David; Fry, Dan

2012-01-01

The ionizing radiation environment in space poses a hazard for spacecraft and space crews. The hazardous components of this environment are reviewed and those which contribute to radiation hazards and effects identified. Avoiding the adverse effects of space radiation requires design, planning, monitoring and management. Radiation effects on spacecraft are avoided largely though spacecraft design. Managing radiation exposures of space crews involves not only protective spacecraft design and careful mission planning. Exposures must be managed in real time. The now-casting and forecasting needed to effectively manage crew exposures is presented. The techniques used and the space environment modeling needed to implement these techniques are discussed.

Mitigating the Effects of Family Poverty on Early Child Development through Parenting Interventions in Primary Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Cates, Carolyn Brockmeyer; Weisleder, Adriana; Mendelsohn, Alan L

2016-04-01

Poverty related disparities in early child development and school readiness are a major public health crisis, the prevention of which has emerged in recent years as a national priority. Interventions targeting parenting and the quality of the early home language environment are at the forefront of efforts to address these disparities. In this article we discuss the innovative use of the pediatric primary care platform as part of a comprehensive public health strategy to prevent adverse child development outcomes through the promotion of parenting. Models of interventions in the pediatric primary care setting are discussed with evidence of effectiveness reviewed. Taken together, a review of this significant body of work shows the tremendous potential to deliver evidence-based preventive interventions to families at risk for poverty related disparities in child development and school readiness at the time of pediatric primary care visits. We also addresss considerations related to scaling and maximizing the effect of pediatric primary care parenting interventions and provide key policy recommendations. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Indoor Thermal Environment in Tropical Climate Residential Building

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamaludin Nazhatulzalkis

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Indoor thermal environment is one of the criteria in sustainable building. This criterion is important in ensuring a healthy indoor environment for the occupants. The consideration of environmental concerns at the early design stage would effectively integrate the sustainability of the building environment. Global climate changes such as global warming do affect human comfort since people spend most of their time and activities in the building. The increasing of urban population required additional housing for households, as well as places to shop, office and other facilities. Occupants are now more conscious the importance of sustainability for a better quality of life. Good thermal environment is essential for human wellness and comfort. A residential environment will influence residents’ health and safety. The global warming increase the earth’s temperature and greenhouse emission to the atmosphere cause adverse effects to the outdoor environment. Residential developments modify the materials, structure and energy balance in urban climate effects of human economic activities. As an indoor environment is influenced by the outdoor condition, the factors affecting indoor thermal environment are crucial in improving a comfortable and healthy environment in residential building. The microclimatic of a site such as temperature and relative humidity, and wind movement led to the variation of indoor thermal environment in the building.

Wage, Work Environment, and Staffing: Effects on Nurse Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

McHugh, Matthew D.; Ma, Chenjuan

2015-01-01

Research has shown that hospitals with better nurse staffing and work environments have better nurse outcomes—less burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave the job. Many studies, however, have not accounted for wage effects, which may confound findings. By using a secondary analysis with cross-sectional administrative data and a four-state survey of nurses, we investigated how wage, work environment, and staffing were associated with nurse outcomes. Logistic regression models, with and without wage, were used to estimate the effects of work environment and staffing on burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave. We discovered that wage was associated with job dissatisfaction and intent to leave but had little influence on burnout, while work environment and average patient-to-nurse ratio still have considerable effects on nurse outcomes. Wage is important for good nurse outcomes, but it does not diminish the significant influence of work environment and staffing on nurse outcomes. PMID:25121923

Are College Students' Assessments of Threat Shaped by the Dangers of Their Childhood Environment?

Science.gov (United States)

Sherman, Amanda K; Minich, Steven H; Langen, Tom A; Skufca, Joseph; Wilke, Andreas

2016-07-01

Humans internalize environmental cues of mortality risk at an early age, which influences subsequent risk perceptions and behavior. In this respect, an individual's current risk assessment may be viewed as an adaptive response to the dangers present within his or her early local environment. Here we examine the relationship between several variables indicating threat within an individual's early environment (e.g., prevalence of violent and property crimes, registered sex offenders) and their perception of crime risk within both the childhood and current adult environments. We recruited a group of 657 students who hail from diverse geographic backgrounds to provide the zip code location of their childhood residence along with subjective ratings of danger of that and their current location, which enabled us to compare their ratings of risk/danger with the federally reported crime statistics of each setting. Our results indicate that the early prevalence of registered sex offenders indeed influences an individual's risk perception in adulthood, and that these factors have a differential effect on males and females. Our findings provide support for the theory that early environmental factors signaling danger affect how individuals assess risk within their adult environment. © The Author(s) 2015.

A Socio-Cultural Perspective on Children's Early Language: A Family Study

Science.gov (United States)

Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška; Socan, Gregor; Tašner, Veronika

2015-01-01

This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environment on the language of toddlers and children in early childhood. The sample included 86 families with one- to six-year-old children. The data on the social, economic, and cultural factors of the family environment, parental reading literacy, parental knowledge…

Early food for future health: a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of an eHealth intervention aiming to promote healthy food habits from early childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Helle, Christine; Hillesund, Elisabet Rudjord; Omholt, Mona Linge; Øverby, Nina Cecilie

2017-09-20

Childhood overweight and obesity is a global public health challenge. Primary prevention initiatives targeting parents have been called for to encourage a positive feeding environment and healthy eating habits that may lay a good foundation for future health. At the same time, there is a need for interventions which combine accessibility and scalability with cost effectiveness. Today's parents are extensive Internet-users, but only a few randomized controlled trials have investigated the use of Internet to promote healthy eating habits in early childhood. In Early Food for Future Health we have developed and will evaluate an Internet-based tool for parents of children between 6 and 12 months, aiming to increase knowledge about infant nutrition and foster protective feeding behavior. During springtime 2016, parents of children aged between 3 and 5 months were recruited through Norwegian child health centres and announcements on Facebook. After completing the baseline questionnaire, 718 parents were individually randomized to intervention- or control group. The intervention group received monthly emails with links to an age-appropriate web-site when their child was between 6 and 12 months. The control group received ordinary care from the child health centres. The data-collection is ongoing. All participants will be followed up at ages 12 and possibly 24 and 48 months, with questionnaires relating to eating behaviour and feeding practices, food variety and diet quality. Providing guidance and counseling to parents of infants is an important task for health authorities and the public child health services. Early Food for Future health is an intervention focusing on promoting early healthy food-habits which may prevent childhood overweight and obesity. If proven to be effective, Early Food for Future Health can be used by parents and public health nurses for supplementary guidance on feeding practices and diet. This study has the potential to provide greater

A familiar font drives early emotional effects in word recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuchinke, Lars; Krause, Beatrix; Fritsch, Nathalie; Briesemeister, Benny B

2014-10-01

The emotional connotation of a word is known to shift the process of word recognition. Using the electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs) approach it has been documented that early attentional processing of high-arousing negative words is shifted at a stage of processing where a presented word cannot have been fully identified. Contextual learning has been discussed to contribute to these effects. The present study shows that a manipulation of the familiarity with a word's shape interferes with these earliest emotional ERP effects. Presenting high-arousing negative and neutral words in a familiar or an unfamiliar font results in very early emotion differences only in case of familiar shapes, whereas later processing stages reveal similar emotional effects in both font conditions. Because these early emotion-related differences predict later behavioral differences, it is suggested that contextual learning of emotional valence comprises more visual features than previously expected to guide early visual-sensory processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Image-guided conformation arc therapy for prostate cancer: Early side effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soete, Guy; Verellen, Dirk; Michielsen, Dirk; Rappe, Bernard; Keuppen, Frans; Storme, Guy

2006-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate early side effects in prostate cancer patients treated with image-guided conformation arc therapy (IGCAT) using a minimultileaf collimator and daily X-ray-assisted patient positioning. Methods and Materials: Between May 2000 and November 2004, 238 cT1-T3N0M0 tumors were treated with doses of 70 or 78 Gy. Seventy patients also received neoadjuvant or concurrent hormonal treatment. Median follow-up is 18 months (range, 4-55 months). Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer toxicity scoring system was used to evaluate early side effects. Results: Grade 1, 2, and >2 acute side effects occurred in 19, 6, and 0% (gastrointestinal) and 37, 16, and 0% (genitourinary) of the patients. No relation between radiation dose and early side effects was observed. Conclusion: Patients treated with image-guided conformation arc therapy experience a low rate of Grade 2 (i.e., requiring medication) early side effects. The definitive evaluation of late side effects and biochemical control requires further follow-up

Sensitivity to cocaine in adult mice is due to interplay between genetic makeup, early environment and later experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Segni, Matteo; Andolina, Diego; Coassin, Alessandra; Accoto, Alessandra; Luchetti, Alessandra; Pascucci, Tiziana; Luzi, Carla; Lizzi, Anna Rita; D'Amato, Francesca R; Ventura, Rossella

2017-10-01

Although early aversive postnatal events are known to increase the risk to develop psychiatric disorders later in life, rarely they determine alone the nature and outcome of the psychopathology, indicating that interaction with genetic factors is crucial for expression of psychopathologies in adulthood. Moreover, it has been suggested that early life experiences could have negative consequences or confer adaptive value in different individuals. Here we suggest that resilience or vulnerability to adult cocaine sensitivity depends on a "triple interaction" between genetic makeup x early environment x later experience. We have recently showed that Repeated Cross Fostering (RCF; RCF pups were fostered by four adoptive mothers from postnatal day 1 to postnatal day 4. Pups were left with the last adoptive mother until weaning) experienced by pups affected the response to a negative experience in adulthood in opposite direction in two genotypes leading DBA2/J, but not C57BL/6J mice, toward an "anhedonia-like" phenotype. Here we investigate whether exposure to a rewarding stimulus, instead of a negative one, in adulthood induces an opposite behavioral outcome. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the long-lasting effects of RCF on cocaine sensitivity in C57 and DBA female mice by evaluating conditioned place preference induced by different cocaine doses and catecholamine prefrontal-accumbal response to cocaine using a "dual probe" in vivo microdialysis procedure. Moreover, cocaine-induced c-Fos activity was assessed in different brain regions involved in processing of rewarding stimuli. Finally, cocaine-induced spine changes were evaluated in the prefrontal-accumbal system. RCF experience strongly affected the behavioral, neurochemical and morphological responses to cocaine in adulthood in opposite direction in the two genotypes increasing and reducing, respectively, the sensitivity to cocaine in C57 and DBA mice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dopamine receptor gene d4 polymorphisms and early sexual onset: gender and environmental moderation in a sample of african-american youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Kogan, Steven M; Lei, Man-Kit; Beach, Steven R H; Brody, Gene H; Windle, Michael; Lee, Sunbok; MacKillop, James; Chen, Yi-Fu

2014-08-01

Early sexual onset and its consequences disproportionately affect African-American youth, particularly male youth. The dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) has been linked to sexual activity and other forms of appetitive behavior, particularly for male youth and in combination with environmental factors (gene × environment [G × E] effects). The differential susceptibility perspective suggests that DRD4 may exert this effect by amplifying the effects of both positive and negative environments. We hypothesized that DRD4 status would amplify the influence of both positive and negative neighborhood environments on early sexual onset among male, but not female, African-Americans. Hypotheses were tested with self-report, biospecimen, and census data from five prospective studies of male and female African-American youth in rural Georgia communities, N = 1,677. Early sexual onset was defined as intercourse before age 14. No significant G × E findings emerged for female youth. Male youth with a DRD4 long allele were more likely than those with two DRD4 short alleles to report early sexual onset in negative community environments and not to report early onset in positive community environments. Dopaminergic regulation of adolescent sexual behaviors may operate differently by gender. DRD4 operated as an environmental amplification rather than a vulnerability factor. Copyright © 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biological effect of aerospace environment on alfalfa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yuexue; Liu Jielin; Han Weibo; Tang Fenglan; Hao Ruochao; Shang Chen; DuYouying; Li Jikai; Wang Changshan

2009-01-01

The biological effect of aerospace environment on two varieties of Medicago sativa L. was studied. In M 1 germination results showed that aerospace environment increased cell division and the number of micronucleus, changed germination rate, caused seedling aberrations. Cytogenetical and seedling aberration of Zhaodong showed more sensitivity than Longmu 803. Branches and fresh weight of Zhaodong had shown more serious damage than control and Longmu 803. (authors)

A biological method to monitor early effects of the air pollution caused by the industrial exploitation of geothermal energy.

Science.gov (United States)

Paoli, Luca; Loppi, Stefano

2008-09-01

The suitability of a set of ecophysiological parameters, to be used as early warning indicator to detect signs of a worsening environment around geothermal power plants, was tested by comparison with the diversity of epiphytic lichens, a well-established indicator of geothermal air pollution. Samples of the lichen Evernia prunastri were transplanted around a geothermal power plant at Larderello (Tuscany, Italy) and at a control site, and integrity of cell membranes, concentration of chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids, chlorophyll integrity and variations in pH of thalli were measured. The results showed that cell membrane damage, expressed by changes in electrical conductivity, could be used to detect early (exposure periods as short as 1 month) deleterious effects of geothermal air pollution.

Mutagenic effects of space environment and protons on rice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Cailian; Chen Qiufang; Shen Mei

1998-07-01

Dry seeds of 5 rice varieties were carried by recoverable satellite for space mutation, and were irradiated by 4∼8 MeV protons with various doses. The mutagenic effects was studied. The results indicated that the space environment could cause chromosomal structure aberration and had stimulating mitosis action in root tip cells. As compared with γ-rays and protons, the effects of space environment flight were lower on chromosomal aberration but were significantly higher on mitosis index. Space environment and protons induce high frequency of chlorophyll deficient mutation and mutation in plant height and heading date in M 2 generation. Frequency of beneficial mutation induced by space environment and protons were higher than those induced by γ-rays

Effects of mixture of pharmaceuticals on early life stages of tench (Tinca tinca)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Stancová, V.; Plhalová, L.; Bartošková, M.; Živná, D.; Prokeš, Miroslav; Maršálek, P.; Blahová, J.; Škorič, M.; Svobodová, Z.

2014-01-01

Roč. 2014, č. 253468 (2014), s. 253468 ISSN 2314-6133 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : waste-water treatment * trout Oncorhynchus mykiss * personal care products * rainbow trout * treatment plants * early ontogeny * aquatic environment * active compounds * Japanese medaka * Cyprinus carpio Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 1.579, year: 2014

Deletion and acquisition of genomic content during early stage adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to a human host environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rau, Martin H.; Marvig, Rasmus Lykke; Ehrlich, Garth D.

2012-01-01

of the change in genetic content during the early stage of host adaptation by this P. aeruginosa strain as it adapts to the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung of several patients. Considerable genome reduction is detected predominantly through the deletion of large genomic regions, and up to 8% of the genome is deleted...... adapted pathogenic strain of P. aeruginosa to strengthen the genetic basis, which serves to help our understanding of microbial evolution in a natural environment....

Effects of the social environment during adolescence on the development of social behaviour, hormones and morphology in male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

Science.gov (United States)

Bölting, Stefanie; von Engelhardt, Nikolaus

2017-01-01

Individual differences in behaviour are widespread in the animal kingdom and often influenced by the size or composition of the social group during early development. In many vertebrates the effects of social interactions early in life on adult behaviour are mediated by changes in maturation and physiology. Specifically, increases in androgens and glucocorticoids in response to social stimulation seem to play a prominent role in shaping behaviour during development. In addition to the prenatal and early postnatal phase, adolescence has more recently been identified as an important period during which adult behaviour and physiology are shaped by the social environment, which so far has been studied mostly in mammals. We raised zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) under three environmental conditions differing in social complexity during adolescence - juvenile pairs, juvenile groups, and mixed-age groups - and studied males' behavioural, endocrine, and morphological maturation, and later their adult behaviour. As expected, group-housed males exhibited higher frequencies of social interactions. Group housing also enhanced song during adolescence, plumage development, and the frequency and intensity of adult courtship and aggression. Some traits, however, were affected more in juvenile groups and others in mixed-age groups. Furthermore, a testosterone peak during late adolescence was suppressed in groups with adults. In contrast, corticosterone concentrations did not differ between rearing environments. Unexpectedly, adult courtship in a test situation was lowest in pair-reared males and aggression depended upon the treatment of the opponent with highest rates shown by group-reared males towards pair-reared males. This contrasts with previous findings, possibly due to differences in photoperiod and the acoustic environment. Our results support the idea that effects of the adolescent social environment on adult behaviour in vertebrates are mediated by changes in

Cost-effectiveness of early intervention in first-episode psychosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hastrup, Lene Halling; Kronborg, C; Bertelsen, M

2013-01-01

Background Information about the cost-effectiveness of early intervention programmes for first-episode psychosis is limited. Aims To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an intensive early-intervention programme (called OPUS) (trial registration NCT00157313) consisting of enriched assertive community...... treatment, psychoeducational family treatment and social skills training for individuals with first-episode psychosis compared with standard treatment. Method An incremental cost-effectiveness analysis of a randomised controlled trial, adopting a public sector perspective was undertaken. Results The mean...... treatment group (51.13, s.d. = 15.92). However, the mean GAF did not differ significantly between the groups at 5-year follow-up (55.35 (s.d. = 18.28) and 54.16 (s.d. = 18.41), respectively). Cost-effectiveness planes based on non-parametric bootstrapping showed that OPUS was less costly and more effective...

Early anaerobic metabolisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Canfield, Donald Eugene; Rosing, Minik T; Bjerrum, Christian

2006-01-01

probably driven by the cycling of H2 and Fe2+ through primary production conducted by anoxygenic phototrophs. Interesting and dynamic ecosystems would have also been driven by the microbial cycling of sulphur and nitrogen species, but their activity levels were probably not so great. Despite the diversity......Before the advent of oxygenic photosynthesis, the biosphere was driven by anaerobic metabolisms. We catalogue and quantify the source strengths of the most probable electron donors and electron acceptors that would have been available to fuel early-Earth ecosystems. The most active ecosystems were...... of potential early ecosystems, rates of primary production in the early-Earth anaerobic biosphere were probably well below those rates observed in the marine environment. We shift our attention to the Earth environment at 3.8Gyr ago, where the earliest marine sediments are preserved. We calculate, consistent...

Early marriage in Africa--trends, harmful effects and interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Judith-Ann

2012-06-01

This article explores the pattern of early marriage in Africa. It focuses on the sub-Saharan region as an area with the highest rates of early marriage in the world. The harmful effects of early marriage are explored in terms of impact on the health, education and economic well-being of young girls. The paper outlines a framework for analyzing global, regional and local initiatives to curb early marriage and examines the application of these interventions in sub-Saharan countries. Regional patterns are then examined and countries which have made progress in reducing age of marriage are compared to countries in which age of marriage amongst girls has reminded low. The paper concludes on the note that countries with the highest rates of early marriage are also the countries with the highest rates of poverty and highest population growth rates. The paper argues for a sub-regional strategy to address the problem of early marriage in the zone with the highest incidence.

Exploring Collaborative Learning Effect in Blended Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Z.; Liu, R.; Luo, L.; Wu, M.; Shi, C.

2017-01-01

The use of new technology encouraged exploration of the effectiveness and difference of collaborative learning in blended learning environments. This study investigated the social interactive network of students, level of knowledge building and perception level on usefulness in online and mobile collaborative learning environments in higher…

A community-based study of early childhood sensory stimulation in home environment associated with growth and psychomotor development in Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Avan, Bilal Iqbal; Raza, Syed Ahsan; Kirkwood, Betty R

2014-10-01

Sensory stimulation (SS) is a non-nutritional modifiable risk factor for early childhood development. We assessed SS in home environment and examined its influence on physical growth and psychomotor development (PD). A cross-sectional study was conducted in 26 communities in Pakistan among children aged development. There is a need to corroborate these results by additional research for integration in health policy initiatives.

Associations of Early- and Later-Childhood Poverty With Child Cognitive Function in Indonesia: Effect Decomposition in the Presence of Exposure-Induced Mediator-Outcome Confounding.

Science.gov (United States)

Maika, Amelia; Mittinty, Murthy N; Brinkman, Sally; Lynch, John

2017-05-15

The amount of family financial resources available in early life influences child health and development. Using data from the 2000 and 2007 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey, we estimated the associations of early-life poverty (at age early intervention to support household income has a larger effect than intervention later in childhood; both seemed equally important. We also decomposed the effect of poverty at age child cognitive function at age 7-14 years (i.e., joint mediators β = -0.07, 95% confidence interval: -0.12, -0.02) than the indirect effects mediated through later poverty at age 7-14 years (β = -0.01, 95% confidence interval: -0.04, 0.01) and school attendance/home environment at age 7-14 years. The effect of poverty on cognitive function was small; nevertheless, financial intervention may still benefit children's cognitive function. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Proteomic responses reveal the differential effects induced by cadmium in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis at early life stages.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Lanlan; Peng, Xiao; Yu, Deliang; Ji, Chenglong; Zhao, Jianmin; Wu, Huifeng

2016-08-01

Cadmium (Cd) has become an important metal contaminant and posed severe risk on the organisms in the coastal environments of the Bohai Sea. Marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is widely distributed along the Bohai coast and consumed as seafood by local residents. Evidences indicate that the early stages of marine organisms are more sensitive to metal contaminants. In this study, we applied two-dimensional electrophoresis-based proteomics to characterize the biological effects of Cd (50 μg L(-1)) in the early life stages (D-shape larval and juvenile) of mussels. The different proteomic responses demonstrated the differential responsive mechanisms to Cd exposure in these two early life stages of mussels. In details, results indicated that Cd mainly induced immune and oxidative stresses in both D-shape larval and juvenile mussels via different pathways. In addition, the significant up-regulation of triosephosphate isomerase and metallothionein confirmed the enhanced energy demand and mobilized detoxification mechanism in D-shape larval mussels exposed to Cd. In juvenile mussels, Cd exposure also induced clear apoptosis. Overall, this work suggests that Cd is a potential immune toxicant to mussel M. galloprovincialis at early life stages. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reconstruction of early Holocene paleoclimate and environment in the SW Kola region, Russian Arctic

Science.gov (United States)

Grekov, Ivan; Kolka, Vasiliy; Syrykh, Liudmila; Nazarova, Larisa

2016-04-01

In the current period of the global climate change it becomes necessary to have a clear understanding of not only the changes taking place in the components of the natural environment, but also to understand development of all interactions between those components. Quaternary terrigenic sediments and lakes of the Kola Peninsula store information about the development of the region in the Late Glacial and Holocene: movements of the glacier, neotectonic activity, post-glacial rebound, formation and development of natural environments after deglaciation. Multi-proxy study of landscapes evolution of the Kola Peninsula in the Late Quaternary will help to establish a detailed reconstruction of climatic and environmental changes of this poor studied sector of the Arctic. Quaternary history on the Kola Peninsula is represented mainly by Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments covering the Baltic Shield (Lavrova, 1960; Evzerov, 2015). Several palaeolimnological investigations in the Baltic Shield area have been performed earlier (Donner et al., 1977; Anundsen, 1985; Berglund, 2004). Studies of the southern coast of the Kola Peninsula have shown that marine transgression took place in the Late Pleistocene that was then replaced by a regression with variable speed. The slowdown of the uplift of the area took place between 8800 - 6800 BP (cal. years) and corresponded to the time of the Tapes transgression of the Arctic Ocean (Evzerov et al. 2010; Kolka, et al., 2013). Palaeoclimatic studies based on micro-paleontological analyzes indicate uneven development of the Kola Peninsula landscapes in the Late Glacial and Early Holocene. The northern coast of the Peninsula became free of ice first. In this area tundra-steppe vegetation was established for a short time and was later replaced by tundra (Snyder et al, 2000). Southern part of the Kola Peninsula was dependent on the conditions of deglaciation of the White Sea basin and cleared of ice much later (Evzerov et al., 2010; Kolka

Some effects of a modern university educational environment informatization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. N. Noskova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper analyzes the effects that occur in the process of the educational environment informatization. The following effects were analyzed: information richness, openness, individualization of learning and collaboration. Examples of educational practice, illustrating the significant changes of the university educational environment associated with the manifestation of these effects, are presented. The aim of the pilot study carried out in Herzen University was to identify the attitude to the listed effects of teachers and students who are using information and communication technology in the educational interactions. The leading method of study were a series of surveys addressed to teachers and students. Groups of questions were related to basic information effects, manifested in the educational environment of the university. The total number of the survey participants is 200 students (bachelors and masters and 100 teachers, most actively using electronic environment for research, education and professional activities. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results showed that information richness, spatial and temporal freedom of educational interactions are demanded by students, but at the same time, the data indicated a lack of systematic pedagogical support for the information and educational activities of students. A large part of students show a high autonomy in the information educational environment, but also demands implementing individualized information and communication educational request. Students and teachers are actively using a variety of information and communication opportunities of the electronic environment, but students’ activeness in the electronic environment is largely determined by the recommendations of teachers, rather than by a free choice of educational opportunities. The participants of the educational environment acquire a significant degree of freedom in relation to the time and place of interaction with

Effect of early training on the jumping technique of horses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Santamaría, Susana; Bobbert, Maarten F.; Back, Willem; Barneveld, Ab; van Weeren, P. Rene

Objective - To investigate the effects of early training for jumping by comparing the jumping technique of horses that had received early training with that of horses raised conventionally. Animals - 40 Dutch Warmblood horses. Procedure - The horses were analyzed kinematically during free jumping at

Effect of environment fluctuations on a Josephson current

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galaktionov, A.V.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Josephson current is influenced differently by environment fluctuations. • Two types of environment are studied: ohmic and resonant-mode one. • A crossover to a Josephson π-junction is possible for both of them. - Abstract: An influence of an electromagnetic environment on a Josephson current through a tunnel junction is studied with the aid of Ambegaokar-Eckern-Schön effective action. Two types of environment are investigated: one, characterized by a resonant mode, and an ohmic one. The crossover to a Josephson π-junction is possible for both of them. In addition the resonant-mode environment results in an increase of a Josephson current when the ratio of the doubled superconducting gap to the frequency of the mode is close to an integer number.

Early Triassic wrinkle structures on land: stressed environments and oases for life

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Daoliang; Tong, Jinnan; Song, Haijun; Benton, Michael J.; Bottjer, David J.; Song, Huyue; Tian, Li

2015-06-01

Wrinkle structures in rocks younger than the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) extinction have been reported repeatedly in marine strata, but rarely mentioned in rocks recording land. Here, three newly studied terrestrial P-Tr boundary rock succession in North China have yielded diverse wrinkle structures. All of these wrinkles are preserved in barely bioturbated shore-shallow lacustrine siliciclastic deposits of the Liujiagou Formation. Conversely, both the lacustrine siliciclastic deposits of the underlying Sunjiagou Formation and the overlying Heshanggou Formation show rich bioturbation, but no wrinkle structures or other microbial-related structures. The occurrence of terrestrial wrinkle structures in the studied sections reflects abnormal hydrochemical and physical environments, presumably associated with the extinction of terrestrial organisms. Only very rare trace fossils occurred in the aftermath of the P-Tr extinction, but most of them were preserved together with the microbial mats. This suggests that microbial mats acted as potential oases for the surviving aquatic animals, as a source of food and oxygen. The new finds suggests that extreme environmental stresses were prevalent both in the sea and on land through most of the Early Triassic.

UV SURFACE ENVIRONMENT OF EARTH-LIKE PLANETS ORBITING FGKM STARS THROUGH GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rugheimer, S.; Sasselov, D. [Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden st., 02138 MA Cambridge (United States); Segura, A. [Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México (Mexico); Kaltenegger, L., E-mail: srugheimer@cfa.harvard.edu [Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

2015-06-10

The UV environment of a host star affects the photochemistry in the atmosphere, and ultimately the surface UV environment for terrestrial planets and therefore the conditions for the origin and evolution of life. We model the surface UV radiation environment for Earth-sized planets orbiting FGKM stars in the circumstellar Habitable Zone for Earth through its geological evolution. We explore four different types of atmospheres corresponding to an early-Earth atmosphere at 3.9 Gyr ago and three atmospheres covering the rise of oxygen to present-day levels at 2.0 Gyr ago, 0.8 Gyr ago, and modern Earth. In addition to calculating the UV flux on the surface of the planet, we model the biologically effective irradiance, using DNA damage as a proxy for biological damage. We find that a pre-biotic Earth (3.9 Gyr ago) orbiting an F0V star receives 6 times the biologically effective radiation as around the early Sun and 3520 times the modern Earth–Sun levels. A pre-biotic Earth orbiting GJ 581 (M3.5 V) receives 300 times less biologically effective radiation, about 2 times modern Earth–Sun levels. The UV fluxes calculated here provide a grid of model UV environments during the evolution of an Earth-like planet orbiting a range of stars. These models can be used as inputs into photo-biological experiments and for pre-biotic chemistry and early life evolution experiments.

UV SURFACE ENVIRONMENT OF EARTH-LIKE PLANETS ORBITING FGKM STARS THROUGH GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rugheimer, S.; Sasselov, D.; Segura, A.; Kaltenegger, L.

2015-01-01

The UV environment of a host star affects the photochemistry in the atmosphere, and ultimately the surface UV environment for terrestrial planets and therefore the conditions for the origin and evolution of life. We model the surface UV radiation environment for Earth-sized planets orbiting FGKM stars in the circumstellar Habitable Zone for Earth through its geological evolution. We explore four different types of atmospheres corresponding to an early-Earth atmosphere at 3.9 Gyr ago and three atmospheres covering the rise of oxygen to present-day levels at 2.0 Gyr ago, 0.8 Gyr ago, and modern Earth. In addition to calculating the UV flux on the surface of the planet, we model the biologically effective irradiance, using DNA damage as a proxy for biological damage. We find that a pre-biotic Earth (3.9 Gyr ago) orbiting an F0V star receives 6 times the biologically effective radiation as around the early Sun and 3520 times the modern Earth–Sun levels. A pre-biotic Earth orbiting GJ 581 (M3.5 V) receives 300 times less biologically effective radiation, about 2 times modern Earth–Sun levels. The UV fluxes calculated here provide a grid of model UV environments during the evolution of an Earth-like planet orbiting a range of stars. These models can be used as inputs into photo-biological experiments and for pre-biotic chemistry and early life evolution experiments

Smile: Student Modification in Learning Environments. Establishing Congruence between Actual and Preferred Classroom Learning Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Yarrow, Allan; Millwater, Jan

1995-01-01

This study investigated whether classroom psychosocial environment, as perceived by student teachers, could be improved to their preferred level. Students completed the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory, discussed interventions, then completed it again. Significant deficiencies surfaced in the learning environment early in the…

Are There Long-Term Effects of Early Child Care?

Science.gov (United States)

Belsky, Jay; Vandell, Deborah Lowe; Burchinal, Margaret; Clarke-Stewart, K. Alison; McCartney, Kathleen; Owen, Margaret Tresch

2007-01-01

Effects of early child care on children's functioning from 4 1/2 years through the end of 6th grade (M age=12.0 years) were examined in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n=1,364). The results indicated that although parenting was a stronger and more consistent predictor of…

Comparison of the cable coupling effects under two kinds of HEMP environment

CERN Document Server

Sun Bei Yun; Xie Yan Zhao

2002-01-01

There are various kinds of HEMP environment definitions. The coupling effects of electronic system are more different under different HEMP environment. The responds of cable of different length are investigated under 1976 HEMP and 1996 HEMP environment. The results indicate that the cable coupling effects under 1976 HEMP environment are more serious than those under 1996 HEMP environment

A micropalaeontological and palynological insight into Early Carboniferous floodplain environments

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Carys; Kearsey, Timothy; Davies, Sarah; Millward, David; Marshall, John; Reeves, Emma

2016-04-01

Romer's Gap, the interval following the end Devonian mass extinction, is traditionally considered to be depauperate in tetrapod and fish fossils. A major research project (TW:eed -Tetrapod World: early evolution and diversification) focusing on the Tournaisian Ballagan Formation of Scotland is investigating how early Carboniferous ecosystems rebuilt following the extinction. A multi-proxy approach, combining sedimentology, micropalaeontology and palynology, is used to investigate the different floodplain environments in which tetrapods, fish, arthropods and molluscs lived. The formation is characterised by an overbank facies association of siltstone, sandstone and palaeosols, interbedded with dolostone and evaporite units, and cut by fluvial sandstone facies associations of fining-upwards conglomerate lags, cross-bedded sandstone and rippled siltstone. Macrofossils are identified from 326 horizons within a 520 metre thick Ballagan Formation field section at Burnmouth, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Scottish Borders. Common fauna are ostracods, bivalves, arthropods, sarcopterygians, dipnoans, acanthodians, tetrapods and chondrichthyans. Quantitative microfossil picking of the three sedimentary rock types in which tetrapods occur was undertaken to gain further insight into the palaeoecology. The sediments are; 1) laminated grey siltstones, deposited in floodplain lakes; 2) sandy siltstones, grey siltstones with millimetre size clasts. 71% of these beds overlie palaeosols or desiccated surfaces and are formed in small-scale flooding events; 3) conglomerates, mostly lags at the base of thick sandstones, with centimetre sized siltstone, sandstone and dolostone clasts. Grey siltstones contain a microfauna of common plant fragments, megaspores and sparse actinopterygian and rhizodont fragments. Sandy siltstones have the highest fossil diversity and contain microfossil fragments of plants, megaspores, charcoal, ostracods, actinopterygians, rhizodonts, eurypterids and rarer non

Ecological effects from transuranium elements in terrestrial environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uiker, F.U.

1985-01-01

To understand ecological effects from transuranium elements in environment it is necessary to know how their chemical, physical and biological behaviour depends on duration of their being in natural environment. It is necesary to take into account that behaviour of transuranium elements in environment depends on physical and chemical forms of a nuclide as well as on characteristics of ecosystem. Radiation dose of certain tissues plays an essential role here but dose distribution is especially complicated for relatively non-soluble α-irradiators

Promoting Health in Early Childhood Environments: A Health-Promotion Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Minniss, Fiona Rowe; Wardrope, Cheryl; Johnston, Donni; Kendall, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

This paper investigates the mechanisms by which a health-promotion intervention might influence the health-promoting behaviours of staff members working in early childhood centres. The intervention was an ecological health-promotion initiative that was implemented within four early childhood centres in South-East Queensland, Australia. In-depth,…

TIDAL INTERACTION AS THE ORIGIN OF EARLY-TYPE DWARF GALAXIES IN GROUP ENVIRONMENTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paudel, Sanjaya; Ree, Chang H.

2014-01-01

We present a sample of dwarf galaxies that suffer ongoing disruption by the tidal forces of nearby massive galaxies. By analyzing structural and stellar population properties using the archival imaging and spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we find that they are likely a ''smoking gun'' example of the formation through tidal stirring of early-type dwarf galaxies (dEs) in the galaxy group environment. The inner cores of these galaxies are fairly intact and the observed light profiles are well fit by the Sérsic functions while the tidally stretched stellar halos are prominent in the outer parts. They are all located within a sky-projected distance of 50 kpc from the centers of the host galaxies and no dwarf galaxies have relative line-of-sight velocities larger than 205 km s –1 to their hosts. We derive the Composite Stellar Population properties of these galaxies by fitting the SDSS optical spectra to a multiple-burst composite stellar population model. We find that these galaxies accumulate a significant fraction of stellar mass within the last 1 Gyr and contain a majority stellar population with an intermediate age of 2 to 4 Gyr. Based on this evidence, we argue that tidal stirring, particularly through the galaxy-galaxy interaction, might have an important role in the formation and evolution of dEs in the group environment where the influence of other gas stripping mechanism might be limited

Toxic effect of heavy metals on aquatic environment | Baby ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Toxic effect of heavy metals on aquatic environment. ... International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences ... The indiscriminate discharge of industrial effluents, raw sewage wastes and other waste pollute most of the environments and ...

Characteristics of effective professional development for early career science teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Shirley; Campbell, Sandra; Johnson, Sally; Stylianidou, Fani

2011-04-01

The research reported here set out to investigate the features in schools and science departments that were seen as effective in contributing to the continuing professional development (CPD) of early career science teachers. Ten schools took part in the study, selected on the basis of their reputation for having effective CPD practices. To gain different perspectives from within the organisations we conducted interviews with senior members of staff, heads of science departments and early career teachers. A thematic analysis of the interviews is presented, drawing on findings from across the 10 schools, and exemplified in more detail by a vignette to show specific features of effective CPD practice. The study has revealed a wealth of practice across the 10 schools, which included a focus on broadening experience beyond the classroom, having an open, sharing, non-threatening culture and systemic procedures for mentoring and support that involved ring-fenced budgets. The schools also deployed staff judiciously in critical roles that model practice and motivate early career science teachers. Early career teachers were concerned primarily with their overall development as teachers, though some science specific examples such as observing practical work and sessions to address subject knowledge were seen as important.

Gemini Observations of Galaxies in Rich Early Environments (GOGREEN) I: survey description

Science.gov (United States)

Balogh, Michael L.; Gilbank, David G.; Muzzin, Adam; Rudnick, Gregory; Cooper, Michael C.; Lidman, Chris; Biviano, Andrea; Demarco, Ricardo; McGee, Sean L.; Nantais, Julie B.; Noble, Allison; Old, Lyndsay; Wilson, Gillian; Yee, Howard K. C.; Bellhouse, Callum; Cerulo, Pierluigi; Chan, Jeffrey; Pintos-Castro, Irene; Simpson, Rane; van der Burg, Remco F. J.; Zaritsky, Dennis; Ziparo, Felicia; Alonso, María Victoria; Bower, Richard G.; De Lucia, Gabriella; Finoguenov, Alexis; Lambas, Diego Garcia; Muriel, Hernan; Parker, Laura C.; Rettura, Alessandro; Valotto, Carlos; Wetzel, Andrew

2017-10-01

We describe a new Large Program in progress on the Gemini North and South telescopes: Gemini Observations of Galaxies in Rich Early Environments (GOGREEN). This is an imaging and deep spectroscopic survey of 21 galaxy systems at 1 10 in halo mass. The scientific objectives include measuring the role of environment in the evolution of low-mass galaxies, and measuring the dynamics and stellar contents of their host haloes. The targets are selected from the SpARCS, SPT, COSMOS, and SXDS surveys, to be the evolutionary counterparts of today's clusters and groups. The new red-sensitive Hamamatsu detectors on GMOS, coupled with the nod-and-shuffle sky subtraction, allow simultaneous wavelength coverage over λ ˜ 0.6-1.05 μm, and this enables a homogeneous and statistically complete redshift survey of galaxies of all types. The spectroscopic sample targets galaxies with AB magnitudes z΄ < 24.25 and [3.6] μm < 22.5, and is therefore statistically complete for stellar masses M* ≳ 1010.3 M⊙, for all galaxy types and over the entire redshift range. Deep, multiwavelength imaging has been acquired over larger fields for most systems, spanning u through K, in addition to deep IRAC imaging at 3.6 μm. The spectroscopy is ˜50 per cent complete as of semester 17A, and we anticipate a final sample of ˜500 new cluster members. Combined with existing spectroscopy on the brighter galaxies from GCLASS, SPT, and other sources, GOGREEN will be a large legacy cluster and field galaxy sample at this redshift that spectroscopically covers a wide range in stellar mass, halo mass, and clustercentric radius.

Psychosocial work environment and retirement age

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsen, Sannie Vester; Jensen, Per H.; Bjorner, Jakob Bue

2016-01-01

Purpose Retention of senior employees is a challenge for most developed countries. We aimed to identify psychosocial work environment factors of importance for the retention of older employees by evaluating the association between the psychosocial work environment and voluntary early retirement i...... at the labor market. However, we found no evidence that low demands or good relations between colleagues could influence older employees’ decision on early retirement....

Quantum system under periodic perturbation: Effect of environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hotta, M.; Joichi, I.; Matsumoto, S.; Yoshimura, M.

1997-01-01

In many physical situations the behavior of a quantum system is affected by interaction with a larger environment. We develop, using the method of an influence functional, how to deduce the density matrix of the quantum system incorporating the effect of environment. After introducing the characterization of the environment by spectral weight, we first devise schemes to approximate the spectral weight, and then a perturbation method in field theory models, in order to approximately describe the environment. All of these approximate models may be classified as extended Ohmic models of dissipation whose differences are in the high frequency part. The quantum system we deal with in the present work is a general class of harmonic oscillators with an arbitrary time-dependent frequency. The late time behavior of the system is well described by an approximation that employs a localized friction in the dissipative part of the correlation function appearing in the influence functional. The density matrix of the quantum system is then determined in terms of a single classical solution obtained with the time-dependent frequency. With this one can compute the entropy, the energy distribution function, and other physical quantities of the system in a closed form. A specific application is made to the case of a periodically varying frequency. This dynamical system has a remarkable property when the environmental interaction is switched off: The effect of the parametric resonance gives rise to an exponential growth of the populated number in higher excitation levels, or particle production in field theory models. The effect of the environment is investigated for this dynamical system and it is demonstrated that there exists a critical strength of the friction for the parametric effect. (Abstract Truncated)

Early Inherited Risk for Anxiety Moderates the Association between Fathers’ Child-Centered Parenting and Early Social Inhibition

Science.gov (United States)

Brooker, Rebecca J.; Alto, Kathleen M.; Marceau, Kristine; Najjar, Reema; Leve, Leslie D.; Ganiban, Jody M.; Shaw, Daniel S.; Reiss, David; Neiderhiser, Jenae M.

2016-01-01

Studies of the role of the early environment in shaping children’s risk for anxiety problems have produced mixed results. It is possible that inconsistencies in previous findings result from a lack of consideration of a putative role for inherited influences moderators on the impact of early experiences. Early inherited influences not only contribute to vulnerabilities for anxiety problems throughout the lifespan, but can also modulate the ways that the early environment impacts child outcomes. In the current study, we tested the effects of child-centered parenting behaviors on putative anxiety risk in young children who differed in levels of inherited vulnerability. We tested this using a parent-offspring adoption design and a sample in which risk for anxiety problems and parenting behaviors were assessed in both mothers and fathers. Inherited influences on anxiety problems were assessed as anxiety symptoms in biological parents. Child-centered parenting was observed in adoptive mothers and fathers when children were 9 months old. Social inhibition, an early temperament marker of anxiety risk, was observed at child ages 9 and 18 months. Inherited influences on anxiety problems moderated the link between paternal child-centered parenting during infancy and social inhibition in toddlerhood. For children whose birth parents reported high levels of anxiety symptoms, greater child-centered parenting in adoptive fathers was related to greater social inhibition 9 months later. For children whose birth parents reported low levels of anxiety symptoms, greater child-centered parenting in adoptive fathers was related to less social inhibition across the same period. PMID:27572913

Early inherited risk for anxiety moderates the association between fathers' child-centered parenting and early social inhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooker, R J; Alto, K M; Marceau, K; Najjar, R; Leve, L D; Ganiban, J M; Shaw, D S; Reiss, D; Neiderhiser, J M

2016-12-01

Studies of the role of the early environment in shaping children's risk for anxiety problems have produced mixed results. It is possible that inconsistencies in previous findings result from a lack of consideration of a putative role for inherited influences moderators on the impact of early experiences. Early inherited influences not only contribute to vulnerabilities for anxiety problems throughout the lifespan, but can also modulate the ways that the early environment impacts child outcomes. In the current study, we tested the effects of child-centered parenting behaviors on putative anxiety risk in young children who differed in levels of inherited vulnerability. We tested this using a parent-offspring adoption design and a sample in which risk for anxiety problems and parenting behaviors were assessed in both mothers and fathers. Inherited influences on anxiety problems were assessed as anxiety symptoms in biological parents. Child-centered parenting was observed in adoptive mothers and fathers when children were 9 months old. Social inhibition, an early temperament marker of anxiety risk, was observed at child ages 9 and 18 months. Inherited influences on anxiety problems moderated the link between paternal child-centered parenting during infancy and social inhibition in toddlerhood. For children whose birth parents reported high levels of anxiety symptoms, greater child-centered parenting in adoptive fathers was related to greater social inhibition 9 months later. For children whose birth parents reported low levels of anxiety symptoms, greater child-centered parenting in adoptive fathers was related to less social inhibition across the same period.

Enviromental Effects on Internal Color Gradients of Early-Type Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

La Barbera, F.; de Carvalho, R. R.; Gal, R. R.; Busarello, G.; Haines, C. P.; Mercurio, A.; Merluzzi, P.; Capaccioli, M.; Djorgovski, S. G.

2007-05-01

One of the most debated issues of observational and theoretical cosmology is that of how the environment affects the formation and evolution of galaxies. To gain new insight into this subject, we have derived surface photometry for a sample of 3,000 early-type galaxies belonging to 163 clusters with different richness, spanning a redshift range of 0.05 to 0.25. This large data-set is used to analyze how the color distribution inside galaxies depends on several parameters, such as cluster richness, local galaxy density, galaxy luminosity and redshift. We find that the internal color profile of galaxies strongly depends on the environment where galaxies reside. Galaxies in poor and rich clusters are found to follow two distinct trends in the color gradient vs. redshift diagram, with color gradients beeing less steep in rich rather than in poor clusters. No dependence of color gradients on galaxy luminosity is detected both for poor and rich clusters. We find that color gradients strongly depend on local galaxy density, with more shallow gradients in high density regions. Interestingly, this result holds only for low richness clusters, with color gradients of galaxies in rich clusters showing no dependence on local galaxy density. Our results support a reasonable picture whereby young early-type galaxies form in a dissipative collapse process, and then undergo increased (either major or minor) merging activity in richer rather than in poor clusters.

Occurrence, behavior and effects of nanoparticles in the environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowack, Bernd; Bucheli, Thomas D.

2007-01-01

The increasing use of engineered nanoparticles (NP) in industrial and household applications will very likely lead to the release of such materials into the environment. Assessing the risks of these NP in the environment requires an understanding of their mobility, reactivity, ecotoxicity and persistency. This review presents an overview of the classes of NP relevant to the environment and summarizes their formation, emission, occurrence and fate in the environment. The engineered NP are thereby compared to natural products such as soot and organic colloids. To date only few quantitative analytical techniques for measuring NP in natural systems are available, which results in a serious lack of information about their occurrence in the environment. Results from ecotoxicological studies show that certain NP have effects on organisms under environmental conditions, though mostly at elevated concentrations. The next step towards an assessment of the risks of NP in the environment should therefore be to estimate the exposure to the different NP. It is also important to notice that most NP in technical applications are functionalized and therefore studies using pristine NP may not be relevant for assessing the behavior of the NP actually used. - The behavior and the effects of natural and engineered nanoparticles in the environment are reviewed

Early literacy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Anders Skriver

2012-01-01

This paper discusses findings from the Danish contribution to the EASE project, a European research project running from 2008 to 2010 on early literacy in relation to the transition from childcare to school. It explores a holistic, inclusive approach to early literacy that resists a narrow...... and schools. The paper also draws on Gee’s (2001, 2003, 2004, 2008) sociocultural approach to literacy, and Honneth’s (2003, 2006) concept of recognition. Emphasizing participation and recognition as key elements, it claims that stakeholders in early liter- acy must pay attention to how diverse early literacy...... opportunities empower children, especially when these opportunities are employed in a project-based learning environ- ment in which each child is able to contribute to the shared literacy events....

Effects of Critical Thinking Intervention for Early Childhood Teacher Candidates

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Heejeong Sophia; Brown, E. Todd

2013-01-01

This study is based on an intervention designed to enhance early childhood teacher candidates' critical thinking abilities. The concept, elements, standards, and traits of critical thinking were integrated into the main course contents, and the effects of the intervention were examined. The results indicated that early childhood teacher…

Space Environments and Effects Concept: Transitioning Research to Operations and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, David L.; Spann, James; Burns, Howard D.; Schumacher, Dan

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while expanding its mission to explore the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. NASA has established numerous offices specializing in specific space environments disciplines that will serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline offices, a concept focusing on the development of space environment and effects application is presented. This includes space climate, space weather, and natural and induced space environments. This space environment and effects application is composed of 4 topic areas; characterization and modeling, engineering effects, prediction and operation, and mitigation and avoidance. These topic areas are briefly described below. Characterization and modeling of space environments will primarily focus on utilization during Program mission concept, planning, and design phases. Engineering effects includes materials testing and flight experiments producing data to be used in mission planning and design phases. Prediction and operation pulls data from existing sources into decision-making tools and empirical data sets to be used during the operational phase of a mission. Mitigation and avoidance will develop techniques and strategies used in the design and operations phases of the mission. The goal of this space environment and effects application is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support the mission phases of mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to operations. Products generated by this space environments and effects application are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will outline the four topic areas, describe the need, and discuss an organizational structure for this space environments and effects

The positive and negative consequences of stressors during early life.

Science.gov (United States)

Monaghan, Pat; Haussmann, Mark F

2015-11-01

We discuss the long-term effects of stress exposure in pre- and early postnal life. We present an evolutionary framework within which such effects can be viewed, and describe how the outcomes might vary with species life histories. We focus on stressors that induce increases in glucocorticoid hormones and discuss the advantages of an experimental approach. We describe a number of studies demonstrating how exposure to these hormones in early life can influence stress responsiveness and have substantial long-term, negative consequences for adult longevity. We also describe how early life exposure to mild levels of stressors can have beneficial effects on resilience to stress in later life, and discuss how the balance of costs and benefits is likely dependent on the nature of the adult environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gene-Environment Interplay in the Association between Pubertal Timing and Delinquency in Adolescent Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Harden, K. Paige; Mendle, Jane

2014-01-01

Early pubertal timing places girls at elevated risk for a breadth of negative outcomes, including involvement in delinquent behavior. While previous developmental research has emphasized the unique social challenges faced by early maturing girls, this relation is complicated by genetic influences for both delinquent behavior and pubertal timing, which are seldom controlled for in existing research. The current study uses genetically informed data on 924 female-female twin and sibling pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to (1) disentangle biological versus environmental mechanisms for the effects of early pubertal timing and (2) test for gene-environment interactions. Results indicate that early pubertal timing influences girls’ delinquency through a complex interplay between biological risk and environmental experiences. Genes related to earlier age at menarche and higher perceived development significantly predict increased involvement in both non-violent and violent delinquency. Moreover, after accounting for this genetic association between pubertal timing and delinquency, the impact of non-shared environmental influences on delinquency are significantly moderated by pubertal timing, such that the non-shared environment is most important among early maturing girls. This interaction effect is particularly evident for non-violent delinquency. Overall, results suggest early maturing girls are vulnerable to an interaction between genetic and environmental risks for delinquent behavior. PMID:21668078

Effectiveness of a Danish early year preschool program

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Bente; Holm, Anders; Bremberg, Sven

2013-01-01

A significant number of studies indicate that early year preschool programs lead to positive long-term effects. Systematic quality improvement of early year preschool may enhance these outcomes. The ASP Program was built on this principle. In this program preschool staff are supported...... in their efforts to critically reflect on current practices and to change these. A randomized controlled study was carried out in Denmark from September 2006 to May 2008. The study encompassed 2323 children in 59 preschools in two municipalities. Children were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties...

Does social environment influence learning ability in a family-living lizard?

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Julia L; Noble, Daniel W A; Byrne, Richard W; Whiting, Martin J

2017-05-01

Early developmental environment can have profound effects on individual physiology, behaviour, and learning. In birds and mammals, social isolation during development is known to negatively affect learning ability; yet in other taxa, like reptiles, the effect of social isolation during development on learning ability is unknown. We investigated how social environment affects learning ability in the family-living tree skink (Egernia striolata). We hypothesized that early social environment shapes cognitive development in skinks and predicted that skinks raised in social isolation would have reduced learning ability compared to skinks raised socially. Offspring were separated at birth into two rearing treatments: (1) raised alone or (2) in a pair. After 1 year, we quantified spatial learning ability of skinks in these rearing treatments (N = 14 solitary, 14 social). We found no effect of rearing treatment on learning ability. The number of skinks to successfully learn the task, the number of trials taken to learn the task, the latency to perform the task, and the number of errors in each trial did not differ between isolated and socially reared skinks. Our results were unexpected, yet the facultative nature of this species' social system may result in a reduced effect of social isolation on behaviour when compared to species with obligate sociality. Overall, our findings do not provide evidence that social environment affects development of spatial learning ability in this family-living lizard.

An Overview of the Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Organization Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, David L.; Burns, Howard D.; Garrett, Henry B.; Miller, Sharon K.; Peddie, Darilyn; Porter Ron; Spann, James F.; Xapsos, Michael A.

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while also expanding its mission to explore our Earth, and the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. Each new destination presents an opportunity to increase our knowledge on the solar system and the unique environments for each mission target. NASA has multiple technical and science discipline areas specializing in specific space environments fields that will serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline areas, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environment and spacecraft effects (SESE) organization. This SESE organization includes disciplines such as space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, effects on spacecraft materials and systems, and the transition of research information into application. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization will be composed of Technical Working Groups (TWG). These technical working groups will survey customers and users, generate products, and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, engineering effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Environment effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system, and system-level response to the space environment and include the selection and testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with

Associations Between Early Family Meal Environment Quality and Later Well-Being in School-Age Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Harbec, Marie-Josée; Pagani, Linda S

Past research suggests a positive link between family meals and child and adolescent health. Although researchers have often relied on how often families eat together, this may not capture the complexity of the experience. Using a birth cohort, this study examines the prospective associations between the environmental quality of the family meal experience at age 6 years and child well-being at age 10. Participants are 1492 children of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. When children were age 6, parents reported on their typical family meal environment quality. At age 10, parents, teachers, and children themselves provided information on lifestyle habits, academic achievement, and social adjustment, respectively. The relationship between early family meal environment quality and later child outcomes was analyzed using a series of multivariate linear regression. Family meal environment quality at age 6 predicted higher levels of general fitness and lower levels of soft drink consumption, physical aggression, oppositional behavior, nonaggressive delinquency, and reactive aggression at age 10. These relationships were adjusted for child characteristics (sex, temperament problems and cognitive abilities, and baseline body mass index [BMI]) and family characteristics (family configuration and functioning, maternal education, depression, and BMI). From a population-health perspective, our findings suggest that family meals have long-term influences on children's biopsychosocial well-being. At a time when family meal frequency is on a natural decline in the population, this environmental characteristic can become a target of home-based interventions and could be featured in information campaigns that aim to optimize child development.

Biomarkers of carcinogen exposure and early effects.

OpenAIRE

2006-01-01

The purpose of this review is to summarise the current situation regarding the types and uses of biomarkers of exposure and effect for the main classes of food-derived genotoxic carcinogens, and to consider some aspects of the intercomparison between these biomarkers. The biomarkers of exposure and early effects of carcinogens that have been most extensively developed are those for genotoxic agents and for compounds that generate hydroxyl radicals and other reactive radical species, and it is...

The effect of early childhood education on social and emotional ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This causal comparitive study examined the effect of early childhood education on social and emotional development in children ages 3-6 years old in Kwara State of Nigeria. Sixty children who were exposed to early childhood education were selected through cluster sampling from six different schools, that is, 30 boys and ...

Radioactivity in the environment and its effects on health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sene, Monique; Schuler, Matthieu; Couvez, Celine; Rollinger, Francois; Bruno, Valerie; Renaud, Philippe; Laurier, Dominique; Gariel, Jean-Christophe; Estevao, Mathieu; Le Berre, David; Quere, Emmanuel; Josset, Mylene; Bernollin, Antoine; Saut, Catherine; Mailliat, Alain; Dryjanski, Claudie; Varin, Jean-Christophe; Villers, Anita; Gazal, Suzanne; Gerber, Mariette; Reynal, Nathalie; Vicaud, Alain; Renaud, Philippe; Roussel-Debet, S.; Leprieur, F.; Pourcelot, L.; Saey, L.; Tournieux, D.; Caldeira-Ideias, P.; Manificat, G.; Grammont, Vincent; Behar, Abraham; Gerber, Mariette

2015-11-01

This document gathers Power Point presentations. After a presentation of the new public portal of the French national network of measurements of radioactivity in the environment, a first session addressed the control of the environment by the different actors present on a territory (associations like CLI or ACRO or ATMO, operators like Areva). The addressed issues have been: the control performed by a CLI (Paluel-Penly) with the support of a departmental laboratory, the radiological monitoring of the environment about the Brennilis site, the study of an environmental marker (tritium in hive products), the specific study of the Durance region, the control of ambient radioactivity on the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coast, and the monitoring of the environment by the operator around La Hague site. The second session addressed the building up of reference radiological assessments: lessons learned from radiological assessments implemented by the IRSN, a citizen mapping of radioactivity in France, and improvement orientations for the monitoring of the environment by different actors. The third session addressed issues spanning from the environment to health: assessment of doses based on the control of the environment, global health impact for a set of nuclear power plants, assessment of the health impact of releases, knowledge status on the effects of low doses, and possible improvements of knowledge on the effects of radioactivity on health

Work environments and organizational effectiveness: A call for integration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heerwagen, J.H.; Heubach, J.G.; Brown, B.W.; Sanchez, J.A.; Montgomery, J.C.; Weimer, W.C.

1994-07-01

In response to a request from the Pacific Northwest Laboratory`s Analytical Chemistry Upgrades Program, a team was formed to (1) review work environment and productivity research, (2) report the research in a manner usable to organizational decision-makers, (3) identify Hanford Site facilities examples of the work environment principles and research, and (4) publish the review results in a referred journal. This report summarizes the work environment-organizational effectiveness research reviewed, provides the foundation for a publishable article, and outlines the integration of work environment research and organizational effectiveness in continuing improvement programs and strategic planning. The research cited in this review shows that the physical work environment offers a valuable tool that, used wisely, can contribute significantly to the performance of an organization, its bottom-line economics, and the well-being of all of its employees. This finding leads to one central recommendation: to derive the maximum benefit to the corporation, managers and designers must integrate organizational goals and programs with work environment design. While much of the research cited focuses on office environments, the results and design principles and practices are relevant to a full range of settings: laboratories, schools, hospitals, and factories. The major findings of the research reviewed are summarized below in four areas: (1) performance, (2) well-being, (3) image, and (4) turnover and recruitment.

40 CFR 26.1123 - Early termination of research.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Early termination of research. 26.1123 Section 26.1123 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN... Exposure of Non-pregnant, Non-nursing Adults § 26.1123 Early termination of research. The Administrator may...

Early nutrition and its effect on growth, body composition, and later obesity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lind, Mads Vendelbo; Larnkjær, Anni; Mølgaard, Christian

2017-01-01

, intervention studies, and studies focusing on the potential mechanisms behind associations between early nutrition and different aspects of growth. There has been a special interest in factors with potential mediating effects between early nutrition and later growth such as growth factors and growth-related......Early nutrition is an important factor regulating both early and long-term growth and body composition, and therefore has important effects on the risk of later overweight and obesity. There is a lot of activity within this research area with a wealth of publications including observational studies...... hormones, appetite-related hormones, and factors with a potential programming effect, e.g., epigenetic programming. For this short review we have included 11 papers which we found of special interest published during the period from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. We have chosen to focus mainly on 2 areas...

Environments for Fostering Effective Critical Thinking in Geotechnical Engineering Education (Geo-EFFECTs)

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, Charles E.; Gassman, Sarah L.; Huffman, Jeffrey T.

2013-01-01

This paper describes the development, implementation, and assessment of instructional materials for geotechnical engineering concepts using the Environments for Fostering Effective Critical Thinking (EFFECTs) pedagogical framework. The central learning goals of engineering EFFECTs are to (i) improve the understanding and retention of a specific…

Genotype and environment effects on sensory, nutritional, and physical traits in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria J. Cobos

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The development of chickpea cultivars with high quality grains for human consumption is an important objective in breeding programs. Genotype and environment effects on seed quality traits (sensorial, nutritional and physical were studied in chickpea dry grain. Twenty genotypes were grown in winter and spring sowings over two campaigns in four different locations in southern Spain. Significant differences were observed in oil, acid detergent fiber (ADF and protein content between sowing times (S. In winter, oil and ADF content were higher, while protein content was lower. Although, in general, highly significant variation was detected for genotype (G, environment (E and single interactions (GE, GS and ES, the genotype effect was stronger for ADF, neutral detergent fiber (NDF, oil, starch and protein content, and for physical and sensory traits (r2>27%. In contrast, environment played an important role in variation in the content of amylose and amylopectin (r2=71.7%. No high relationships were found between the sensory and nutritional or physical characteristics studied. In general, our results suggest a high genetic gain for seed quality in nutritional, physical and sensory traits in chickpea. Genotypes with good seed sensory quality should be selected in the final stages of the breeding program, because it is not feasible to evaluate very large numbers of samples. However, in some cases, moderate correlations were found between sensory and either nutritional or physical traits. Therefore, indirect selection to increase the frequency of genes for sensory traits in an early stage should be considered.

Genotype and environment effects on sensory, nutritional, and physical traits in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cobos, M.J.; Izquierdo, M. A.; Sanz, A.T.; Gil, J.; Flores, F.; Rubio, J.

2016-01-01

The development of chickpea cultivars with high quality grains for human consumption is an important objective in breeding programs. Genotype and environment effects on seed quality traits (sensorial, nutritional and physical) were studied in chickpea dry grain. Twenty genotypes were grown in winter and spring sowings over two campaigns in four different locations in southern Spain. Significant differences were observed in oil, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and protein content between sowing times (S). In winter, oil and ADF content were higher, while protein content was lower. Although, in general, highly significant variation was detected for genotype (G), environment (E) and single interactions (GE, GS and ES), the genotype effect was stronger for ADF, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), oil, starch and protein content, and for physical and sensory traits (r2>27%). In contrast, environment played an important role in variation in the content of amylose and amylopectin (r2=71.7%). No high relationships were found between the sensory and nutritional or physical characteristics studied. In general, our results suggest a high genetic gain for seed quality in nutritional, physical and sensory traits in chickpea. Genotypes with good seed sensory quality should be selected in the final stages of the breeding program, because it is not feasible to evaluate very large numbers of samples. However, in some cases, moderate correlations were found between sensory and either nutritional or physical traits. Therefore, indirect selection to increase the frequency of genes for sensory traits in an early stage should be considered.

Genotype and environment effects on sensory, nutritional, and physical traits in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cobos, M.J.; Izquierdo, M. A.; Sanz, A.T.; Gil, J.; Flores, F.; Rubio, J.

2016-07-01

The development of chickpea cultivars with high quality grains for human consumption is an important objective in breeding programs. Genotype and environment effects on seed quality traits (sensorial, nutritional and physical) were studied in chickpea dry grain. Twenty genotypes were grown in winter and spring sowings over two campaigns in four different locations in southern Spain. Significant differences were observed in oil, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and protein content between sowing times (S). In winter, oil and ADF content were higher, while protein content was lower. Although, in general, highly significant variation was detected for genotype (G), environment (E) and single interactions (GE, GS and ES), the genotype effect was stronger for ADF, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), oil, starch and protein content, and for physical and sensory traits (r2>27%). In contrast, environment played an important role in variation in the content of amylose and amylopectin (r2=71.7%). No high relationships were found between the sensory and nutritional or physical characteristics studied. In general, our results suggest a high genetic gain for seed quality in nutritional, physical and sensory traits in chickpea. Genotypes with good seed sensory quality should be selected in the final stages of the breeding program, because it is not feasible to evaluate very large numbers of samples. However, in some cases, moderate correlations were found between sensory and either nutritional or physical traits. Therefore, indirect selection to increase the frequency of genes for sensory traits in an early stage should be considered.

Early Effects of Altered Gravity Environments on Plant Cell Growth and Cell Proliferation: Characterization of Morphofunctional Nucleolar Types in an Arabidopsis Cell Culture System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manzano, Ana I.; Herranz, Raúl; Manzano, Aránzazu [Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Madrid (Spain); Loon, Jack J. W. A. van [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Oral Pathology, Dutch Experiment Support Center, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), Amsterdam (Netherlands); ESA-ESTEC, TEC-MMG, Noordwijk (Netherlands); Medina, F. Javier, E-mail: fjmedina@cib.csic.es [Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Madrid (Spain)

2016-02-05

Changes in the cell growth rate of an in vitro cellular system in Arabidopsis thaliana induced by short exposure to an altered gravity environment have been estimated by a novel approach. The method consisted of defining three structural nucleolar types which are easy and reliable indicators of the ribosome biogenesis activity and, consequently, of protein biosynthesis, a parameter strictly correlated to cell growth in this cellular system. The relative abundance of each nucleolar type was statistically assessed in different conditions of gravity. Samples exposed to simulated microgravity for 200 min showed a significant decrease in nucleolar activity compared to 1g controls, whereas samples exposed to hypergravity (2g) for the same period showed nucleolar activity slightly increased. These effects could be considered as an early cellular response to the environmental alteration, given the short duration of the treatment. The functional significance of the structural data was validated by a combination of several different well-known parameters, using microscopical, flow cytometry, qPCR, and proteomic approaches, which showed that the decreased cell growth rate was decoupled from an increased cell proliferation rate under simulated microgravity, and the opposite trend was observed under hypergravity. Actually, not all parameters tested showed the same quantitative changes, indicating that the response to the environmental alteration is time-dependent. These results are in agreement with previous observations in root meristematic cells and they show the ability of plant cells to produce a response to gravity changes, independently of their integration into plant organs.

Adaptation to Temporally Fluctuating Environments by the Evolution of Maternal Effects.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Snigdhadip Dey

2016-02-01

Full Text Available All organisms live in temporally fluctuating environments. Theory predicts that the evolution of deterministic maternal effects (i.e., anticipatory maternal effects or transgenerational phenotypic plasticity underlies adaptation to environments that fluctuate in a predictably alternating fashion over maternal-offspring generations. In contrast, randomizing maternal effects (i.e., diversifying and conservative bet-hedging, are expected to evolve in response to unpredictably fluctuating environments. Although maternal effects are common, evidence for their adaptive significance is equivocal since they can easily evolve as a correlated response to maternal selection and may or may not increase the future fitness of offspring. Using the hermaphroditic nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, we here show that the experimental evolution of maternal glycogen provisioning underlies adaptation to a fluctuating normoxia-anoxia hatching environment by increasing embryo survival under anoxia. In strictly alternating environments, we found that hermaphrodites evolved the ability to increase embryo glycogen provisioning when they experienced normoxia and to decrease embryo glycogen provisioning when they experienced anoxia. At odds with existing theory, however, populations facing irregularly fluctuating normoxia-anoxia hatching environments failed to evolve randomizing maternal effects. Instead, adaptation in these populations may have occurred through the evolution of fitness effects that percolate over multiple generations, as they maintained considerably high expected growth rates during experimental evolution despite evolving reduced fecundity and reduced embryo survival under one or two generations of anoxia. We develop theoretical models that explain why adaptation to a wide range of patterns of environmental fluctuations hinges on the existence of deterministic maternal effects, and that such deterministic maternal effects are more likely to contribute to

The effect of initiation feature and environment on fatigue crack formation and early propagation in aluminum zinc magnesium copper

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, James T.

The current research provides insight into fatigue crack formation and progression in the poorly understood size regime that bridges safe-life and damage tolerance approaches; particular attention is given to the influences of corrosion-induced degradation and time-cycle dependent loading environment effects. Quantitative analysis of crack formation life (Ni), microstructurally small crack (database. Results show that fatigue crack formation involves a complex interaction of elastic stress concentration, due to a 3-dimensional macro-pit, coupled with local micro-feature (and constituent) induced plastic strain concentration. Such interactions cause high Ni variability, but, from an engineering perspective, a broadly corroded surface should contain an extreme group of features driving Ni to ˜0. At low-applied stresses, Ni consumes a significant portion of total life, which is well predicted by coupling elastic-plastic FEA with empirical low-cycle fatigue life models. All pristine and corroded da/dN were uniquely correlated using complex continuum stress intensity (K) and crack opening solutions which account for the stress concentrating formation feature. Multiple crack growth regimes were observed, typical of environment enhanced fatigue in Al alloys. Such behavior is not captured by prominent mechanics-based small crack models. Furthermore, neither local closure nor slip-based models captured the order of magnitude variability in da/dN attributed to microstructure. Low temperature loading produces an order of magnitude increase in Ni, and even larger reduction in da/dN, due to elimination of H-enhanced cracking by reduced external water vapor pressure, lower crack tip reaction rate (to produce atomic-H), and slower H diffusion. Engineering level modeling approaches are validated using these high fidelity experimental results, informing next generation prognosis methods for realistic airframe environments.

Sucrose exposure in early life alters adult motivation and weight gain.

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Cristianne R M Frazier

2008-09-01

Full Text Available The cause of the current increase in obesity in westernized nations is poorly understood but is frequently attributed to a 'thrifty genotype,' an evolutionary predisposition to store calories in times of plenty to protect against future scarcity. In modern, industrialized environments that provide a ready, uninterrupted supply of energy-rich foods at low cost, this genetic predisposition is hypothesized to lead to obesity. Children are also exposed to this 'obesogenic' environment; however, whether such early dietary experience has developmental effects and contributes to adult vulnerability to obesity is unknown. Using mice, we tested the hypothesis that dietary experience during childhood and adolescence affects adult obesity risk. We gave mice unlimited or no access to sucrose for a short period post-weaning and measured sucrose-seeking, food consumption, and weight gain in adulthood. Unlimited access to sucrose early in life reduced sucrose-seeking when work was required to obtain it. When high-sugar/high-fat dietary options were made freely-available, however, the sucrose-exposed mice gained more weight than mice without early sucrose exposure. These results suggest that early, unlimited exposure to sucrose reduces motivation to acquire sucrose but promotes weight gain in adulthood when the cost of acquiring palatable, energy dense foods is low. This study demonstrates that early post-weaning experience can modify the expression of a 'thrifty genotype' and alter an adult animal's response to its environment, a finding consistent with evidence of pre- and peri-natal programming of adult obesity risk by maternal nutritional status. Our findings suggest the window for developmental effects of diet may extend into childhood, an observation with potentially important implications for both research and public policy in addressing the rising incidence of obesity.

Sucrose exposure in early life alters adult motivation and weight gain.

Science.gov (United States)

Frazier, Cristianne R M; Mason, Peggy; Zhuang, Xiaoxi; Beeler, Jeff A

2008-09-17

The cause of the current increase in obesity in westernized nations is poorly understood but is frequently attributed to a 'thrifty genotype,' an evolutionary predisposition to store calories in times of plenty to protect against future scarcity. In modern, industrialized environments that provide a ready, uninterrupted supply of energy-rich foods at low cost, this genetic predisposition is hypothesized to lead to obesity. Children are also exposed to this 'obesogenic' environment; however, whether such early dietary experience has developmental effects and contributes to adult vulnerability to obesity is unknown. Using mice, we tested the hypothesis that dietary experience during childhood and adolescence affects adult obesity risk. We gave mice unlimited or no access to sucrose for a short period post-weaning and measured sucrose-seeking, food consumption, and weight gain in adulthood. Unlimited access to sucrose early in life reduced sucrose-seeking when work was required to obtain it. When high-sugar/high-fat dietary options were made freely-available, however, the sucrose-exposed mice gained more weight than mice without early sucrose exposure. These results suggest that early, unlimited exposure to sucrose reduces motivation to acquire sucrose but promotes weight gain in adulthood when the cost of acquiring palatable, energy dense foods is low. This study demonstrates that early post-weaning experience can modify the expression of a 'thrifty genotype' and alter an adult animal's response to its environment, a finding consistent with evidence of pre- and peri-natal programming of adult obesity risk by maternal nutritional status. Our findings suggest the window for developmental effects of diet may extend into childhood, an observation with potentially important implications for both research and public policy in addressing the rising incidence of obesity.

Early determinants of mental health

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Räikkönen, Katri; Pesonen, Anu-Katriina; Roseboom, Tessa J.; Eriksson, Johan G.

2012-01-01

Environmental adversities in pre- and early postnatal life may have life-long consequences. Based upon a series of epidemiological and clinical studies and natural experiments, this review describes how the early life environment may affect psychological functions and mental disorders later in life.

Fatigue management considering LWR coolant environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Heung Bae; Jin, Tae eun

2000-01-01

Design fatigue curve for structural material in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code do not explicitly address the effects of reactor coolant environments on fatigue life. Environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) of low-alloy steels in light water reactor (LWR) coolant environments has been a concern ever since the early 1970's. And, recent fatigue test data indicate a significant decrease in fatigue lives of carbon steels, low-alloy steels and austenitic stainless steels in LWR coolant environments. For these reasons, fatigue of major components has been identified as a technical issue remaining to be resolved for life management and license renewal of nuclear power plants. In the present paper, results of recent investigations by many organizations are reviewed to provide technical justification to support the development of utility approach regarding the management of fatigue considering LWR coolant environments for the purpose of life management and license renewal of nuclear power plants. (author)

Early Intervention for Families and Children Experiencing Homelessness

Science.gov (United States)

Hurley, Jennifer J.; Looby, Winnie; Goodrum, Ashley R.; Campbell, Elizabeth M.; Bonti, Gregg K.; Raymon, Becca A.; Condon, Rebecca; Schwaeber, Sami E.; Mauceri, Melina E.; Bourne, Erin M.; Callahan, Elizabeth D.; Hardy, Danielle L.; Mathews, Pamela

2018-01-01

Early intervention (EI) services are provided for families and children at risk for or with developmental delays. Early intervention includes services that are provided in the natural environment as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 2004). The natural environment is where children and families would naturally spend…

Genetic vulnerability interacts with parenting and early care education to predict increasing externalizing behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipscomb, Shannon T; Laurent, Heidemarie; Neiderhiser, Jenae M; Shaw, Daniel S; Natsuaki, Misaki N; Reiss, David; Leve, Leslie D

2014-01-01

The current study examined interactions among genetic influences and children's early environments on the development of externalizing behaviors from 18 months to 6 years of age. Participants included 233 families linked through adoption (birth parents and adoptive families). Genetic influences were assessed by birth parent temperamental regulation. Early environments included both family (overreactive parenting) and out-of-home factors (center-based Early Care and Education; ECE). Overreactive parenting predicted more child externalizing behaviors. Attending center-based ECE was associated with increasing externalizing behaviors only for children with genetic liability for dysregulation. Additionally, children who were at risk for externalizing behaviors due to both genetic variability and exposure to center-based ECE were more sensitive to the effects of overreactive parenting on externalizing behavior than other children.

Effect assessment in work environment interventions: a methodological reflection.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, W P; Eklund, J; Hansson, B; Lindbeck, L

2010-01-01

This paper addresses a number of issues for work environment intervention (WEI) researchers in light of the mixed results reported in the literature. If researchers emphasise study quality over intervention quality, reviews that exclude case studies with high quality and multifactorial interventions may be vulnerable to 'quality criteria selection bias'. Learning from 'failed' interventions is inhibited by both publication bias and reporting lengths that limit information on relevant contextual and implementation factors. The authors argue for the need to develop evaluation approaches consistent with the complexity of multifactorial WEIs that: a) are owned by and aimed at the whole organisation; and b) include intervention in early design stages where potential impact is highest. Context variety, complexity and instability in and around organisations suggest that attention might usefully shift from generalisable 'proof of effectiveness' to a more nuanced identification of intervention elements and the situations in which they are more likely to work as intended. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This paper considers ergonomics interventions from perspectives of what constitutes quality and 'proof". It points to limitations of traditional experimental intervention designs and argues that the complexity of organisational change, and the need for multifactorial interventions that reach deep into work processes for greater impact, should be recognised.

The Effects of Workload Transitions in a Multitasking Environment

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-13

Workload Transitions in a Multitasking Environment 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER Margaret A. Bowers...DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. The Effects of Workload Transitions in a Multitasking Environment Margaret A. Bowers1,2, James C...well as performance in a complex multitasking environment. The results of the NASA TLX and shortened DSSQ did not provide support for the position

TUAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY: EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeynep TATLI

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The lab applications, which were started to be applied through mid 19th century, not only provide a new point of view but also bring about a new dimension to the lessons. At early times they were used to prove theoretical knowledge but lately they turned into environments where students freely discover knowledge as an individual or in groups. The activities that have come up with the recent form of labs substantially contributed to training ideal students for constructivist approach, who research, inquire, test, seek solutions, wear scientist shoes and deeply reason about the concept of concern. However, on the present stage of our educational system, these activities cannot be included in science lessons for several reasons. At that point virtual labs emerged as an alternative solution for the problems of the instruction in science courses. Thanks to virtual labs presenting different disciplines in a flexible manner, the interaction between the teacher and the learner become 7/24 independent from time and place. This article presents a study that provides insight in the appropriateness of Virtual and real laboratory applications on constructivist learning environment using interactive virtual chemistry laboratory (VCL development was used in academic year of 2009-2010 for a six week period. The sample of this quasi-experimental study was 90 students from three different 9th grade classrooms of an Anatolian Secondary school in the center of Trabzon city. The student groups were randomly attained as one experimental and two control groups. The data collection tools of the study were; questionnaire of teaching philosophy (QTP, Semi-structured interviews and unstructured observations. The results showed that virtual chemistry laboratory software was just as effective as real chemistry laboratory and it positively affected the facilitating of constructivist learning environment. It was determined that the students in experimental group conducted the

Six-Year-Olds' Perception of Home Literacy Environment and Its Influence on Children's Literacy Enjoyment, Frequency, and Early Literacy Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Wiescholek, Sabrina; Hilkenmeier, Johanna; Greiner, Christian; Buhl, Heike M.

2018-01-01

Home literacy environment (HLE) makes an important contribution to children's reading acquisition in early years. Even though some research on children's perception exists, children's reports about HLE have been neglected. The present study focuses on N = 281 six-year-old's reports about HLE and its influences on literacy enjoyment, frequency, and…

Early Intervention Services: Effectively Supporting Maori Children and their Families

Science.gov (United States)

Berryman, Mere; Woller, Paul

2011-01-01

This paper examines Early Intervention (EI) service provision from within one Ministry of Education region in New Zealand. It does this in order to better understand what works well and what needs to change if children from Maori families, of Early Childhood age, are to be provided with the most effective EI services. By engaging with Maori…

Manipulation of the Growth Hormone-Insulin-Like Growth Factor (GH-IGF) Axis: A Treatment Strategy to Reverse the Effects of Early Life Developmental Programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, Clare M; Perry, Jo K; Vickers, Mark H

2017-08-08

Evidence from human clinical, epidemiological, and experimental animal models has clearly highlighted a link between the early life environment and an increased risk for a range of cardiometabolic disorders in later life. In particular, altered maternal nutrition, including both undernutrition and overnutrition, spanning exposure windows that cover the period from preconception through to early infancy, clearly highlight an increased risk for a range of disorders in offspring in later life. This process, preferentially termed "developmental programming" as part of the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) framework, leads to phenotypic outcomes in offspring that closely resemble those of individuals with untreated growth hormone (GH) deficiency, including increased adiposity and cardiovascular disorders. As such, the use of GH as a potential intervention strategy to mitigate the effects of developmental malprogramming has received some attention in the DOHaD field. In particular, experimental animal models have shown that early GH treatment in the setting of poor maternal nutrition can partially rescue the programmed phenotype, albeit in a sex-specific manner. Although the mechanisms remain poorly defined, they include changes to endothelial function, an altered inflammasome, changes in adipogenesis and cardiovascular function, neuroendocrine effects, and changes in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Similarly, GH treatment to adult offspring, where an adverse metabolic phenotype is already manifest, has shown efficacy in reversing some of the metabolic disorders arising from a poor early life environment. Components of the GH-insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-IGF binding protein (GH-IGF-IGFBP) system, including insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), have also shown promise in ameliorating programmed metabolic disorders, potentially acting via epigenetic processes including changes in miRNA profiles and altered DNA methylation. However, as

Early and late endocrine effects in pediatric central nervous system diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Aslan, Ivy R; Cheung, Clement C

2014-01-01

Endocrinopathies are frequently linked to central nervous system disease, both as early effects prior to the disease diagnosis and/or late effects after the disease has been treated. In particular, tumors and infiltrative diseases of the brain and pituitary, such as craniopharyngioma, optic pathway and hypothalamic gliomas, intracranial germ cell tumor, and Langerhans cell histiocytosis, can present with abnormal endocrine manifestations that precede the development of neurological symptoms. Early endocrine effects include diabetes insipidus, growth failure, obesity, and precocious or delayed puberty. With improving prognosis and treatment of childhood brain tumors, many survivors experience late endocrine effects related to medical and surgical interventions. Chemotherapeutic agents and radiation therapy can affect the hypothalamic-pituitary axes governing growth, thyroid, gonadal, and adrenal function. In addition, obesity and metabolic alterations are frequent late manifestations. Diagnosing and treating both early and late endocrine manifestations can dramatically improve the growth, well-being, and quality of life of patients with childhood central nervous system diseases.

Aggressive effects of prioritizing popularity in early adolescence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cillessen, A.H.N.; Mayeux, L.; Ha, P.T.; Bruyn, E.H. de; LaFontana, K.M.

2014-01-01

This study examined the moderating effects of prioritizing popularity on the association between early adolescents' popularity and their aggressive, leadership, and prosocial behaviors with peers. Participants were 288 14-year-olds from The Netherlands who completed a sociometric instrument and an

Effectiveness of early adalimumab therapy in psoriatic arthritis patients from Reuma.pt - EARLY PsA.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Helena; Eusébio, Mónica; Borges, Joana; Gonçalves, Diana; Ávila-Ribeiro, Pedro; Faria, Daniela Santos; Lopes, Carina; Rovisco, João; Águeda, Ana; Nero, Patrícia; Valente, Paula; Cravo, Ana Rita; Santos, Maria José

2017-01-01

Objective To compare outcomes in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients initiating adalimumab (ADA), with short- and long-term disease duration and to evaluate the potential effect of concomitant conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD) or glucocorticoids. Methods Analyses included adult PsA patients registered in the Rheumatic Diseases Portuguese Register (Reuma.pt) between June 2008-June 2016 who received ADA for ≥3 months. Psoriatic Arthritis Response Criteria (PsARC) response, tender and swollen joint count, inflammatory parameters, patient (PtGA) and physician global assessment (PhGA), Disease Activity Score-28 joints (DAS28), and Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) were compared between patients with PsA) and those with ≥5 years of disease duration (late PsA). Time to achieving PsARC response was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Of 135 PsA patients treated with ADA, 126 had information on disease duration (earlyPsA, n=41). PsARC response was achieved by 72.9% of the patients (88.0% early PsA vs 62.2% late PsA; P=0.022) after 3 months and by 85.4% after 24 months (100% early PsA vs 75.9% late PsA; P=0.044). Early PsA patients achieved significantly less painful joints (2.7 vs 6.7, p=0.006), lower mean C-reactive protein (0.5 mg/dL vs 1.3 mg/dL; P=0.011), and PhGA (18.3 vs 28.1; P=0.020) at 3 months. In the long term, early PsA patients also had fewer swollen joints (0.3 vs 1.7; P=0.030) and lower PhGA (6.3 vs 21.9; PPsA, respectively. Early PsA patients obtained PsARC response more rapidly than late PsA (3.8 and 7.4 months, respectively; P=0.008). Concomitant csDMARDs showed clinical benefit (2-year PsARC response, 88.3% vs 60.0%; P=0.044). Concomitant glucocorticoids had no effect on PsARC response over 2 years of follow-up. Persistence on ADA was similar in both groups. Conclusion Early PsA patients had a greater chance of improvement after ADA therapy and better functional outcome, and

Effects of lithium nitrate admixture on early-age cement hydration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Millard, M.J.; Kurtis, K.E.

2008-01-01

Although the benefits of lithium admixtures for mitigation of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) have been well documented, the potential ancillary effects of lithium compounds on cement and concrete remain largely uncharacterized. To examine the effects of the most common lithium admixture - lithium nitrate - on early-age behavior, the admixture was introduced at dosages of 0% to 400% of the recommended dosage to six cements of varying composition and to a cement-fly ash blend. Behavior was examined by isothermal calorimetry and measurements of chemical shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage, and setting time. Results indicate that lithium nitrate accelerates the early hydration of most cements but may retard hydration after 24 h. In the lowest alkali cement tested, set times were shortened in the presence of lithium nitrate by 15-22%. Higher dosages appeared to increase autogenous shrinkage after 40 days. The replacement of cement by Class F fly ash at 20% by weight appeared to diminish the early acceleration effects, but later hydration retardation and autogenous shrinkage were still observed

Early and Late Side Effects Associated with Photo(chemotherapy

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Günseli Öztürk

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Phototherapy (PUVA ve UVB is a widely used and effective treatment method for a variety of dermatological diseases. Adverse effects associated with phototherapy can be classified as acute and chronic side effects. Acute side effects are mostly related with UV doses and drug intolerance, and include itching, nausea, erythema, edema and phototoxic reactions that sometimes blister formation is seen. Acute side effects are usually moderate and transient. Chronic side effects of phototherapy are early aging of skin, pigmentary changes and increased risk of skin carcinogenesis. The major concern is development of skin cancer. This risk is especially related to long-term exposure and high cumulative doses of PUVA, increase in time and is persistent. Therefore, risk/advantage ratio of phototherapy should be carefully evaluated in each patient, and treatment protocols with minimal UV exposure should be chosen according to the phototherapy guides. Follow-up of the patients for long terms is important in prevention or in reduction of this risk by detecting and treating any premalignant or malignant lesion early. In this article, acute and chronic side effects of phototherapy are reviewed with recent literature findings.

Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy: Examining the Effects of Paraeducator Implemented Early Literacy Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Bingham, Gary E.; Hall-Kenyon, Kendra M.; Culatta, Barbara

2010-01-01

This study examined the effect of explicit and engaging supplemental early literacy instruction on at-risk kindergarten children's literacy development. Sixty-three kindergarten-aged children who had been ranked in the lowest 20th percentile on basic literacy skills participated in this study (38 treatment). Results reveal that children who…

Preplanning of early cleanup. Annual report 1996

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

A pre-study 'Pre-planning of early cleanup after fallout of radioactive material' made by Studvik EcoSafe has pointed out the need and request for pre-planning of actions. Based on the pre-study this project was started with the goal to work out guidelines and checklists. Because of the common interest between the Nordic countries NKS is the organization responsible for the project. The results of the project will be a document pointing out what can be planned in advance, including guidelines and checklists, regarding early cleanup actions after a nuclear plant accident in or in the vicinity of the Nordic countries. In this work 'early' means the three first weeks after an accident. The project only deals with questions concerning external radiation. The document shall be usable by persons in charge of planning or decision makers on the appropriate level of organization for each country. The document shall principally be aimed towards persons without professional competence in the field of radiology. The result will be presented for a limited number of generalized environments and fallout situations: urban/suburban/rural (concentrating on urban/suburban); regional differences (in for example house types and constructing material); dry or wet deposition. Five housing environments, ten cleanup actions and wet or dry deposition are treated. For 66 combinations calculations are made and the results are documented as data sheets, each describing the beneficial effects, costs and disadvantages of application of a feasible method for cleaning in the early phase of a specific type of surface in one of five different urban or suburban environments. This data forms the foundation for the recommendations on guidelines, which are the ultimate goal of the EKO-5 project. (EG)

Early life stress, HPA axis adaptation and mechanisms contributing to later health outcomes

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Jayanthi eManiam

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis, which then modulates the degree of adaptation and response to a later stressor. It is known that early life stress can impact on later health but less is known about how early life stress impairs HPA axis activity, contributing to maladaptation of the stress response system. Early life stress exposure (either prenatally or in the early postnatal period can impact developmental pathways resulting in lasting structural and regulatory changes that predispose to adulthood disease. Epidemiological, clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that early life stress produces long-term hyper responsiveness to stress with exaggerated circulating glucocorticoids, and enhanced anxiety and depression-like behaviours. Recently, evidence has emerged on early life stress induced metabolic derangements, for example hyperinsulinemia and altered insulin sensitivity on exposure to a high energy diet later in life. This draws our attention to the contribution of later environment to disease vulnerability. Early life stress can alter the expression of genes in peripheral tissues, such as the glucocorticoid receptor and 11-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD1. We propose that interactions between altered HPA axis activity and liver 11β-HSD1 modulates both tissue and circulating glucocorticoid availability, with adverse metabolic consequences. This review discusses the potential mechanisms underlying early life stress induced maladaptation of the HPA axis, and its subsequent effects on energy utilisation and expenditure. The effects of positive later environments as a means of ameliorating early life stress induced health deficits, and proposed mechanisms underpinning the interaction between early life stress and subsequent detrimental environmental exposures on metabolic risk will be outlined. Limitations in current methodology linking early life stress and later health outcomes will also

Early-Life Stress, HPA Axis Adaptation, and Mechanisms Contributing to Later Health Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Maniam, Jayanthi; Antoniadis, Christopher; Morris, Margaret J.

2014-01-01

Stress activates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, which then modulates the degree of adaptation and response to a later stressor. It is known that early-life stress can impact on later health but less is known about how early-life stress impairs HPA axis activity, contributing to maladaptation of the stress–response system. Early-life stress exposure (either prenatally or in the early postnatal period) can impact developmental pathways resulting in lasting structural and regulatory changes that predispose to adulthood disease. Epidemiological, clinical, and experimental studies have demonstrated that early-life stress produces long term hyper-responsiveness to stress with exaggerated circulating glucocorticoids, and enhanced anxiety and depression-like behaviors. Recently, evidence has emerged on early-life stress-induced metabolic derangements, for example hyperinsulinemia and altered insulin sensitivity on exposure to a high energy diet later in life. This draws our attention to the contribution of later environment to disease vulnerability. Early-life stress can alter the expression of genes in peripheral tissues, such as the glucocorticoid receptor and 11-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD1). We propose that interactions between altered HPA axis activity and liver 11β-HSD1 modulates both tissue and circulating glucocorticoid availability, with adverse metabolic consequences. This review discusses the potential mechanisms underlying early-life stress-induced maladaptation of the HPA axis, and its subsequent effects on energy utilization and expenditure. The effects of positive later environments as a means of ameliorating early-life stress-induced health deficits, and proposed mechanisms underpinning the interaction between early-life stress and subsequent detrimental environmental exposures on metabolic risk will be outlined. Limitations in current methodology linking early-life stress and later health outcomes will also be

Early results of experiments with responsive open learning environments

OpenAIRE

Friedrich, M.; Wolpers, M.; Shen, R.; Ullrich, C.; Klamma, R.; Renzel, D.; Richert, A.; Heiden, B. von der

2011-01-01

Responsive open learning environments (ROLEs) are the next generation of personal learning environments (PLEs). While PLEs rely on the simple aggregation of existing content and services mainly using Web 2.0 technologies, ROLEs are transforming lifelong learning by introducing a new infrastructure on a global scale while dealing with existing learning management systems, institutions, and technologies. The requirements engineering process in highly populated test-beds is as important as the t...

Ecological effects of transuranics in the terrestrial environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whicker, F.W.

1980-01-01

This chapter explores the ecological effects of transuranium radionuclides in terrestrial environments. No direct studies that relate the level of transuranic contamination to specific changes in structure or function of ecological systems have been carried out. The only alternative approach presently available is to infer such relationships from observations of biota in contaminated environments and models. Advantages and shortcomings of these observations as well as those of the direct experimental approach are discussed

Effect of hyperbaric environment on fine motor skills

OpenAIRE

Les, Martin

2017-01-01

Title: Effect of hyperbaric environment on fine motor skills Objectives: The aim of study is to assess the changes fine motor skills due to hyperbaric environment in preparation for selected tests of fine motor skills. Methods: The first method was used empirically - research. Then the method chosen of compilation of the information obtained. The basic method to work was the experimental measurement method specially constructed tests on fine motor skills. All measured values were statisticall...

40 CFR 73.20 - Phase II early reduction credits.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Phase II early reduction credits. 73.20 Section 73.20 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE SYSTEM Allowance Allocations § 73.20 Phase II early reduction credits...

Effects of Postnatal Enriched Environment in a Model of Parkinson’s Disease in Adult Rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adel Jungling

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Environmental enrichment is a widespread neuroprotective strategy during development and also in the mature nervous system. Several research groups have described that enriched environment in adult rats has an impact on the progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD. The aim of our present study was to examine the effects of early, postnatal environmental enrichment after 6-hydroxydopamine-induced (6-OHDA lesion of the substantia nigra in adulthood. Newborn Wistar rats were divided into control and enriched groups according to their environmental conditions. For environmental enrichment, during the first five postnatal weeks animals were placed in larger cages and exposed to intensive complex stimuli. Dopaminergic cell loss, and hypokinetic and asymmetrical signs were evaluated after inducing PD with unilateral injections of 6-OHDA in three-month-old animals. Treatment with 6-OHDA led to a significant cell loss in the substantia nigra of control animals, however, postnatal enriched circumstances could rescue the dopaminergic cells. Although there was no significant difference in the percentage of surviving cells between 6-OHDA-treated control and enriched groups, the slightly less dopaminergic cell loss in the enriched group compared to control animals resulted in less severe hypokinesia. Our investigation is the first to provide evidence for the neuroprotective effect of postnatal enriched environment in PD later in life.

The effect on esophagus after different radiotherapy techniques for early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Anni; Maraldo, M.; Brodin, Nils Patrik

2013-01-01

The cure rate of early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is excellent; investigating the late effects of treatment is thus important. Esophageal toxicity is a known side effect in patients receiving radiotherapy (RT) to the mediastinum, although little is known of this in HL survivors. This study inv...... investigates the dose to the esophagus in the treatment of early stage HL using different RT techniques. Estimated risks of early esophagitis, esophageal stricture and cancer are compared between treatments....

Effects of rearing and housing environment on behaviour and performance of pigs with different coping characteristics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bolhuis, J.E.; Schouten, W.G.P.; Schrama, J.W.; Wiegant, V.M.

2006-01-01

The availability of a rooting substrate may profoundly affect behaviour and welfare of pigs. Apart from their actual housing environment, also the conditions present in early life and individual characteristics may influence the behaviour of pigs. The present study investigated the relative

Stimulation effect of early growth in crops by low dose radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J.S.; Song, H.S.; Kim, J.K.; Lee, Y.K.; Lee, Y.B.

1998-01-01

Germination rate and early growth in crop such as rice,soybean,and perilla were observed after irradiation of γ-ray (Co-60) in order to determine the effects of low does radiation. The low dose radiation was able to improve the early growth in crops and their agricultural characters. Germination rate of 2Gy-irradiatied rice seeds was high and also were seeding height and fresh weight of the 0.5 Gy-irradiated. Germination rate and early growth of soybean were high in 4Gy-irradiated group. Perilla gew of so promisingly after after low dose irradiation, however there slightly increasing effects on germination rate, seeding height and fresh weight at 2Gt-, 1Gy-, and 1Gy irradiated group, respectively. (author)

The early to mid-Miocene environment of Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

Ashworth, A. C.; Lewis, A.

2012-12-01

Paleoecological studies in the Transantarctic Mountains of the McMurdo region provide evidence that the climate was both warmer and wetter in the early to mid-Miocene than it was during the late Miocene. The climate change was accompanied by a shift from wet- to cold-based glaciation in the TAM and the probable growth of the polar ice sheet. Terrestrial and freshwater aquatic fossil assemblages from the Friis Hills (77°S) and the Olympus Range (77°S), with endpoint 40Ar/39Ar ages on tephras of 19.76 Ma and 14.07 Ma, respectively, indicate climatic cooling during the interval. At c.14 Ma, the temperature dropped below the threshold required to support the plants and insects of a tundra biome, and they became extinct. This interpretation is supported by pollen studies from Ross Sea cores. The extinction of the tundra biota on the continent appears to have been time-transgressive, occurring at 12.8 Ma on the Antarctic Peninsula. Evidence of climatic cooling from early to mid-Miocene is based on a decrease in biodiversity. During interglacial phases of the early Miocene, the poorly drained valley of the Friis Hills supported a sexually-reproducing moss community dominated by Campylium cf. polygamum, which today grows on the margins of lakes and in soil between boulders. Wood and leaves of Nothofagus (Southern Beech), and the seeds of at least five other angiosperm species are preserved as fossils. In addition, there are abundant megaspores and spiny, curved leaves of the aquatic lycopod Isoetes (Quillwort), as well as chitinous remains of curculionid beetles and Chironomidae (midges). During glacial phases, the only fossils found are Nothofagus leaves of a species which appears to be different than that associated with the interglacial phases. Pollen supports the interpretation that there was more than one species of Nothofagus in the vegetation. The types and numbers of species indicate that the vegetation was a shrub tundra. The closest modern analog for the fossil

Developmental toxicity of PAH mixtures in fish early life stages. Part II: adverse effects in Japanese medaka.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Bihanic, Florane; Clérandeau, Christelle; Le Menach, Karyn; Morin, Bénédicte; Budzinski, Hélène; Cousin, Xavier; Cachot, Jérôme

2014-12-01

In aquatic environments, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) mostly occur as complex mixtures, for which risk assessment remains problematic. To better understand the effects of PAH mixture toxicity on fish early life stages, this study compared the developmental toxicity of three PAH complex mixtures. These mixtures were extracted from a PAH-contaminated sediment (Seine estuary, France) and two oils (Arabian Light and Erika). For each fraction, artificial sediment was spiked at three different environmental concentrations roughly equivalent to 0.5, 4, and 10 μg total PAH g(-1) dw. Japanese medaka embryos were incubated on these PAH-spiked sediments throughout their development, right up until hatching. Several endpoints were recorded at different developmental stages, including acute endpoints, morphological abnormalities, larvae locomotion, and genotoxicity (comet and micronucleus assays). The three PAH fractions delayed hatching, induced developmental abnormalities, disrupted larvae swimming activity, and damaged DNA at environmental concentrations. Differences in toxicity levels, likely related to differences in PAH proportions, were highlighted between fractions. The Arabian Light and Erika petrogenic fractions, containing a high proportion of alkylated PAHs and low molecular weight PAHs, were more toxic to Japanese medaka early life stages than the pyrolytic fraction. This was not supported by the toxic equivalency approach, which appeared unsuitable for assessing the toxicity of the three PAH fractions to fish early life stages. This study highlights the potential risks posed by environmental mixtures of alkylated and low molecular weight PAHs to early stages of fish development.

Trajectories of childhood weight gain: the relative importance of local environment versus individual social and early life factors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan A Carter

Full Text Available To determine the association between local environmental factors with child weight status in a longitudinal study, using a semi-parametric, group-based method, while also considering social and early life factors.Standardized, directly measured BMI from 4-10 y of age, and group-based trajectory modeling (PROC TRAJ were used to estimate developmental trajectories of weight change in a Québec birth cohort (n = 1,566. Associations between the weight trajectories and living location, social cohesion, disorder, and material and social deprivation were estimated after controlling for social and early life factors.FOUR WEIGHT TRAJECTORY GROUPS WERE ESTIMATED: low-increasing (9.7%; low-medium, accelerating (36.2%; medium-high, increasing (43.0%; and high-stable (11.1%. In the low-increasing and medium-high trajectory groups, living in a semi-urban area was inversely related to weight, while living in a rural area was positively related to weight in the high-stable group. Disorder was inversely related to weight in the low-increasing group only. Other important risk factors for high-stable weight included obesity status of the mother, smoking during pregnancy, and overeating behaviors.In this study, associations between local environment factors and weight differed by trajectory group. Early life factors appear to play a more consistent role in weight status. Further work is needed to determine the influence of place on child weight.

A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Early Literacy Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Jessica

2011-01-01

Success in early literacy activities is associated with improved educational outcomes, including reduced dropout risk, in-grade retention, and special education referrals. When considering programs that will work for a particular school and context; cost-effectiveness analysis may provide useful information for decision makers. The study…

COMBINED EFFECTS OF GALAXY INTERACTIONS AND LARGE-SCALE ENVIRONMENT ON GALAXY PROPERTIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Changbom; Choi, Yun-Young

2009-01-01

We inspect the coupled dependence of physical parameters of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies on the small-scale (distance to and morphology of the nearest neighbor galaxy) and the large-scale (background density smoothed over 20 nearby galaxies) environments. The impacts of interaction on galaxy properties are detected at least out to the neighbor separation corresponding to the virial radius of galaxies, which is typically between 200 and 400 h -1 kpc for the galaxies in our sample. To detect these long-range interaction effects, it is crucial to divide galaxy interactions into four cases dividing the morphology of target and neighbor galaxies into early and late types. We show that there are two characteristic neighbor-separation scales where the galaxy interactions cause abrupt changes in the properties of galaxies. The first scale is the virial radius of the nearest neighbor galaxy r vir,nei . Many physical parameters start to deviate from those of extremely isolated galaxies at the projected neighbor separation r p of about r vir,nei . The second scale is at r p ∼ 0.05r vir,nei = 10-20 h -1 kpc, and is the scale at which the galaxies in pairs start to merge. We find that late-type neighbors enhance the star formation activity of galaxies while early-type neighbors reduce it, and that these effects occur within r vir,nei . The hot halo gas and cold disk gas must be participating in the interactions at separations less than the virial radius of the galaxy plus dark halo system. Our results also show that the role of the large-scale density in determining galaxy properties is minimal once luminosity and morphology are fixed. We propose that the weak residual dependence of galaxy properties on the large-scale density is due to the dependence of the halo gas property on the large-scale density.

Early-Life Nutritional Programming of Cognition-The Fundamental Role of Epigenetic Mechanisms in Mediating the Relation between Early-Life Environment and Learning and Memory Process.

Science.gov (United States)

Moody, Laura; Chen, Hong; Pan, Yuan-Xiang

2017-03-01

The perinatal period is a window of heightened plasticity that lays the groundwork for future anatomic, physiologic, and behavioral outcomes. During this time, maternal diet plays a pivotal role in the maturation of vital organs and the establishment of neuronal connections. However, when perinatal nutrition is either lacking in specific micro- and macronutrients or overloaded with excess calories, the consequences can be devastating and long lasting. The brain is particularly sensitive to perinatal insults, with several neurologic and psychiatric disorders having been linked to a poor in utero environment. Diseases characterized by learning and memory impairments, such as autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer disease, are hypothesized to be attributed in part to environmental factors, and evidence suggests that the etiology of these conditions may date back to very early life. In this review, we discuss the role of the early-life diet in shaping cognitive outcomes in offspring. We explore the endocrine and immune mechanisms responsible for these phenotypes and discuss how these systemic factors converge to change the brain's epigenetic landscape and regulate learning and memory across the lifespan. Through understanding the maternal programming of cognition, critical steps may be taken toward preventing and treating diseases that compromise learning and memory. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

Estimation for aerial detection effectiveness with cooperation efficiency factors of early-warning aircraft in early-warning detection SoS under BSC framework

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Feng; Hu, Xiaofeng; He, Xiaoyuan; Guo, Rui; Li, Kaiming; Yang, Lu

2017-11-01

In the military field, the performance evaluation of early-warning aircraft deployment or construction is always an important problem needing to be explored. As an effective approach of enterprise management and performance evaluation, Balanced Score Card (BSC) attracts more and more attentions and is studied more and more widely all over the world. It can also bring feasible ideas and technical approaches for studying the issue of the performance evaluation of the deployment or construction of early-warning aircraft which is the important component in early-warning detection system of systems (SoS). Therefore, the deep explored researches are carried out based on the previously research works. On the basis of the characteristics of space exploration and aerial detection effectiveness of early-warning detection SoS and the cardinal principle of BSC are analyzed simply, and the performance evaluation framework of the deployment or construction of early-warning aircraft is given, under this framework, aimed at the evaluation issue of aerial detection effectiveness of early-warning detection SoS with the cooperation efficiency factors of the early-warning aircraft and other land based radars, the evaluation indexes are further designed and the relative evaluation model is further established, especially the evaluation radar chart being also drawn to obtain the evaluation results from a direct sight angle. Finally, some practical computer simulations are launched to prove the validity and feasibility of the research thinking and technologic approaches which are proposed in the paper.

Exogenous determinants of early-life conditions, and mortality later in life

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van den Berg, Gerard J; Doblhammer, Gabriele; Christensen, Kaare

2009-01-01

based on the estimation of duration models) indicate a significant negative causal effect of economic conditions early in life on individual mortality rates at higher ages. If the national economic performance in the year of birth exceeds its trend value (i.e., if the business cycle is favorable......) then the mortality rate later in life is lower. The implied effect on the median lifetime of those who survive until age 35 is about 10 months. A systematic empirical exploration of all macro-indicators reveals that economic conditions in the first years after birth also affect mortality rates later in life.......We analyze causal effects of conditions early in life on the individual mortality rate later in life. Conditions early in life are captured by transitory features of the macro-environment around birth, notably the state of the business cycle around birth, but also food price deviations, weather...

Early and late arrhythmogenic effects of doxorubicin.

Science.gov (United States)

Kilickap, Saadettin; Barista, Ibrahim; Akgul, Ebru; Aytemir, Kudret; Aksoy, Sercan; Tekuzman, Gulten

2007-03-01

To determine the incidence of early and late arrhythmogenic effects of doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy regimens. A prospective study including 29 patients who were treated with doxorubicin-containing regimens. Cardiac evaluation was based on 24-hour electrocardiographic monitorization (Holter), which was performed during the first cycle of doxorubicin-containing regimens, as well as after the last cycle of chemotherapy. The mean age of the patients was 45.8 +/- 15.1 (range 18-69). Holter records obtained during the first cycle of treatment revealed varying arrhythmias in 19 patients (65.5%) and in 18 (62.1%) patients after completion of therapy. One patient presented with syncope and both Mobitz Type 2 atrioventricular block and complete atrioventricular block were demonstrated. The patient subsequently underwent permanent pacemaker implantation. Doxorubicin may result in arrhythmias both in early and late periods of treatment. These arrhythmias are rarely life threatening.

Drought early warning and risk management in a changing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Pulwarty, R. S.

2011-12-01

Drought has long been recognized as falling into the category of incremental but long-term and cumulative environmental changes, also termed slow-onset or creeping events. These event types would include: air and water quality decline, desertification processes, deforestation and forest fragmentation, loss of biodiversity and habitats, and nitrogen overloading, among others. Climate scientists continue to struggle with recognizing the onset of drought and scientists and policy makers continue to debate the basis (i.e., criteria) for declaring an end to a drought. Risk-based management approaches to drought planning at the national and regional levels have been recommended repeatedly over the years but their prototyping, testing and operational implementation have been limited. This presentation will outline two avenues for disaster risk reduction in the context of drought (1) integrated early warning information systems, and (2) linking disaster risk reduction to climate change adaptation strategies. Adaptation involves not only using operational facilities and infrastructure to cope with the immediate problems but also leaving slack or reserve for coping with multiple stress problems that produce extreme impacts and surprise. Increasing the 'anticipatability' of an event, involves both monitoring of key indicators from appropriate baseline data, and observing early warning signs that assumptions in risk management plans are failing and critical transitions are occurring. Illustrative cases will be drawn from the IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters (2011), the UN Global Assessment of Disaster Risk Reduction (2011) and implementation activities in which the author has been engaged. Most drought early warning systems have tended to focus on the development and use of physical system indicators and forecasts of trends and thresholds. We show that successful early warning systems that meet expectations of risk management also have

The effect of early administration of glucocorticoids on learning and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has been observed that steroids administered postnatally may have transient retarding effect on learning and memory functions, and that animal age and sex may modify such effects. This study aims to illustrate the effect of early administration of glucocorticoids on learning and spatial memory. Wistar rat pups were ...

How does a neuron know to modulate its epigenetic machinery in response to early-life environment/experience?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carley A Karsten

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Exciting information is emerging about epigenetic mechanisms and their role in long-lasting changes of neuronal gene expression. Whereas these mechanisms are active throughout life, recent findings point to a critical window of early postnatal development during which neuronal gene expression may be persistently re-programmed via epigenetic modifications. However, it remains unclear how the epigenetic machinery is modulated. Here we focus on an important example of early-life programming: the effect of sensory input from the mother on expression patterns of key stress-related genes in the developing brain. We focus on the lasting effects of this early life experience on corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH gene expression in the hypothalamus, and describe recent work that integrates organism-wide signals with cellular signals that in turn impact epigenetic regulation. We describe the operational brain networks that convey sensory input to CRH-expressing cells, and highlight the resulting re-wiring of synaptic connectivity to these neurons. We then move from intercellular to intracellular mechanisms, speculating about the induction and maintenance of lifelong CRH repression provoked by early-life experience. Elucidating such pathways is critical for understanding the enduring links between experience and gene expression. In the context of responses to stress, such mechanisms should contribute to vulnerability or resilience to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD and other stress-related disorders.

EFFECT OF DROUGHT STRESS ON EARLY GROWTH OF ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ridwan

ABSTRACT. Drought and high temperatures are said to have triggered increased tree mortality and could be linked to the menace of climate change. This research therefore investigated the effect of drought stress on early growth of Adansonia digitata where seedlings were exposed to different watering frequencies (Once ...

The effect of manganese on early growth of fluted pumpkin ( telfairia ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effect of manganese on early growth of fluted pumpkin (telfairia occidentalis hook f) in an ultisol. ER Orhue, CNC Nwaoguala. Abstract. The trials were conducted at the experimental site of University of Benin Teaching and Research Farm to determine the influence of Mn on early growth, nutrient content and uptake by ...

Piezooptic effect of absorbing environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ю. А. Рудяк

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Application of piezooptic effect of absorbing environment for the definition of the parameter of stress deformation state was examined. The analysis of dielectric permeability tensor of imaginary parts was done. It is shown that changes in the real part dielectric permeability tensor mainly the indicator of fracture was fixed by means of mechanics interference methods and the changes in the imaginary part (α – real rate of absorption can be measured by means of analysis of light absorption and thus stress deformation state can be determined

Effects of hospital care environment on patient mortality and nurse outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Aiken, Linda H; Clarke, Sean P; Sloane, Douglas M; Lake, Eileen T; Cheney, Timothy

2008-05-01

The objective of this study was to analyze the net effects of nurse practice environments on nurse and patient outcomes after accounting for nurse staffing and education. Staffing and education have well-documented associations with patient outcomes, but evidence on the effect of care environments on outcomes has been more limited. Data from 10,184 nurses and 232,342 surgical patients in 168 Pennsylvania hospitals were analyzed. Care environments were measured using the practice environment scales of the Nursing Work Index. Outcomes included nurse job satisfaction, burnout, intent to leave, and reports of quality of care, as well as mortality and failure to rescue in patients. Nurses reported more positive job experiences and fewer concerns with care quality, and patients had significantly lower risks of death and failure to rescue in hospitals with better care environments. Care environment elements must be optimized alongside nurse staffing and education to achieve high quality of care.

The Self-Reference Effect on Memory in Early Childhood

Science.gov (United States)

Cunningham, Sheila J.; Brebner, Joanne L.; Quinn, Francis; Turk, David J.

2014-01-01

The self-reference effect in memory is the advantage for information encoded about self, relative to other people. The early development of this effect was explored here using a concrete encoding paradigm. Trials comprised presentation of a self- or other-image paired with a concrete object. In Study 1, 4- to 6-year-old children (N = 53) were…

A twin study of early-childhood asthma in Puerto Ricans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Supinda Bunyavanich

Full Text Available The relative contributions of genetics and environment to asthma in Hispanics or to asthma in children younger than 3 years are not well understood.To examine the relative contributions of genetics and environment to early-childhood asthma by performing a longitudinal twin study of asthma in Puerto Rican children ≤ 3 years old.678 twin infants from the Puerto Rico Neo-Natal Twin Registry were assessed for asthma at age 1 year, with follow-up data obtained for 624 twins at age 3 years. Zygosity was determined by DNA microsatellite profiling. Structural equation modeling was performed for three phenotypes at ages 1 and 3 years: physician-diagnosed asthma, asthma medication use in the past year, and ≥ 1 hospitalization for asthma in the past year. Models were additionally adjusted for early-life environmental tobacco smoke exposure, sex, and age.The prevalences of physician-diagnosed asthma, asthma medication use, and hospitalization for asthma were 11.6%, 10.8%, 4.9% at age 1 year, and 34.1%, 40.1%, and 8.5% at 3 years, respectively. Shared environmental effects contributed to the majority of variance in susceptibility to physician-diagnosed asthma and asthma medication use in the first year of life (84%-86%, while genetic effects drove variance in all phenotypes (45%-65% at age 3 years. Early-life environmental tobacco smoke, sex, and age contributed to variance in susceptibility.Our longitudinal study in Puerto Rican twins demonstrates a changing contribution of shared environmental effects to liability for physician-diagnosed asthma and asthma medication use between ages 1 and 3 years. Early-life environmental tobacco smoke reduction could markedly reduce asthma morbidity in young Puerto Rican children.

The relative contribution of genes and environment to alcohol use in early adolescents: are similar factors related to initiation of alcohol use and frequency of drinking?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poelen, Evelien A. P.; Derks, Eske M.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.; van Leeuwe, Jan F. J.; Scholte, Ron H. J.; Willemsen, Gonneke; Boomsma, Dorret I.

2008-01-01

The present study assessed the relative contribution of genes and environment to individual differences in initiation of alcohol use and frequency of drinking among early adolescents and examined the extent to which the same genetic and environmental factors influence both individual differences in

The Relative Contribution of Genes and Environment to Alcohol Use in Early Adolescents : Are Similar Factors Related to Initiation of Alcohol Use and Frequency of Drinking?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poelen, E.A.P.; Derks, E.M.; Engels, R.C.M.E.; Scholte, R.H.J.; Willemsen, A.H.M.; Boomsma, D.I.

2008-01-01

Background: The present study assessed the relative contribution of genes and environment to individual differences in initiation of alcohol use and frequency of drinking among early adolescents and examined the extent to which the same genetic and environmental factors influence both individual

The relative contribution of genes and environment to alcohol use in early adolescents: Are similar factors related to initiation of alcohol use and frequency of drinking?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Poelen, E.A.P.; Derks, E.M.; Engels, R.C.M.E.; Leeuwe, J.F.J.; Scholte, R.H.J.; Willemsen, G.; Boomsma, D.I.

2008-01-01

Background: The present study assessed the relative contribution of genes and environment to individual differences in initiation of alcohol use and frequency of drinking among early adolescents and examined the extent to which the same genetic and environmental factors influence both individual

Earth's early biosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Des Marais, D. J.

1998-01-01

Understanding our own early biosphere is essential to our search for life elsewhere, because life arose on Earth very early and rocky planets shared similar early histories. The biosphere arose before 3.8 Ga ago, was exclusively unicellular and was dominated by hyperthermophiles that utilized chemical sources of energy and employed a range of metabolic pathways for CO2 assimilation. Photosynthesis also arose very early. Oxygenic photosynthesis arose later but still prior to 2.7 Ga. The transition toward the modern global environment was paced by a decline in volcanic and hydrothermal activity. These developments allowed atmospheric O2 levels to increase. The O2 increase created new niches for aerobic life, most notably the more advanced Eukarya that eventually spawned the megascopic fauna and flora of our modern biosphere.

Effect of science laboratory centrifuge of space station environment

Science.gov (United States)

Searby, Nancy

1990-01-01

It is argued that it is essential to have a centrifuge operating during manned space station operations. Background information and a rationale for the research centrifuge are given. It is argued that we must provide a controlled acceleration environment for comparison with microgravity studies. The lack of control groups in previous studies throws into question whether the obseved effects were the result of microgravity or not. The centrifuge could be used to provide a 1-g environment to supply specimens free of launch effects for long-term studies. With the centrifuge, the specimens could be immediately transferred to microgravity without undergoing gradual acclimation. Also, the effects of artificial gravity on humans could be investigated. It is also argued that the presence of the centrifuge on the space station will not cause undo vibrations or other disturbing effects.

The quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects with strong system-environment coupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaudhry, Adam Zaman

2017-05-11

To date, studies of the quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects focus on quantum systems that are weakly interacting with their environment. In this paper, we investigate what happens to a quantum system under the action of repeated measurements if the quantum system is strongly interacting with its environment. We consider as the quantum system a single two-level system coupled strongly to a collection of harmonic oscillators. A so-called polaron transformation is then used to make the problem in the strong system-environment coupling regime tractable. We find that the strong coupling case exhibits quantitative and qualitative differences as compared with the weak coupling case. In particular, the effective decay rate does not depend linearly on the spectral density of the environment. This then means that, in the strong coupling regime that we investigate, increasing the system-environment coupling strength can actually decrease the effective decay rate. We also consider a collection of two-level atoms coupled strongly with a common environment. In this case, we find that there are further differences between the weak and strong coupling cases since the two-level atoms can now indirectly interact with one another due to the common environment.

Relationship between the linguistic environments and early bilingual language development of hearing children in deaf-parented families.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanto, Laura; Huttunen, Kerttu; Laakso, Marja-Leena

2013-04-01

We explored variation in the linguistic environments of hearing children of Deaf parents and how it was associated with their early bilingual language development. For that purpose we followed up the children's productive vocabulary (measured with the MCDI; MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory) and syntactic complexity (measured with the MLU10; mean length of the 10 longest utterances the child produced during videorecorded play sessions) in both Finnish Sign Language and spoken Finnish between the ages of 12 and 30 months. Additionally, we developed new methodology for describing the linguistic environments of the children (N = 10). Large variation was uncovered in both the amount and type of language input and language acquisition among the children. Language exposure and increases in productive vocabulary and syntactic complexity were interconnected. Language acquisition was found to be more dependent on the amount of exposure in sign language than in spoken language. This was judged to be related to the status of sign language as a minority language. The results are discussed in terms of parents' language choices, family dynamics in Deaf-parented families and optimal conditions for bilingual development.

Pubertal timing and early sexual intercourse in the offspring of teenage mothers.

Science.gov (United States)

De Genna, Natacha M; Larkby, Cynthia; Cornelius, Marie D

2011-10-01

Early puberty is associated with stressful family environments, early sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancy. We examined pubertal timing and sexual debut among the 14-year-old offspring of teenage mothers. Mothers (71% Black, 29% White) were recruited as pregnant teenagers (12-18 years old). Data were collected during pregnancy and when offspring were 6, 10 and 14 years old (n = 318). Adolescents (50% male) compared the timing of their pubertal maturation to same-sex peers. There was a significant 3-way interaction effect of race, sex, and pubertal timing on sexual debut (n = 305). This effect remained significant in a model controlling for maternal age at first intercourse, substance use, exposure to trauma, authoritative parenting, and peer sexual activity (n = 255). Early maturation was associated with early sex in daughters, and may be one pathway for the inter-generational transfer of risk for teenage pregnancy among daughters of teenage mothers.

Early determinants of type-2 diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Berends, L M; Ozanne, S E

2012-10-01

The global prevalence of type-2 diabetes (T2D) has more than doubled in the last 30 years and is predicted to continue to rise at an alarming rate. The associated health and financial burdens are considerable. The aetiology of common forms of T2D is multifactorial and involves a complex interplay between genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. The influential role of the environment, in particular our diet and sedentary lifestyles, in diabetes risk is well established. Of major concern is the increasing prevalence of early onset T2D or pre-diabetic characteristics in children. In recent years, the role of the early life environment in programming diabetes risk has been the focus of numerous human and animal studies. Historical studies highlighted an association between low birthweight, a proxy for suboptimal in utero growth, and diabetes risk in adulthood. Over more recent years it has become apparent that a variety of expositions, including maternal obesity and/or maternal diabetes, can have a significant effect on offspring health outcomes. Further complicating matters, paternal and transgenerational transmission of T2D can occur thus mediating a perpetuating cycle of disease risk between generations. It is imperative for the underlying mechanisms to be elucidated so that interventions can be introduced. In doing so, it may be possible to prevent, delay or reverse a pre-programmed risk for T2D induced by pre- and/or postnatal environmental factors to improve health outcomes and curb premature metabolic decline. This review presents evidence for how the early life environment may programme T2D risk and suggests some mechanisms by which this may occur. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methodology for assessing the radiological impact on environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yongxing

1988-01-01

During the 1940s, the early stages of nuclear programmes, the assessment of the radionuclides released to the environment was first initiated for the large nuclear facilities, with emphasis placed on environmental monitoring. The radiological assessment is a quantitative process of estimating the impact on human, resulting from the releases of the radionuclides to the environment. It is a multidisciplinary subject including identification of source terms, environmental transport and dispersion, health effect evaluation and so on. This paper briefly, but comprehensively, describes the methodology for the assessment of the environmental radiological consequence, and discusses the trend of various research fields related to the subject

Predictors of Exceptional Longevity: Effects of Early-Life and Midlife Conditions, and Familial Longevity.

Science.gov (United States)

Gavrilov, Leonid A; Gavrilova, Natalia S

Knowledge of strong predictors of mortality and longevity is very important for actuarial science and practice. Earlier studies found that parental characteristics as well as early-life conditions and midlife environment play a significant role in survival to advanced ages. However, little is known about the simultaneous effects of these three factors on longevity. This ongoing study attempts to fill this gap by comparing centenarians born in the United States in 1890-1891 with peers born in the same years who died at age 65. The records for centenarians and controls were taken from computerized family histories, which were then linked to 1900 and 1930 U.S. censuses. As a result of this linkage procedure, 765 records of confirmed centenarians and 783 records of controls were obtained. Analysis with multivariate logistic regression found the existence of both general and gender-specific predictors of human longevity. General predictors common for men and women are paternal and maternal longevity. Gender-specific predictors of male longevity are occupation as a farmer at age 40, Northeastern region of birth in the United States, and birth in the second half of year. A gender-specific predictor of female longevity is the availability of radio in the household according to the 1930 U.S. census. Given the importance of familial longevity as an independent predictor of survival to advanced ages, we conducted a comparative study of biological and nonbiological relatives of centenarians using a larger sample of 1,945 validated U.S. centenarians born in 1880-1895. We found that male gender of centenarian has a significant positive effect on survival of adult male relatives (brothers and fathers) but not female blood relatives. Life span of centenarian siblings-in-law is lower compared to life span of centenarian siblings and does not depend on centenarian gender. Wives of male centenarians (who share lifestyle and living conditions) have a significantly better survival

Effect of HIV/AIDS on the control environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Coetzee, Philna

2006-07-01

The management of organizations is responsible for risk management and control systems. HIV/AIDS could be a great threat in the achievement of strategic business objectives, implicating a great concern for management. Management needs to understand this possible risk. This study aims to identify the effect that HIV/AIDS could have on the different elements of the control environment. The archival research method was used. It was established that no formal research was conducted to date on the effect of HIV/AIDS on the control environment as a whole. Various studies have included the effect of HIV/AIDS on certain factors of the control environment. These studies will be discussed briefly to identify relevant findings. The study indicated that the disease could affect various aspects of the control environment, namely: competency of the workforce (e.g. productivity, quality of work, absenteeism, loss of skills and knowledge, training and recruitment, etc.); organizational structure (e.g. increase use of technology labour, disruption of processes, level of employees affected by the disease); human resource (HR) policies and practices (e.g. legislation applicable, prevention and awareness programmes, compensation and benefits). Research limitation: HIV/AIDS is a relatively new potential risk to organizations. Knowledge of the disease is limited. HIV/AIDS is also a very sensitive issue as people fear the disease and do not like to discuss its existence. Government determined that it should be a non-notifiable disease and the disease is currently greatly stigmatized. The databases of companies investigated by other research studies were not developed to gather all the relevant information. Management should be aware that HIV/AIDS poses a possible risk to organizations. Data on the effect of HIV/AIDS should be gathered and used in the decision-making process on how to manage this risk. To be able to fulfil this duty, management first has to determine: whether HIV/AIDS is

Adaptive genomic evolution of opsins reveals that early mammals flourished in nocturnal environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Borges, Rui; Johnson, Warren E; O'Brien, Stephen J; Gomes, Cidália; Heesy, Christopher P; Antunes, Agostinho

2018-02-05

Based on evolutionary patterns of the vertebrate eye, Walls (1942) hypothesized that early placental mammals evolved primarily in nocturnal habitats. However, not only Eutheria, but all mammals show photic characteristics (i.e. dichromatic vision, rod-dominated retina) suggestive of a scotopic eye design. Here, we used integrative comparative genomic and phylogenetic methodologies employing the photoreceptive opsin gene family in 154 mammals to test the likelihood of a nocturnal period in the emergence of all mammals. We showed that mammals possess genomic patterns concordant with a nocturnal ancestry. The loss of the RH2, VA, PARA, PARIE and OPN4x opsins in all mammals led us to advance a probable and most-parsimonious hypothesis of a global nocturnal bottleneck that explains the loss of these genes in the emerging lineage (> > 215.5 million years ago). In addition, ancestral character reconstruction analyses provided strong evidence that ancestral mammals possessed a nocturnal lifestyle, ultra-violet-sensitive vision, low visual acuity and low orbit convergence (i.e. panoramic vision). Overall, this study provides insight into the evolutionary history of the mammalian eye while discussing important ecological aspects of the photic paleo-environments ancestral mammals have occupied.

Effect of Early- and Adult-Life Socioeconomic Circumstances on Physical Inactivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheval, Boris; Sieber, Stefan; Guessous, Idris; Orsholits, Dan; Courvoisier, Delphine S; Kliegel, Matthias; Stringhini, Silvia; Swinnen, Stephan P; Burton-Jeangros, Claudine; Cullati, Stéphane; Boisgontier, Matthieu P

2018-03-01

This study aimed to investigate the associations between early- and adult-life socioeconomic circumstances and physical inactivity (level and evolution) in aging using large-scale longitudinal data. This study used the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe, a 10-yr population-based cohort study with repeated measurements in five waves, every 2 yr between 2004 and 2013. Self-reported physical inactivity (waves 1, 2, 4, and 5), household income (waves 1, 2, 4, and 5), educational attainment (wave of the first measurement occasion), and early-life socioeconomic circumstance (wave 3) were collected in 22,846 individuals 50 to 95 yr of age. Risk of physical inactivity was increased for women with the most disadvantaged early-life socioeconomic circumstances (odds ratio [OR], 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-1.86). With aging, the risk of physical inactivity increased for both sexes and was strongest for those with the most disadvantaged early-life socioeconomic circumstances (OR, 1.04 (95% CI, 1.02-1.06) for women; OR, 1.02 (95% CI, 1.00-1.05) for men), with the former effect being more robust than the latter one. The association between early-life socioeconomic circumstances and physical inactivity was mediated by adult-life socioeconomic circumstances, with education being the strongest mediator. Early-life socioeconomic circumstances predicted high levels of physical inactivity at older ages, but this effect was mediated by socioeconomic indicators in adult life. This finding has implications for public health policies, which should continue to promote education to reduce physical inactivity in people at older ages and to ensure optimal healthy aging trajectories, especially among women with disadvantaged early-life socioeconomic circumstances.

FORMATION EPOCHS, STAR FORMATION HISTORIES, AND SIZES OF MASSIVE EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES IN CLUSTER AND FIELD ENVIRONMENTS AT z = 1.2: INSIGHTS FROM THE REST-FRAME ULTRAVIOLET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rettura, Alessandro; Demarco, R.; Ford, H. C.; Rosati, P.; Gobat, R.; Nonino, M.; Fosbury, R. A. E.; Menci, N.; Strazzullo, V.; Mei, S.

2010-01-01

We derive stellar masses, ages, and star formation histories (SFHs) of massive early-type galaxies in the z = 1.237 RDCS1252.9-2927 cluster and compare them with those measured in a similarly mass-selected sample of field contemporaries drawn from the Great Observatories Origin Deep Survey South Field. Robust estimates of these parameters are obtained by comparing a large grid of composite stellar population models with 8-9 band photometry in the rest-frame near-ultraviolet, optical, and IR, thus sampling the entire relevant domain of emission of the different stellar populations. Additionally, we present new, deep U-band photometry of both fields, giving access to the critical far-ultraviolet rest frame, in order to empirically constrain the dependence of the most recent star formation processes on the environment. We also analyze the morphological properties of both samples to examine the dependence of their scaling relations on their mass and environment. We find that early-type galaxies, both in the cluster and in the field, show analogous optical morphologies, follow comparable mass versus size relation, have congruent average surface stellar mass densities, and lie on the same Kormendy relation. We also show that a fraction of early-type galaxies in the field employ longer timescales, τ, to assemble their mass than their cluster contemporaries. Hence, we conclude that while the formation epoch of early-type galaxies only depends on their mass, the environment does regulate the timescales of their SFHs. Our deep U-band imaging strongly supports this conclusion. We show that cluster galaxies are at least 0.5 mag fainter than their field contemporaries of similar mass and optical-to-infrared colors, implying that the last episode of star formation must have happened more recently in the field than in the cluster.

Simulated Space Environment Effects on a Candidate Solar Sail Material

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Jin Ho; Bryant, Robert G.; Wilkie, W. Keats; Wadsworth, Heather M.; Craven, Paul D.; Nehls, Mary K.; Vaughn, Jason A.

2017-01-01

For long duration missions of solar sails, the sail material needs to survive harsh space environments and the degradation of the sail material controls operational lifetime. Therefore, understanding the effects of the space environment on the sail membrane is essential for mission success. In this study, we investigated the effect of simulated space environment effects of ionizing radiation, thermal aging and simulated potential damage on mechanical, thermal and optical properties of a commercial off the shelf (COTS) polyester solar sail membrane to assess the degradation mechanisms on a feasible solar sail. The solar sail membrane was exposed to high energy electrons (about 70 keV and 10 nA/cm2), and the physical properties were characterized. After about 8.3 Grad dose, the tensile modulus, tensile strength and failure strain of the sail membrane decreased by about 20 95%. The aluminum reflective layer was damaged and partially delaminated but it did not show any significant change in solar absorbance or thermal emittance. The effect on mechanical properties of a pre-cracked sample, simulating potential impact damage of the sail membrane, as well as thermal aging effects on metallized PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) film will be discussed.

Research on the Effects of Fatigue within the Corporate/Business Aircraft Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Neri, David F.; Rosekind, Mark R.; Co, Elizabeth L.; Gregory, Kevin B.; Miller, Donna L.

1997-01-01

In 1980, responding to a Congressional request, NASA Ames Research Center created a program to examine whether 'there is a safety problem of uncertain magnitude, due to transmeridian flying and a potential problem due to fatigue in association with various factors found in air transport operations.' The NASA Ames Fatigue/Jet Lag Program was created to collect systematic, scientific information on fatigue, sleep, circadian rhythms, and performance in flight operations. Three Program goals were established and continue to guide research efforts to: (1) determine the extent of fatigue, sleep loss, and circadian disruption in flight operations; (2) determine the impact of these factors on flight crew performance; (3) develop and evaluate countermeasures to mitigate the adverse effects of these factors and maximize flight crew performance and alertness. Since 1980, studies have been conducted in a variety of aviation environments, in controlled laboratory environments, as well as in a full-mission flight simulation. Early studies included investigations of short-haul, long-haul, and overnight cargo flight crews. In 1991, the name of the program was changed to the Fatigue Countermeasures Program to provide a greater emphasis on the development and evaluation of countermeasures. More recent work has examined the effects of planned cockpit rest as an operational countermeasure and provided analyses of the pertinent sleep/duty factors preceding an aviation accident at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Short-Haul study examined the extent of sleep loss, circadian disruption, and fatigue engendered by flying commercial short-haul air transport operations (flight legs less than eight hours). This was one of the first field studies conducted by the NASA program and provided unique insight into the physiological and subjective effects of flying commercial short-haul operations. It demonstrated that a range of measures could be obtained in an operational environment without disturbing

Health risks (early, delayed and genetic) from the present radiation level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stranden, E.

1981-01-01

A general survey is given of the risks of early, delayed and genetic injuries from present radiation environment. Brief data is presented on some industrial and medical accidents. It is stated that in Norway there are 5-10 incidents per year in industrial radiography, none of which have led to radiation syndrome. Delayed radiation effects are discussed and figures quoted for risk due to mining, industrial and medical radiography and natural sources. Genetic effects are similarly discussed and genetically significant doses from similar sources are quoted. It is concluded that the health risk from the radiation environment is very small compared with other risks. (JIW)

CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Anette Boye; Laursen, Hanne

2017-01-01

in obligatory evaluations of physical, psychological and aesthetic environmental dimensions of learning and education. The present study aims to elucidate how professionals and children co-operate in order to develop 'best child environments' and further study the impact of children's perspectives on pedagogy...... in Denmark inspired by Montessori and Froebel pedagogical ideas.Danish ECE pedagogues practice with reference to a double concept of 'bildung'. They navigate towards personal development of the individual child as well as neoliberal management mechanisms with focus on objectives and competencies.......Danish pedagogues mention space and material conditions, psychological dimensions and to a less extent aesthetical dimensions such as play and artwork when they are asked to describe the best child environmental practice.Relevance for Nordic educational researchThe study offers practical knowledge regarding...

Exploring the Effectiveness of Online Education in K-12 Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Heafner, Tina L., Ed.; Hartshorne, Richard, Ed.; Petty, Teresa, Ed.

2015-01-01

The integration of technology in classrooms is rapidly emerging as a way to provide more educational opportunities for students. As virtual learning environments become more popular, evaluating the impact of this technology on student success is vital. "Exploring the Effectiveness of Online Education in K-12 Environments" combines…

An Evaluation of Early Education Based on Physical Environmental Guidelines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donna J. Satterlee

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The integration of environmental policies with political support for action on these policies is of prime significance for mobilization and progression of improving indoor environments. However, state licensing agencies and local county ordinances for child care centers do not universally follow these policies and standards. As a result, most early childhood educational programs operate without proper indoor environments. Indoor air quality, temperature, ventilation, daylighting, and acoustics are crucial factors for educational settings in early childhood education. This study documents the physical environment in early childhood education centers in three counties in Maryland. Results indicate that building performance and indoor air quality standards vary according to the socioeconomic status of children who attend early childhood programs, and environmental factors correlate with educational achievement (as measured by kindergarten readiness scores.

Space environment effects on polymers in low earth orbit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grossman, E.; Gouzman, I.

2003-01-01

Polymers are widely used in space vehicles and systems as structural materials, thermal blankets, thermal control coatings, conformal coatings, adhesives, lubricants, etc. The low earth orbit (LEO) space environment includes hazards such as atomic oxygen, UV radiation, ionizing radiation (electrons, protons), high vacuum, plasma, micrometeoroids and debris, as well as severe temperature cycles. Exposure of polymers and composites to the space environment may result in different detrimental effects via modification of their chemical, electrical, thermal, optical and mechanical properties as well as surface erosion. The high vacuum induces material outgassing (e.g. low-molecular weight residues, plasticizers and additives) and consequent contamination of nearby surfaces. The present work reviews the LEO space environment constituents and their interactions with polymers. Examples of degradation of materials exposed in ground simulation facilities are presented. The issues discussed include the erosion mechanisms of polymers, formation of contaminants and their interaction with the space environment, and protection of materials from the harsh space environment

Effects of solar photovoltaic technology on the environment in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Liqiang; Zhang, Yajuan

2017-10-01

Among the various types of renewable energy, solar photovoltaic has elicited the most attention because of its low pollution, abundant reserve, and endless supply. Solar photovoltaic technology generates both positive and negative effects on the environment. The environmental loss of 0.00666 yuan/kWh from solar photovoltaic technology is lower than that from coal-fired power generation (0.05216 yuan/kWh). The negative effects of solar photovoltaic system production include wastewater and waste gas pollutions, the representatives of which contain fluorine, chromium with wastewater and hydrogen fluoride, and silicon tetrachloride gas. Solar panels are also a source of light pollution. Improper disposal of solar cells that have reached the end of their service life harms the environment through the stench they produce and the damage they cause to the soil. So, the positive and negative effects of green energy photovoltaic power generation technology on the environment should be considered.

The qTSN positive effect on panicle and flag leaf size of rice is associated with an early down-regulation of tillering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dewi Erika eAdriani

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The qTSN4 was identified as rice QTL (Quantitative Traits Locus increasing total spikelet number per panicle and flag leaf area but potentially reducing panicle number depending on the environment. So far, this trade-off was mainly observed at grain maturity and not specifically studied in details, limiting the apprehension of the agronomic interest of qTSN4. This study aimed to understand the effect of qTSN4 and of the environment on panicle sizing, its trade-off with panicle number and finally plant grain production. It compared two high yielding genotypes to their Near Isogenic Lines (NIL carrying either QTL qTSN4 or qTSN12, two distinct QTLs contributing to the enlarged panicle size, thereafter designated as qTSN. Traits describing C sink (organ appearance rate, size, biomass and source (leaf area, photosynthesis, sugar availability were dynamically characterized along plant and/or panicle development within two trials (greenhouse, field, each comparing two treatments contrasting for plant access to light (with or without shading, high or low planting densities. The positive effect of qTSN on panicle size and flag leaf area of the main tiller was confirmed. More precisely, it could be shown that qTSN increased leaf area and internode cross-section, and in some cases of the photosynthetic rate and starch reserves, of the top 3-4 phytomers of the main tiller. This was accompanied by an earlier tillering cessation, that coincided with the initiation of these phytomers, and an enhanced of panicle size on the main tiller. Plant leaf area at flowering was not affected by qTSN but fertile tiller number was reduced to an extent that depended on the environment. Accordingly, plant grain production was enhanced by qTSN only under shading in the greenhouse experiment, where panicle number was not affected and photosynthesis and starch storage in internodes was enhanced. The effect of qTSN on rice phenotype was thus expressed before panicle initiation

Effect of Contemporary Social Environment, Drug Abuse and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effect of Contemporary Social Environment, Drug Abuse and Cultism on the Health of ... This health situation comes as results of substance abuse which these ... the patent medicine stores, from hard drugs like (marijuana, cannabis) or others ...

Persistent sex-by-environment effects on offspring fitness and sex-ratio adjustment in a wild bird population.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowers, E Keith; Thompson, Charles F; Sakaluk, Scott K

2015-03-01

A major component of sex-allocation theory, the Trivers-Willard model (TWM), posits that sons and daughters are differentially affected by variation in the rearing environment. In many species, the amount of parental care received is expected to have differing effects on the fitness of males and females. When this occurs, the TWM predicts that selection should favour adjustment of the offspring sex ratio in relation to the expected fitness return from offspring. However, evidence for sex-by-environment effects is mixed, and little is known about the adaptive significance of producing either sex. Here, we test whether offspring sex ratios vary according to predictions of the TWM in the house wren (Troglodytes aedon, Vieillot). We also test the assumption of a sex-by-environment effect on offspring using two experiments, one in which we manipulated age differences among nestlings within broods, and another in which we held nestling age constant but manipulated brood size. As predicted, females with high investment ability overproduced sons relative to those with lower ability. Males were also overproduced early within breeding seasons. In our experiments, the body mass of sons was more strongly affected by the sibling-competitive environment and resource availability than that of daughters: males grew heavier than females when reared in good conditions but were lighter than females when in poor conditions. Parents rearing broods with 1:1 sex ratios were more productive than parents rearing broods biased more strongly towards sons or daughters, suggesting that selection favours the production of mixed-sex broods. However, differences in the condition of offspring as neonates persisted to adulthood, and their reproductive success as adults varied with the body mass of sons, but not daughters, prior to independence from parental care. Thus, selection should favour slight but predictable variations in the sex ratio in relation to the quality of offspring that parents are

Positive Home Environment and Behaviour Development in Early Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Jayalekshmi, N. B.; Dharma Raja, B. William

2011-01-01

Early adolescence is a period of transition when the individual changes physically and psychologically from a child to an adult. This transition involves physical, cognitive and socio- emotional changes. The developmental changes that occur during this period cause varying degree of disturbance. The changes they undergo sometimes results in…

Twins and non-twin siblings: different estimates of shared environmental influence in early childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Koeppen-Schomerus, Gesina; Spinath, Frank M; Plomin, Robert

2003-04-01

Twin studies typically indicate shared environmental influence for cognitive abilities, especially in early childhood. However, across studies, DZ twin correlations tend to be greater than non-twin sibling correlations, suggesting that twin estimates of shared environment are to some extent specific to twins. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of more than 1800 MZ and 1800 same-sex DZ pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), a study of twins born in England and Wales in 1994 and 1995. For this analysis, we obtained comparable data from more than 130 same-sex younger siblings of the twins. Twins and their younger siblings were assessed for language, cognitive abilities and behavior problems by their parents at 2 and 3 years of age. For language and cognitive measures at both 2 and 3 years, but not for behavior problems, estimates of shared environment were more than twice as large for twins as compared to non-twin siblings. We conclude that about half of twin study estimates of shared environment for cognitive abilities in early childhood are specific to twins. Although many possibilities exist for explaining the special shared environment effect for twins, we suggest that cognitive-relevant experiences that are not shared by siblings are shared by twins because they are exactly the same age.

The developmental environment, epigenetic biomarkers and long-term health.

Science.gov (United States)

Godfrey, K M; Costello, P M; Lillycrop, K A

2015-10-01

Evidence from both human and animal studies has shown that the prenatal and early postnatal environments influence susceptibility to chronic disease in later life and suggests that epigenetic processes are an important mechanism by which the environment alters long-term disease risk. Epigenetic processes, including DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNAs, play a central role in regulating gene expression. The epigenome is highly sensitive to environmental factors in early life, such as nutrition, stress, endocrine disruption and pollution, and changes in the epigenome can induce long-term changes in gene expression and phenotype. In this review we focus on how the early life nutritional environment can alter the epigenome leading to an altered susceptibility to disease in later life.

MIGRATION EFFECTS ON THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luminița\tCORBU

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper we propose to present the current migration patterns and consequences which they have on the economical and social life in Romania. Romania's integration in the European Union had numerous benefits, meaning that it opened gates to new jobs and to new systems of education. This paper aims to highlight the demographic, social, economical and educational effects of migration on the population of Romania. There is a social impact on the lives of migrant families, especially the temporary abandonment of minors by migrant parents, low academic achievement, early school leaving and adopting inadequately behaviors in society.

The effects of child maltreatment on early signs of antisocial behavior: Genetic moderation by Tryptophan Hydroxylase, Serotonin Transporter, and Monoamine Oxidase-A-Genes

Science.gov (United States)

Cicchetti, Dante; Rogosch, Fred A.; Thibodeau, Eric

2013-01-01

Gene-environment interaction effects in predicting antisocial behavior in late childhood were investigated among maltreated and nonmaltreated low-income children (N = 627, M age = 11.27). Variants in three genes, TPH1, 5-HTTLPR, and MAOA uVNTR, were examined. In addition to child maltreatment status, we also considered the impact of maltreatment subtypes, developmental timing of maltreatment, and chronicity. Indicators of antisocial behavior were obtained from self-, peer-, and adult counselor-reports. In a series of ANCOVAs, child maltreatment and its parameters demonstrated strong main effects on early antisocial behavior as assessed by all forms of report. Genetic effects operated primarily in the context of gene-environment interactions, moderating the impact of child maltreatment on outcomes. Across the three genes, among nonmaltreated children no differences in antisocial behavior were found based on genetic variation. In contrast, among maltreated children specific polymorphisms of TPH1, 5-HTTLPR, and MAOA were each related to heightened self-report of antisocial behavior; the interaction of 5-HTTLPR and developmental timing of maltreatment also indicated more severe antisocial outcomes for children with early onset and recurrent maltreatment based on genotype. TPH1 and 5-HTTLPR interacted with maltreatment subtype to predict peer-report of antisocial behavior; genetic variation contributed to larger differences in antisocial behavior among abused children. TPH1 and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms also moderated the effects of maltreatment subtype on adult report of antisocial behavior; again genetic effects were strongest for children who were abused. Additionally, TPH1 moderated the effect of developmental timing of maltreatment and chronicity on adult report of antisocial behavior. The findings elucidate how genetic variation contributes to identifying which maltreated children are most vulnerable to antisocial development. PMID:22781862

Effect of quality of family environment on the child's adaptation capabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Kreft

2008-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper was to investigate how the quality of family environment is related to the child's adaptation capabilities. Child's adaptation was evaluated with a special assessment called SPP-3 (Systematic Psychological Assessment of a 3-year Old Child, that screens the population of 3-year olds to look for inadequate adaptation patterns. I assumed that in families where parents have higher education and where the environment is more stimulating children will show more effective and adaptive behaviour. Seventy-five children and parents who attended the psychological assessment in their regional hospitals first concluded the psychological examination (SPP-3 and then filled-in two questionnaires: The Family Environment Questionnaire (Zupančič, Podlesek, & Kavčič, 2004 and The Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire (Marjanovič Umek, Podlesek, & Fekonja, 2005. The results showed that quality of family environment does effect the child's adaptive capabilities and is associated with parental level of education. Of special importance for the child's socialization is the parents' ability to use effective control (to have consistent and clear demands. Hypothesis that the level of parental education affects the child's adaptation capabilities was not confirmed. Perhaps the parents' relations with the child are of greater importance, and these are probably not related to parents' education. The results show that child's adaptation capabilities are associated with parenting methods, so preventive psychological counselling may also be used to help parents choose more effective methods in order to allow the child to develop effective adaptive behaviour.

Effect of Curing Temperature on the Durability of Concrete under Highly Geothermal Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Tang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available To determine the durability of concrete in the actual temperature and humidity of the tunnel environment, this study investigates the mechanical properties, permeability of chloride ion, relative dynamic elastic modulus, and mass loss ratio of concrete specimens cured in the temperature which varied from normal, 40, 60, 75, and 90°C, and the humidity was kept at 90% continuously. Experimental results reveal that the hot temperature curing environment may benefit early stage strength development but reduce the long-term strength. It is proved that 60°C is a critical point. At above 60°C, the strength of the concrete material and its resistance to chloride ion permeability showed a decreasing trend; however, in the appropriate temperature range, the frost resistance properties of the concrete are improved with increasing temperature.

Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Early Meetings and Activation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Jonas Maibom; Rosholm, Michael; Svarer, Michael

and case workers increase employment rates over the next two years by 10%. For men, we find evidence of a threat effect of having to participate in early activation programmes. In general, we find large differences between men and women, especially in the dynamics of the effects. A cost-benefit analysis...

Effects of genistein on early-stage cutaneous wound healing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Eunkyo [Department of Home Economics Education, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Seung Min [Research Institute of Health Sciences, Korea University, Seoul 136-701 (Korea, Republic of); Jung, In-Kyung [Department of Home Economics Education, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756 (Korea, Republic of); Lim, Yunsook [Department of Foods and Nutrition, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jung-Hyun, E-mail: jjhkim@cau.ac.kr [Department of Home Economics Education, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756 (Korea, Republic of)

2011-07-08

Highlights: {yields} We examine the effect of genistein on cutaneous wound healing. {yields} Genistein enhanced wound closure during the early stage of wound healing. {yields} These genistein effects on wound closure were induced by reduction of oxidative stress through increasing antioxidant capacity and modulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. -- Abstract: Wound healing occurs in three sequential phases: hemostasis and inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. Inflammation, the earliest phase, is considered a critical period for wound healing because immune cells remove damaged tissues, foreign debris, and remaining dead tissue. Wound healing would be delayed without inflammation, and this phase is affected by antioxidation capacity. Therefore, we hypothesized that genistein, which has an antioxidant effect, might modulate the wound healing process by altering the inflammatory response. After three days of acclimation, mice were divided into three groups: control, 0.025% genistein, and 0.1% genistein. After two weeks of an experimental diet, skin wounds were induced. Wounded skin areas were imaged, and the healing rate calculated. To measure lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzyme expression and activity, and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, skin and liver tissues were harvested at 12, 24, 48, and 72 h. Genistein did not affect body weight. The rate of wound closure in mice fed genistein was significantly faster than in the control group during the early stage of wound healing, especially in first three days. Cu, Zn-SOD and Mn-SOD expression in wound skin tissue in the 0.1% genistein group was lower than in the control group. However, CAT expression did not differ among groups. We also found that genistein modulated NF-{kappa}B and TNF-{alpha} expression during the early stage of wound healing. The genistein group had significantly lower hepatic lipid peroxidation and higher SOD, CAT, and GPx activities than the control group. These results

Early Childhood Environmental Education in Tropical and Coastal Areas: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Sawitri, D. R.

2017-02-01

Early childhood years are the period of the greatest and most significant developments in ones’ life, and are generally regarded as the basis upon which the rest of their life is constructed. However, these early years are those that traditionally have received the least attention from environmental education. This paper was aimed to summarize several day-to-day activities that can be conducted to educate children in their early years about environment. Environmental education is an educational process that deals with the human interrelationships with the environment, and that uses an interdisciplinary problem solving approach with value clarification. Environmental education is aimed at producing a community that is knowledgeable about the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to solve these problems, and enthusiastic to work toward their solution. It highlights the progress of knowledge, understanding, attitudes, skills, and commitment for environmental problems and considerations. Further, environmental education can help children expand their ecological worldview, promote active care to the environment, and explain the relationship between modern life style and current environmental problems. Several types of environmental education have been identified from the literature, such as outdoor activities in natural outdoor setting, school gardening, play-based learning, and drawing activities. Each of these activities has its own characteristics and effects on children’s environmental-related attitudes and behaviors. Through these activities, the unique characteristics of tropical and coastal areas can potentially be used to facilitate children to learn about nature and environment. Recommendations for childhood education practitioners and future researchers are discussed.

The energy-economy-environment interaction and the rebound-effect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Musters, A.P.A.

1995-01-01

This study examines the Energy-Economy-Environment (3-E) interaction ingeneral and the rebound-effect in particular. The rebound-effect can be defined as that part of the initially expected energy savings, resulting from energy efficiency improvements, that is lost because of the 3-E interaction. To

Early Family System Types Predict Children's Emotional Attention Biases at School Age

Science.gov (United States)

Lindblom, Jallu; Peltola, Mikko J.; Vänskä, Mervi; Hietanen, Jari K.; Laakso, Anu; Tiitinen, Aila; Tulppala, Maija; Punamäki, Raija-Leena

2017-01-01

The family environment shapes children's social information processing and emotion regulation. Yet, the long-term effects of early family systems have rarely been studied. This study investigated how family system types predict children's attentional biases toward facial expressions at the age of 10 years. The participants were 79 children from…

Gaseous environment of the Shuttle early in the Spacelab 2 mission

Science.gov (United States)

Pickett, Jolene S.; Murphy, Gerald B.; Kurth, William S.

1988-01-01

A cold-cathode ionization gage was flown on Space Shuttle flight STS-5IF as part of the Spacelab 2 payload. Neutral pressure data that were taken in the payload bay during the first few hours on orbit are presented. These data show that when the payload bay is oriented such that the atmospheric gases are ramming into it, the pressure rises to a peak of 4 x 10 to the -6th Torr. Pressure is also slightly higher during the sunlit portion of each orbit. Outgassing of the payload bay causes the pressure to be elevated to a few times 10 to the -6th Torr early in the mission. In addition, several effects on pressure have been identified that are due to chemical releases. Substantial increases (50-150 percent) are seen during another experiment's gas purge. Orbiter chemical-release effects include: pressure increases of 200 percent up to 7 x 10 to the -6th Torr due to Orbital Maneuvering System burns, minor perturbations in pressure due to vernier thruster firings and little or no increase in pressure due to water dumps. In the case of vernier thruster firings, effects are seen only from down-firing thrusters in the back of the Orbiter, which are probably due to reflection of thruster gases off Orbiter surfaces.

Early diagnosis of autism and impact on prognosis: a narrative review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernell E

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Elisabeth Fernell,1 Mats Anders Eriksson,1,2 Christopher Gillberg11Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; 2Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, SwedenAbstract: Autism spectrum disorders involve a set of clinical phenotypes that mirror an early onset of neurodevelopmental deviations, with core symptoms that can probably be related to a deficiency in the social instinct. Underlying the cognitive impairments there are physiological brain problems, caused by a large number of medical factors. This narrative review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses from the last 5 years (2008–2012 presents aspects from many areas in autism spectrum disorder research, with a particular focus on early intervention and the subsequent impact on prognosis. Other major areas discussed are epidemiology, early symptoms and screening, early diagnosis, neuropsychology, medical factors, and the existence of comorbidities. There is limited evidence that any of the broadband “early intervention” programs are effective in changing the natural long-term outcome for many individuals with an early diagnosis of autism. However, there is some evidence that Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI is an effective treatment for some children with ASD. Nevertheless, there is emerging consensus that early diagnosis and information are needed in order that an autism-friendly environment be “created” around affected individuals.Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, epidemiology, screening, etiology, intervention, outcome

Palaeoecology and depositional environments of the Tendaguru Beds (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, Tanzania

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M. Aberhan

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Tendaguru Beds (Tanzania, East Africa have been well known for nearly a century for their diverse dinosaur assemblages. Here, we present sedimentological and palaeontological data collected by the German-Tanzanian Tendaguru Expedition 2000 in an attempt to reconstruct the palaeo-ecosystems of the Tendaguru Beds at their type locality. Our reconstructions are based on sedimentological data and on a palaeoecological analysis of macroinvertebrates, microvertebrates, plant fossils and microfossils (ostracods, foraminifera, charophytes, palynomorphs. In addition, we included data from previous expeditions, particularly those on the dinosaur assemblages. The environmental model of the Tendaguru Beds presented herein comprises three broad palaeoenvironmental units in a marginal marine setting: (1 Lagoon-like, shallow marine environments above fair weather wave base and with evidence of tides and storms. These formed behind barriers such as ooid bar and siliciclastic sand bar complexes and were generally subject to minor salinity fluctuations. (2 Extended tidal flats and low-relief coastal plains. These include low-energy, brackish coastal lakes and ponds as well as pools and small fluvial channels of coastal plains in which the large dinosaurs were buried. Since these environments apparently were, at best, poorly vegetated, the main feeding grounds of giant sauropods must have been elsewhere. Presumably, tidal flats and coastal plains were visited by dinosaurs primarily during periods of drought. (3 Vegetated hinterland. Vegetation of this environment can only be inferred indirectly from plant material transported into the other depositional environments. Vegetation was dominated by a diverse conifer flora, which apparently formed part of the food source of large herbivorous sauropods. Evidence from various sources suggests a subtropical to tropical palaeoclimate, characterised by seasonal rainfall alternating with

Infant Feeding Practices and the Effect of Early Complementary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine infant feeding practices and the effect of early complementary feeding on the nutritional status of children in Makada Community, Sabon Gari Local Government Area (LGA), Kaduna State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out.

The psychological effects of the physical healthcare environment on healthcare personnel.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tanja-Dijkstra, Karin; Pieterse, Marcel E.

2011-01-01

The physical healthcare environment is capable of affecting patients. This concept of 'healing environments' refers to the psychological impact of environmental stimuli through sensory perceptions. It excludes more physiological effects such as those produced by ergonomic (i.e. fall prevention) or

The psychological effects of the physical healthcare environment on healthcare personnel

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, K.; Pieterse, Marcel E.

2011-01-01

Background: The physical healthcare environment is capable of affecting patients. This concept of 'healing environments' refers to the psychological impact of environmental stimuli through sensory perceptions. It excludes more physiological effects such as those produced by ergonomic (i.e. fall

Acetaldehyde involvement in ethanol's postabsortive effects during early ontogeny.

Science.gov (United States)

March, Samanta M; Abate, P; Molina, Juan C

2013-01-01

Clinical and biomedical studies sustains the notion that early ontogeny is a vulnerable window to the impact of alcohol. Experiences with the drug during these stages increase latter disposition to prefer, use or abuse ethanol. This period of enhanced sensitivity to ethanol is accompanied by a high rate of activity in the central catalase system, which metabolizes ethanol in the brain. Acetaldehyde (ACD), the first oxidation product of ethanol, has been found to share many neurobehavioral effects with the drug. Cumulative evidence supports this notion in models employing adults. Nevertheless very few studies have been conducted to analyze the role of ACD in ethanol postabsorptive effects, in newborns or infant rats. In this work we review recent experimental literature that syndicates ACD as a mediator agent of reinforcing aspects of ethanol, during early ontogenetic stages. We also show a meta-analytical correlational approach that proposes how differences in the activity of brain catalase across ontogeny, could be modulating patterns of ethanol consumption.

Effects of Nanosilica on Early Age Stages of Cement Hydration

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Forood Torabian Isfahani

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Effects of nanosilica on cement hydration have been broadly investigated in the literature and early age cement hydration, as a whole, has been mainly considered, disregarding the substages of the hydration. The hydration of cement is characterized by different substages and nanosilica effect on the hydration could be a result of diverse, even contradictory, behavior of nanosilica in individual stages of the hydration. In this study, effects of nanosilica on different substages of cement hydration are investigated. Isothermal calorimetry results show that at early ages (initial 72 hours the effects of nanosilica depend on the phenomenon by which the hydration is governed: when the hydration is chemically controlled, that is, during initial reaction, dormant period, and acceleratory period, the hydration rate is accelerated by adding nanosilica; when the hydration is governed by diffusion process, that is, during postacceleratory period, the hydration rate is decelerated by adding nanosilica. The Thermal Gravimetric Analysis on the samples at the hardened state (after 28 days of curing reveals that, after adding nanosilica, the hydration degree slightly increased compared to the plain paste.

The effect of social environment on markers of vascular oxidative stress and inflammation in the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit.

Science.gov (United States)

Nation, Daniel A; Gonzales, Julie A; Mendez, Armando J; Zaias, Julia; Szeto, Angela; Brooks, Larry G; Paredes, Jamespaul; D'Angola, Alyssa; Schneiderman, Neil; McCabe, Philip M

2008-04-01

Previous research demonstrated that social environment can influence progression of atherosclerosis in the Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbit. This study examined the effect of social environment on markers of oxidative stress and inflammation to clarify the physiological pathways potentially responsible for the influence of social environment on disease. WHHL rabbits were assigned to 1 of 3 social groups: an unstable group, in which unfamiliar rabbits were paired daily, with the pairing switched each week; a stable group, in which littermates were paired daily; and an individually-caged group. The stable group engaged in more affiliative social behavior than the unstable group. The unstable group showed more agonistic behavior compared with the stable group and higher C-reactive protein levels than the individually caged group. The individually caged group was behaviorally sedentary, had higher 24-hour urinary catecholamine levels than the other groups, and exhibited higher NAD(P)H-oxidase activity in the aortic arch relative to the stable group. The results suggest that social environment creates distinct behavioral contexts that can affect markers of inflammation and oxidative stress early in the development of atherosclerosis. Specifically, physical inactivity associated with individual caging affects indices of oxidative stress and inflammation. These pathophysiological markers may help to explain behaviorally related differences in the extent of atherosclerosis observed in prior studies.

Bullying among radiation therapists: effects on job performance and work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Trad, Megan; Johnson, Jordan

2014-01-01

To identify the effects of workplace bullying in the radiation therapy department on job performance and explore the environment and morale of individuals who work with a bully. A quantitative research study was designed to assess the prevalence and effects of bullying in the radiation therapy workplace. A total of 308 radiation therapists participated in the study for a return rate of 46%. Of those, 194 indicated that workplace bullying was present either in their current workplace or in a previous radiation therapy environment and that it negatively affected job performance and satisfaction. Findings of this study indicate a need for evaluation of the radiation therapy workplace, education on how to identify and prevent bullying behavior, and better communication among members of the radiation therapy environment. Participants indicated that working in a hostile environment led to forgetfulness, ineffective communication, and perceived discrepancies in promotion and treatment by management. Any bullying behavior contributes to an overall toxic work environment, which is unhealthy and unsafe for patients and therapists. Those who manage therapists should promote a culture of safety and embrace their staff's independence.

Chlorpyrifos Exposure and Urban Residential Environment Characteristics as Determinants of Early Childhood Neurodevelopment

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, James W.; Rauh, Virginia A.; Perera, Frederica P.; Andrews, Howard F.; Garfinkel, Robin; Hoepner, Lori; Whyatt, Robin; Rundle, Andrew

2011-01-01

Objectives. We evaluated whether neighborhood characteristics correlated with early neurodevelopment and whether these characteristics confounded the previously reported association between exposure to chlorpyrifos (an organophosphate insecticide) and neurodevelopment. Methods. We obtained prenatal addresses, chlorpyrifos exposure data, and 36-month Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) and Mental Development Index (MDI) scores for a birth cohort in New York City (born 1998–2002). We used data from the 2000 US Census to estimate measures of physical infrastructure, socioeconomic status, crowding, demographic composition, and linguistic isolation for 1-kilometer network areas around each child's prenatal address. Generalized estimating equations were adjusted for demographics, maternal education and IQ, prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke, caretaking environment quality, and building dilapidation. Results. Of 266 children included as participants, 47% were male, 59% were Dominican, and 41% were African American. For each standard deviation higher in neighborhood percent poverty, the PDI score was 2.6 points lower (95% confidence interval [CI] = −3.7, −1.5), and the MDI score was 1.7 points lower (95% CI = −2.6, −0.8). Neighborhood-level confounding of the chlorpyrifos-neurodevelopment association was not apparent. Conclusions. Neighborhood context and chlorpyrifos exposure were independently associated with neurodevelopment, thus providing distinct opportunities for health promotion. PMID:20299657

Effects of Seed Size on Germination and Early Morphorlogical and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effects of Seed Size on Germination and Early Morphorlogical and Physiological Characteristics of Gmelina Arborea , Roxb. ... African Research Review ... They were grouped into 3 categories as large seed size (LSS), medium seed size ...

Analytical evaluation of the environment effect on creep rupture strength

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, Manabu; Ogawa, Yutaka; Kurata, Yuji; Kondo, Tatsuo

1982-04-01

An analytical approach was made in evaluating semi-quantitatively the effect of environment on rupture strength of materials. In the analysis the zone formed in the material by reaction with the environment was assumed to bear the applied load as one of the strength members. In calculations a law of mixtures of creep strength and the linear damage rule were applied. In the modeling of the load bearing by the composite structure of the environment-affected and intact zones, both parallel and series models were considered to formulate the equations. The equation for the parallel-loaded model was properly adopted in explaining semi-quantitatively the case of Incoloy alloy 800 crept in air, which was strengthened with the layer formed by nitrization. The equation for the serially loaded model was more successfully adopted to the evaluation of the rupture strength of dissimilar weld joints. The latter was also considered to be potentially adoptable to the problems of the effect of specimen size and shape on rupture strength, which had been often taken into account in evaluating the environment effect. For application of the developed method, examination was made to the possible decrease in rupture strength of Hastelloy alloy XR in long term tests by the formation of Cr depleted zone due to oxidation in HTGR impure helium, and the results were compared with the values obtained by experiments. (author)

Combined effect of TLR2 gene polymorphism and early life stress on the age at onset of bipolar disorders.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Oliveira

Full Text Available Gene-environment interactions may play an important role in modulating the impact of early-life stressful events on the clinical course of bipolar disorder (BD, particularly associated to early age at onset. Immune dysfunction is thought to be an important mechanism linking childhood trauma with early-onset BD, thus the genetic diversity of immune-related loci may account for an important part of the interindividual susceptibility to this severe subform. Here we investigated the potential interaction between genetic variants of Toll-like receptors 2 (TLR2 and 4 (TLR4, major innate immune response molecules to pathogens, and the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ in age at onset of BD. We recruited 531 BD patients (type I and II or not otherwise specified, genotyped for the TLR2 rs4696480 and rs3804099 and TLR4 rs1927914 and rs11536891 single-nucleotide polymorphisms and recorded for history of childhood trauma using the CTQ. TLR2 and TLR4 risk genotype carrier state and history of childhood emotional, physical and sexual abuses were evaluated in relation to age at onset as defined by the age at first manic or depressive episode. We observed a combined effect of TLR2 rs3804099 TT genotype and reported sexual abuse on determining an earlier age at onset of BD by means of a Kaplan-Meier survival curve (p = 0.002; corrected p = 0.02. Regression analysis, however, was non-significant for the TLR2-CTQ sexual abuse interaction term. The negative effects of childhood sexual abuse on age at onset of BD may be amplified in TLR2 rs3804099 risk genotype carriers through immune-mediated pathways. Clinical characteristics of illness severity, immune phenotypes and history of early life infectious insults should be included in future studies involving large patient cohorts.

Temperature, paternity and asynchronous hatching influence early developmental characteristics of larval Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Politis, Sebastian Nikitas; Dahlke, Flemming T.; Butts, Ian A.E.

2014-01-01

Offspring, especially during early development, are influenced by both intrinsic properties endowed to them by their parents, extrinsic environmental factors as well as the interplay between genes and the environment. We investigated the effects of paternity (P), temperature (T), and asynchronous...

"It's the Way You Talk to Them." The Child's Environment: Early Years Practitioners' Perceptions of Its Influence on Speech and Language Development, Its Assessment and Environment Targeted Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Julie; Lewis, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Speech and language delay occurs in approximately 6% of the child population, and interventions to support this group of children focus on the child and/or the communicative environment. Evidence about the effectiveness of interventions that focus on the environment as well as the (reported) practices of speech and language therapists (SLTs) and…

Family environment and emotional and behavioural symptoms in adolescent Cambodian Refugees: influence of time, gender, and acculturation.

Science.gov (United States)

Rousseau, Cécile; Drapeau, Aline; Platt, Robert

2004-01-01

For young refugees, the turmoil of adolescence is exacerbated by the acculturation process that sometimes places them at odds with the traditional culture of their ethnic group. The family environment can affect how adolescents cross that pivotal period. This paper focuses on the influence of family environment, gender and acculturation on the mental health of young refugees from early to mid-adolescence. Sixty-seven Cambodian adolescents were followed up from early to mid-adolescence. The effects of the youths' acculturation level, gender, and family environment and structure on internalising and externalising symptoms were analysed through linear regression analyses. Family conflict tends to increase from early to mid-adolescence. The association between family environment and mental health changes over time and, overall, family environment is associated with externalisation whereas gender, acculturation level, and family structure influence internalisation. Cambodian girls and boys cope differently with the challenges of adolescence in the host country, adopting traditional strategies and borrowing new ones from the host culture. Family therapy may help the parents and their adolescents address this process of change, which is both a source of vulnerability and of fulfilment, and enhances the ability of the family to negotiate between the cultural worlds of the home and of the host countries.

Small Variations in Early-Life Environment Can Affect Coping Behaviour in Response to Foraging Challenge in the Three-Spined Stickleback.

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M Rohaa Langenhof

Full Text Available An increasing concern in the face of human expansion throughout natural habitats is whether animal populations can respond adaptively when confronted with challenges like environmental change and novelty. Behavioural flexibility is an important factor in estimating the adaptive potential of both individuals and populations, and predicting the degree to which they can cope with change.This study on the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus is an empiric illustration of the degree of behavioural variation that can emerge between semi-natural systems within only a single generation. Wild-caught adult sticklebacks (P, N = 400 were randomly distributed in equal densities over 20 standardized semi-natural environments (ponds, and one year later offspring (F1, N = 652 were presented with repeated behavioural assays. Individuals were challenged to reach a food source through a novel transparent obstacle, during which exploration, activity, foraging, sociability and wall-biting behaviours were recorded through video observation. We found that coping responses of individuals from the first generation to this unfamiliar foraging challenge were related to even relatively small, naturally diversified variation in developmental environment. All measured behaviours were correlated with each other. Especially exploration, sociability and wall-biting were found to differ significantly between ponds. These differences could not be explained by stickleback density or the turbidity of the water.Our findings show that a differences in early-life environment appear to affect stickleback feeding behaviour later in life; b this is the case even when the environmental differences are only small, within natural parameters and diversified gradually; and c effects are present despite semi-natural conditions that fluctuate during the year. Therefore, in behaviourally plastic animals like the stickleback, the adaptive response to human-induced habitat disturbance

Small Variations in Early-Life Environment Can Affect Coping Behaviour in Response to Foraging Challenge in the Three-Spined Stickleback.

Science.gov (United States)

Langenhof, M Rohaa; Apperloo, Rienk; Komdeur, Jan

2016-01-01

An increasing concern in the face of human expansion throughout natural habitats is whether animal populations can respond adaptively when confronted with challenges like environmental change and novelty. Behavioural flexibility is an important factor in estimating the adaptive potential of both individuals and populations, and predicting the degree to which they can cope with change. This study on the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is an empiric illustration of the degree of behavioural variation that can emerge between semi-natural systems within only a single generation. Wild-caught adult sticklebacks (P, N = 400) were randomly distributed in equal densities over 20 standardized semi-natural environments (ponds), and one year later offspring (F1, N = 652) were presented with repeated behavioural assays. Individuals were challenged to reach a food source through a novel transparent obstacle, during which exploration, activity, foraging, sociability and wall-biting behaviours were recorded through video observation. We found that coping responses of individuals from the first generation to this unfamiliar foraging challenge were related to even relatively small, naturally diversified variation in developmental environment. All measured behaviours were correlated with each other. Especially exploration, sociability and wall-biting were found to differ significantly between ponds. These differences could not be explained by stickleback density or the turbidity of the water. Our findings show that a) differences in early-life environment appear to affect stickleback feeding behaviour later in life; b) this is the case even when the environmental differences are only small, within natural parameters and diversified gradually; and c) effects are present despite semi-natural conditions that fluctuate during the year. Therefore, in behaviourally plastic animals like the stickleback, the adaptive response to human-induced habitat disturbance may occur

HIV Infection: Transmission, Effects on Early Development, and Interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowenthal, Barbara

1997-01-01

Describes the modes of transmission of HIV and the course of the disease in infants and toddlers. Information is provided on its effects on early development, medical screening and treatments, therapies, psychosocial assistance, and interventions, including nutritional therapy, occupational and physical therapies, and speech and language therapy.…

Depositional environments and cyclicity of the Early Ordovician carbonate ramp in the western Tarim Basin (NW China)

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Chuan; Chen, Daizhao; Song, Yafang; Zhou, Xiqiang; Ding, Yi; Zhang, Gongjing

2018-06-01

During the Early Ordovician, the Tarim Basin (NW China) was mainly occupied by an extensive shallow-water carbonate platform, on which a carbonate ramp system was developed in the Bachu-Keping area of the western part of the basin. Three well-exposed typical outcrop sections of the Lower Ordovician Penglaiba Formation were investigated in order to identify the depositional facies and to clarify origins of meter-scale cycles and depositional sequences, thereby the platform evolution. Thirteen lithofacies are identified and further grouped into three depositional facies (associations): peritidal, restricted and open-marine subtidal facies. These lithofacies are vertically stacked into meter-scale, shallowing-upward peritidal and subtidal cycles. The peritidal cycles are mainly distributed in the lower and uppermost parts of the Penglaiba Formation deposited in the inner-middle ramp, and commonly start with shallow subtidal to intertidal facies followed by inter- to supratidal facies. In contrast, the subtidal cycles occur throughout the formation mostly in the middle-outer ramp and are dominated by shallow to relatively deep (i.e., intermediate) subtidal facies. The dominance of asymmetrical and incomplete cycles suggests a dominant control of Earth's orbital forcing on the cyclic deposition on the platform. On the basis of vertical facies and cycle stacking patterns, and accommodation changes illustrated by the Fischer plots from all studied sections, five third-order depositional sequences are recognized in the Penglaiba Formation. Individual sequences comprise a lower transgressive part and an upper regressive one. In shallow-water depositional environments, the transgressive packages are dominated by thicker-than-average subtidal cycles, indicating an increase in accommodation space, whereas regressive parts are mainly represented by thinner-than-average peritidal and subtidal cycles, denoting a decrease in accommodation space. In contrast, in intermediate to

[Effectiveness of an early discharge program after normal childbirth].

Science.gov (United States)

Teulón González, M; Martínez Pillado, M; Cuadrado Martín, M M; Rivero Martín, M J; Cerezuela Requena, J F

To implement a program of early hospital discharge after an uncomplicated birth, in order to improve the effectiveness, as well as ensuring clinical safety and patient acceptability. Descriptive study of the effectiveness of an early discharge program after uncomplicated delivery between February 2012 and September 2013. The populations are post-partum women and newborns admitted to the University Hospital of Fuenlabrada, with a duration of less than 24h after uncomplicated delivery that met the defined inclusion criteria. Satisfaction was assessed using a Likert scale. The effectiveness of the program was monitored by safety indicators, productivity, adaptation, and continuity of care. A total of 20% of cases capable of early discharge from Fuenlabrada University Hospital completed the program. Almost all (94%) were normal deliveries. The 188 cases included were from 911 patients with uncomplicated childbirth, accounting for 6.5% of the 2,857 total births. The mean stay of patients included showed a decrease of 50% (2.4 to 1.2 days). All patients received continuity of care after hospital discharge. The review consultation was reprogrammed for 4.8% of cases, with 2% of patients re-admitted within 96h. with no serious problems. Four newborns (2%) required attention in the emergency department (mother or newborn) before 96h. The assessment of patient satisfaction achieved a score of 4.5 out of 5. The program achieved a decrease in the average stay by 50%, favouring the autonomy of midwives. This acceptance level is in line with similar interventions. The deployment of the program may be useful for other changes in care processes. Copyright © 2016 SECA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Developing Programs for the Business Environment - Economic Policies

OpenAIRE

Elena Ilie

2014-01-01

In early 2000, in Romania, there wasn’t much of a talk about stimulating business environment and in this case the SMEs (small and medium enterprises). After a transition period, various attempts to implement a financial and logistical support from the state were beginning to bear fruit with the year 2009 and take hold in 2011. Amid all legislative changes occurred, the Romanian state proves its effectiveness regarding Romanian entrepreneurs and especially young people, university graduates d...

A developmental perspective on early-life exposure to neurotoxicants.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellinger, David C; Matthews-Bellinger, Julia A; Kordas, Katarzyna

2016-09-01

Studies of early-life neurotoxicant exposure have not been designed, analyzed, or interpreted in the context of a fully developmental perspective. The goal of this paper is to describe the key principles of a developmental perspective and to use examples from the literature to illustrate the relevance of these principles to early-life neurotoxicant exposures. Four principles are discussed: 1) the effects of early-life neurotoxicant exposure depend on a child's developmental context; 2) deficits caused by early-life exposure initiate developmental cascades that can lead to pathologies that differ from those observed initially; 3) early-life neurotoxicant exposure has intra-familial and intergenerational impacts; 4) the impacts of early-life neurotoxicant exposure influence a child's ability to respond to future insults. The first principle is supported by considerable evidence, but the other three have received much less attention. Incorporating a developmental perspective in studies of early-life neurotoxicant exposures requires prospective collection of data on a larger array of covariates than usually considered, using analytical approaches that acknowledge the transactional processes between a child and the environment and the phenomenon of developmental cascades. Consideration of early-life neurotoxicant exposure within a developmental perspective reveals that many issues remain to be explicated if we are to achieve a deep understanding of the societal health burden associated with early-life neurotoxicant exposures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is credit for early action credible early action?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolfe, C.; Michaelowa, A.; Dutschke, M.

1999-12-01

Credit for early action as a tool for greenhouse gas emissions reduction is compared with various market instruments as a means of narrowing the gap between projected emissions and those of the Kyoto Protocol. Market instruments work by creating a market price for emissions and use the market to encourage reductions at the lowest price, which is done by placing limits on greenhouse gas emissions and allowing the market to decide where reductions occur, or by imposing a carbon tax or emissions charge. While they can be applied within a sector, they are usually used to encourage reductions throughout the economy or across large sectors. Credit for early action also creates an incentive for emissions reductions throughout the economy or at least across many sectors. Credit for early action tools do not work by either imposing a carbon tax or emissions charge or placing limits on emissions, rather they promise that entities that take action against greenhouse gases prior to the imposition of a carbon tax or emissions limits will receive a credit against future taxes or limits. An overview is provided of the Kyoto Protocol and the rationale for taking early action, and a review is included of the theory and specific proposals for market instruments and credit for early action. A comparative analysis is provided of these approaches by examining their relative efficiency, environmental effectiveness, and impacts on the redistribution of wealth. Credit for early action is viewed as problematic on a number of counts and is seen as an interim strategy for imposition while political support for market instruments develop. The environmental effectiveness of credit for early action is very difficult to predict, and credit for early action programs do not yield the lowest cost emissions reductions. Credit for early action programs will not achieve compliance with the Kyoto Protocol at the lowest cost, and credits for early action will increase the compliance costs for those who

Nature vs. nurture in the low-density environment: structure and evolution of early-type dwarf galaxies in poor groups

Science.gov (United States)

Annibali, F.; Grützbauch, R.; Rampazzo, R.; Bressan, A.; Zeilinger, W. W.

2011-04-01

We present the stellar population properties of 13 dwarf galaxies residing in poor groups (low-density environment, LDE) observed with VIMOS at VLT. Ages, metallicities, and [α/Fe] ratios were derived within an r < re/2 aperture from the Lick indices Hβ, Mgb, Fe5270, and Fe5335 through comparison with our simple stellar population (SSP) models that account for variable [α/Fe] ratios. For a fiducial subsample of 10 early-type dwarfs, we derived median values and scatters around the medians of 5.7 ± 4.4 Gyr, -0.26 ± 0.28, and -0.04 ± 0.33 for age, log Z/Z⊙, and [α/Fe] , respectively. For a selection of bright early-type galaxies (ETGs) from an earlier sample residing in a comparable environment, we derive median values of 9.8 ± 4.1 Gyr, 0.06 ± 0.16, and 0.18 ± 0.13 for the same stellar population parameters. It follows that dwarfs are on average younger, less metal rich, and less enhanced in the α-elements than giants, in agreement with the extrapolation to the low-mass regime of the scaling relations derived for giant ETGs. From the total (dwarf + giant) sample, we find that age ∝ σ0.39 ± 0.22, Z ∝ σ0.80 ± 0.16, and α/Fe ∝ σ0.42 ± 0.22. We also find correlations with morphology, in the sense that the metallicity and the [α/Fe] ratio increase with the Sersic index n or with the bulge-to-total light fraction B/T. The presence of a strong morphology-[α/Fe] relation appears to contradict the possible evolution along the Hubble sequence from low B/T (low n) to high B/T (high n) galaxies. We also investigate the role played by environment by comparing the properties of our LDE dwarfs with those of Coma red passive dwarfs from the literature. We find possible evidence that LDE dwarfs experienced more prolonged star formations than Coma dwarfs, however larger data samples are needed to draw firmer conclusions. Based on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.

Relocation of radioactive residuals store: environment effects statement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-11-01

This Environment Effects Statement describes and assesses the likely environmental effects of the proposal to relocate the Health Commission's existing radioactive residuals store to a site within the established Dutson Downs waste disposal area, located 20 km south-east of Sale and 225 km east of Melbourne. The information presented demonstrates that the siting and construction of the proposed radioactive residuals store and the procedures to be adopted for the handling and storage of materials will not present an unacceptable risk to public health and safety, nor will it involve any significant adverse environmental effects

Effects of Volcanoes on the Natural Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Mouginis-Mark, Peter J.

2005-01-01

The primary focus of this project has been on the development of techniques to study the thermal and gas output of volcanoes, and to explore our options for the collection of vegetation and soil data to enable us to assess the impact of this volcanic activity on the environment. We originally selected several volcanoes that have persistent gas emissions and/or magma production. The investigation took an integrated look at the environmental effects of a volcano. Through their persistent activity, basaltic volcanoes such as Kilauea (Hawaii) and Masaya (Nicaragua) contribute significant amounts of sulfur dioxide and other gases to the lower atmosphere. Although primarily local rather than regional in its impact, the continuous nature of these eruptions means that they can have a major impact on the troposphere for years to decades. Since mid-1986, Kilauea has emitted about 2,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide per day, while between 1995 and 2000 Masaya has emotted about 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes per day (Duffel1 et al., 2001; Delmelle et al., 2002; Sutton and Elias, 2002). These emissions have a significant effect on the local environment. The volcanic smog ("vog" ) that is produced affects the health of local residents, impacts the local ecology via acid rain deposition and the generation of acidic soils, and is a concern to local air traffic due to reduced visibility. Much of the work that was conducted under this NASA project was focused on the development of field validation techniques of volcano degassing and thermal output that could then be correlated with satellite observations. In this way, we strove to develop methods by which not only our study volcanoes, but also volcanoes in general worldwide (Wright and Flynn, 2004; Wright et al., 2004). Thus volcanoes could be routinely monitored for their effects on the environment. The selected volcanoes were: Kilauea (Hawaii; 19.425 N, 155.292 W); Masaya (Nicaragua; 11.984 N, 86.161 W); and Pods (Costa Rica; 10.2OoN, 84.233 W).

Using Lesson Study to Support the Teaching of Early Number Concepts: Examining the Development of Prospective Teachers' Specialized Content Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Leavy, Aisling; Hourigan, Mairead

2018-01-01

Growing awareness of the importance of education in the early years has led professional organizations and policy makers to consider the effectiveness of mathematics education for young children. Factors such as educational environments, early years curricula and teacher education are some of the many aspects that have been examined. This paper…

Right away: A late, right-lateralized category effect complements an early, left-lateralized category effect in visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Constable, Merryn D; Becker, Stefanie I

2017-10-01

According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, learned semantic categories can influence early perceptual processes. A central finding in support of this view is the lateralized category effect-namely, the finding that categorically different colors (e.g., blue and green hues) can be discriminated faster than colors within the same color category (e.g., different hues of green), especially when they are presented in the right visual field. Because the right visual field projects to the left hemisphere, this finding has been popularly couched in terms of the left-lateralization of language. However, other studies have reported bilateral category effects, which has led some researchers to question the linguistic origins of the effect. Here we examined the time course of lateralized and bilateral category effects in the classical visual search paradigm by means of eyetracking and RT distribution analyses. Our results show a bilateral category effect in the manual responses, which is combined of an early, left-lateralized category effect and a later, right-lateralized category effect. The newly discovered late, right-lateralized category effect occurred only when observers had difficulty locating the target, indicating a specialization of the right hemisphere to find categorically different targets after an initial error. The finding that early and late stages of visual search show different lateralized category effects can explain a wide range of previously discrepant findings.

Parents Supporting Learning: A Non-Intensive Intervention Supporting Literacy and Numeracy in the Home Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Niklas, Frank; Cohrssen, Caroline; Tayler, Collette

2016-01-01

In Australia, emphasis in early childhood education policy is placed on the importance of the role of the family as a child's first educator, and finding effective ways to raise the effectiveness of parents in supporting children's learning, development and well-being. International studies demonstrate that the home learning environment (HLE)…

Effects of the Residential Environment on Health in Japan Linked with Travel Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Perez Barbosa, David; Zhang, Junyi; Seya, Hajime

2016-02-03

This paper aims to clarify how the residential environment is associated with overall health-related quality of life (QOL) via active travel (walking and cycling), by reflecting the influence of different trip purposes in Japan. The health-related QOL includes physical, mental, and social dimensions. For this study we implemented a questionnaire survey in 20 cities in Japan in 2010 and obtained valid answers from 1202 respondents. The residential environment is defined in terms of distances to and densities of different daily facilities extracted from both the survey and external GIS data. We found that the effects of residential environment on active travel behavior are mixed and limited, depending on types of trip makers. Unexpectedly, travel behavior has no direct effects on the health-related QOL. The residential environment, which is only observed indirectly via lifestyle habits for commuters, has limited effects on health. As for noncommuters, neither their travel behavior nor the residential environment influences their health-related QOL.

Testing maternal depression and attachment style as moderators of Early Head Start's effects on parenting.

Science.gov (United States)

Berlin, Lisa J; Whiteside-Mansell, Leanne; Roggman, Lori A; Green, Beth L; Robinson, JoAnn; Spieker, Susan

2011-01-01

This study examined maternal depression, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety as moderators of Early Head Start's effects on four parenting outcomes assessed at age three. Participants (N = 947) were drawn from six sites of the Early Head Start National Research and Evaluation Project, a multi-site randomized trial. Findings suggest more positive program effects for mothers with less initial attachment avoidance or attachment anxiety. First, baseline attachment avoidance moderated Early Head Start program effects on observed maternal supportiveness, such that program mothers with lower baseline attachment avoidance were rated as more supportive of their three-year-olds than program mothers with higher baseline attachment avoidance. Second, program effects on spanking varied depending on mothers' baseline attachment anxiety.

The effects of monitoring environment on problem-solving performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Laird, Brian K; Bailey, Charles D; Hester, Kim

2018-01-01

While effective and efficient solving of everyday problems is important in business domains, little is known about the effects of workplace monitoring on problem-solving performance. In a laboratory experiment, we explored the monitoring environment's effects on an individual's propensity to (1) establish pattern solutions to problems, (2) recognize when pattern solutions are no longer efficient, and (3) solve complex problems. Under three work monitoring regimes-no monitoring, human monitoring, and electronic monitoring-114 participants solved puzzles for monetary rewards. Based on research related to worker autonomy and theory of social facilitation, we hypothesized that monitored (versus non-monitored) participants would (1) have more difficulty finding a pattern solution, (2) more often fail to recognize when the pattern solution is no longer efficient, and (3) solve fewer complex problems. Our results support the first two hypotheses, but in complex problem solving, an interaction was found between self-assessed ability and the monitoring environment.

THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON SHEAR IN STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, Kenneth C.; Zabludoff, Ann I.; Keeton, Charles R.; Williams, Kurtis A.; Momcheva, Ivelina G.

2011-01-01

Using new photometric and spectroscopic data in the fields of nine strong gravitational lenses that lie in galaxy groups, we analyze the effects of both the local group environment and line-of-sight (LOS) galaxies on the lens potential. We use Monte Carlo simulations to derive the shear directly from measurements of the complex lens environment, providing the first detailed independent check of the shear obtained from lens modeling. We account for possible tidal stripping of the group galaxies by varying the fraction of total mass apportioned between the group dark matter halo and individual group galaxies. The environment produces an average shear of γ = 0.08 (ranging from 0.02 to 0.17), significant enough to affect quantities derived from lens observables. However, the direction and magnitude of the shears do not match those obtained from lens modeling in three of the six four-image systems in our sample (B1422, RXJ1131, and WFI2033). The source of this disagreement is not clear, implying that the assumptions inherent in both the environment and lens model approaches must be reconsidered. If only the local group environment of the lens is included, the average shear is γ = 0.05 (ranging from 0.01 to 0.14), indicating that LOS contributions to the lens potential are not negligible. We isolate the effects of various theoretical and observational uncertainties on our results. Of those uncertainties, the scatter in the Faber-Jackson relation and error in the group centroid position dominate. Future surveys of lens environments should prioritize spectroscopic sampling of both the local lens environment and objects along the LOS, particularly those bright (I< 21.5) galaxies projected within 5' of the lens.

Healthy work environment--a challenge?

Science.gov (United States)

Jansson von Vultée, Pia Hannele

2015-01-01

In Sweden, leave due to sickness was high during the 1990s. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency was able to decrease sick days in the period between 2000 and 2010 but sick days are rising again in Sweden, mostly due to psychological problems among women and partly due to their work environment. It is important to find methods to identify poor work settings to prevent absenteeism due to sickness. The paper aims to discuss these issues. The authors created a web questionnaire focusing on the organizational setting and its impact on employee wellbeing--reported as mental energy, work-related exhaustion and work satisfaction. The questionnaire measures good and poor work environment factors to help managers improve organizational settings. The questionnaire was validated qualitatively and quantitatively. It is possible to measure individual wellbeing in an organizational context at an early stage. The authors followed a company undergoing organizational change and identified groups at risk of developing illness. Managers uncertain about employee mental status can measure employee wellbeing easily and cost effectively to prevent illness. The authors created a method, statistically evaluated, to proactively identify good and poor work environments to promote healthy co-workers.

Long-Term Health Impact of Early Nutrition: The Power of Programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Koletzko, Berthold; Brands, Brigitte; Grote, Veit; Kirchberg, Franca F; Prell, Christine; Rzehak, Peter; Uhl, Olaf; Weber, Martina

2017-01-01

The Power of Programming conference 2016 at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich brought together about 600 researchers and other stakeholders from around the world who reviewed the recent evidence on the lasting health impact of environment and nutrition during early life, from pre-pregnancy to early childhood. The conference was hosted by the Early Nutrition Project, a multidisciplinary research collaboration funded by the European Commission with collaborating researchers from 35 institutions in 15 countries in Europe, the United States and Australia. The project explores the early origins of obesity, adiposity and associated non-communicable diseases, underlying mechanisms and opportunities for prevention. The project also proactively supports translational application of research findings. In fact, some existing evidence has already been rapidly adopted into policy, regulatory standards and practice. Further, broad dissemination of findings is achieved through the established digital eLearning platform of the Early Nutrition eAcademy, video clip-based learning and graphically supported messaging to consumers. The project demonstrated powerful effects of early metabolic programming on later health. Compared to other common prevention strategies, modifying risk trajectories in early life can achieve a much larger risk reduction and be more cost-effective. While some effective prevention strategies have been promptly implemented in policy and guidelines, legislation and practice, in other areas, the uptake is limited by a paucity of quality human intervention trials and insufficient evaluation of the feasibility of implementation and econometric impact. This needs to be strengthened by future collaborative research work. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The effects of shopping environment on consumption emotions, perceived values and behavioral intentions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kambiz Heidarzadeh Hanzaee

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this study is to develop and to test a comprehensive model that investigates the effect of shopping environment on consumption emotion, perceived value and behavioral intentions in tourism setting. The proposed model specifies the effect of environment perceptions on consumption emotions (pleasure and arousal, hedonic and utilitarian value, which in turn emotions and values affect tourist’s satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Data were collected through tourists who visited a tourist city by using cluster random sampling method. A total of 410 questionnaires were used for data analysis. Structural equations modeling (SEM by using LISREL was performed to empirically test the relationships between the constructs of this research. Results show that environment has a positive and significant influence on pleasure and arousal. However, the effect of environment perceptions on behavioral intentions was not significant. In addition, results indicate that pleasure and arousal have positive and significant effects on tourist’s values. Findings also indicate that hedonic and utilitarian values had direct effect on customer satisfaction and the effect of satisfaction on behavioral intention was positive and significant. Finally, it suggests that service providers should focus on components of environment in a way that contributes positively in creating positive emotions in customers, which in turn consumption emotions enhance perceived value and positive behavioral intentions.

The effect of sex on the repeatability of evolution in different environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Lachapelle, Josianne; Colegrave, Nick

2017-04-01

The adaptive function of sex has been extensively studied, while less consideration has been given to the potential downstream consequences of sex on evolution. Here, we investigate one such potential consequence, the effect of sex on the repeatability of evolution. By affecting the repeatability of evolution, sex could have important implications for biodiversity, and for our ability to make predictions about the outcome of environmental change. We allowed asexual and sexual populations of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to evolve in novel environments and monitored both their change in fitness and variance in fitness after evolution. Sex affected the repeatability of evolution by changing the importance of the effect of selection, chance, and ancestral constraints on the outcome of the evolutionary process. In particular, the effects of sex were highly dependent on the initial genetic composition of the population and on the environment. Given the lack of a consistent effect of sex on repeatability across the environments used here, further studies to dissect in more detail the underlying reasons for these differences as well as studies in additional environments are required if we are to have a general understanding of the effects of sex on the repeatability of evolution. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Decreasing Irradiated Rat Lung Volume Changes Dose-Limiting Toxicity From Early to Late Effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Veen, Sonja J. van der; Faber, Hette; Ghobadi, Ghazaleh [Department of Cell Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Brandenburg, Sytze [KVI Center for Advanced Radiation Research, University of Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Langendijk, Johannes A. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Coppes, Robert P. [Department of Cell Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands); Luijk, Peter van, E-mail: p.van.luijk@umcg.nl [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands)

2016-01-01

Purpose: Technological developments in radiation therapy result in smaller irradiated volumes of normal tissue. Because the risk of radiation therapy-induced toxicity generally depends on irradiated volume, changing volume could change the dose-limiting toxicity of a treatment. Recently, in our rat model, we found that early radiation-induced lung dysfunction (RILD) was closely related to irradiated volume dependent vascular remodeling besides inflammation. The exact relationship between early and late RILD is still unknown. Therefore, in this preclinical study we investigated the dose-volume relationship of late RILD, assessed its dependence on early and late pathologies and studied if decreasing irradiated volume changed the dose-limiting toxicity. Methods and Materials: A volume of 25%, 32%, 50%, 63%, 88%, or 100% of the rat lung was irradiated using protons. Until 26 weeks after irradiation, respiratory rates were measured. Macrovascular remodeling, pulmonary inflammation, and fibrosis were assessed at 26 weeks after irradiation. For all endpoints dose-volume response curves were made. These results were compared to our previously published early lung effects. Results: Early vascular remodeling and inflammation correlated significantly with early RILD. Late RILD correlated with inflammation and fibrosis, but not with vascular remodeling. In contrast to the early effects, late vascular remodeling, inflammation and fibrosis showed a primarily dose but not volume dependence. Comparison of respiratory rate increases early and late after irradiation for the different dose-distributions indicated that with decreasing irradiated volumes, the dose-limiting toxicity changed from early to late RILD. Conclusions: In our rat model, different pathologies underlie early and late RILD with different dose-volume dependencies. Consequently, the dose-limiting toxicity changed from early to late dysfunction when the irradiated volume was reduced. In patients, early and late

Dual effects of fluoxetine on mouse early embryonic development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Chang-Woon; Choe, Changyong; Kim, Eun-Jin; Lee, Jae-Ik; Yoon, Sook-Young; Cho, Young-Woo; Han, Sunkyu; Tak, Hyun-Min; Han, Jaehee; Kang, Dawon

2012-01-01

Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, regulates a variety of physiological processes, such as cell proliferation and apoptosis, in mammalian cells. Little is known about the role of fluoxetine in early embryonic development. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of fluoxetine during mouse early embryonic development. Late two-cell stage embryos (2-cells) were cultured in the presence of various concentrations of fluoxetine (1 to 50 μM) for different durations. When late 2-cells were incubated with 5 μM fluoxetine for 6 h, the percentage that developed into blastocysts increased compared to the control value. However, late 2-cells exposed to fluoxetine (5 μM) over 24 h showed a reduction in blastocyst formation. The addition of fluoxetine (5 μM) together with KN93 or KN62 (calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitors) failed to increase blastocyst formation. Fluoxetine treatment inhibited TREK-1 and TREK-2, members of the two-pore domain K + channel family expressed in mouse embryos, activities, indicating that fluoxetine-induced membrane depolarization in late 2-cells might have resulted from TREK inhibition. In addition, long-term exposure to fluoxetine altered the TREK mRNA expression levels. Furthermore, injection of siRNA targeting TREKs significantly decreased blastocyst formation by ∼ 30% compared to injection of scrambled siRNA. Long-term exposure of fluoxetine had no effect on blastocyst formation of TREK deficient embryos. These results indicate that low-dose and short-term exposures of late 2-cells to fluoxetine probably increase blastocyst formation through activation of CaMKII-dependent signal transduction pathways, whereas long-term exposure decreases mouse early embryonic development through inhibition of TREK channel gating. Highlights: ► Short-term exposure of 2-cells to fluoxetine enhances mouse blastocyst formation. ► The enhancive effect of fluoxetine is resulted from CaMKII activation

Dual effects of fluoxetine on mouse early embryonic development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Chang-Woon [Department of Physiology and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju 660-751 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, Changwon 630-723 (Korea, Republic of); Choe, Changyong [National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Cheonan 330-801 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Eun-Jin [Department of Physiology and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju 660-751 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jae-Ik [Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Jinju 660-702 (Korea, Republic of); Yoon, Sook-Young [Fertility Center of CHA Gangnam Medical Center, CHA University, Seoul 135-081 (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Young-Woo; Han, Sunkyu; Tak, Hyun-Min; Han, Jaehee [Department of Physiology and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju 660-751 (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Dawon, E-mail: dawon@gnu.ac.kr [Department of Physiology and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju 660-751 (Korea, Republic of)

2012-11-15

Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, regulates a variety of physiological processes, such as cell proliferation and apoptosis, in mammalian cells. Little is known about the role of fluoxetine in early embryonic development. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of fluoxetine during mouse early embryonic development. Late two-cell stage embryos (2-cells) were cultured in the presence of various concentrations of fluoxetine (1 to 50 μM) for different durations. When late 2-cells were incubated with 5 μM fluoxetine for 6 h, the percentage that developed into blastocysts increased compared to the control value. However, late 2-cells exposed to fluoxetine (5 μM) over 24 h showed a reduction in blastocyst formation. The addition of fluoxetine (5 μM) together with KN93 or KN62 (calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitors) failed to increase blastocyst formation. Fluoxetine treatment inhibited TREK-1 and TREK-2, members of the two-pore domain K{sup +} channel family expressed in mouse embryos, activities, indicating that fluoxetine-induced membrane depolarization in late 2-cells might have resulted from TREK inhibition. In addition, long-term exposure to fluoxetine altered the TREK mRNA expression levels. Furthermore, injection of siRNA targeting TREKs significantly decreased blastocyst formation by ∼ 30% compared to injection of scrambled siRNA. Long-term exposure of fluoxetine had no effect on blastocyst formation of TREK deficient embryos. These results indicate that low-dose and short-term exposures of late 2-cells to fluoxetine probably increase blastocyst formation through activation of CaMKII-dependent signal transduction pathways, whereas long-term exposure decreases mouse early embryonic development through inhibition of TREK channel gating. Highlights: ► Short-term exposure of 2-cells to fluoxetine enhances mouse blastocyst formation. ► The enhancive effect of fluoxetine is resulted from Ca

Invited review: Carryover effects of early lactation feeding on total lactation performance in dairy cows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Carina; Spörndly, R; Bertilsson, J

2016-01-01

In comparison with the intensive research on the direct effects of energy supply on dairy cow lactation performance, little attention has been paid to the effect of early lactation feeding on subsequent production. The present paper reviews 9 studies carried out with the aim of quantifying...... the immediate and subsequent responses in milk production and body weight to early lactation feeding. Most results showed that a more generous feeding in early lactation caused a positive carryover effect on subsequent production, whereas an inadequate level of feed in early lactation has been shown to reduce...... to be determined by several factors including duration of the treatment and post-treatment feeding level. The most important factor though appears to be the magnitude of over- or underfeeding (i.e., a strong relationship between the treatment period feeding level and the subsequent response in production)....

Eduscape: The Effects of Servicescapes and Emotions in Academic Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Victoria K.; Daunt, Kate L.

2016-01-01

Conceptual and empirical studies on the impact of physical environments in educational settings are lacking. In comparison, consumption environments research has a rich history. In this paper we bring together these two research streams to develop (Study 1) and test (Study 2) an "Eduscape" model of the effects of emotions and…

[Effects of volcanic eruptions on environment and health].

Science.gov (United States)

Zuskin, Eugenija; Mustajbegović, Jadranka; Doko Jelinić, Jagoda; Pucarin-Cvetković, Jasna; Milosević, Milan

2007-12-01

Volcanoes pose a threat to almost half a billion people; today there are approximately 500 active volcanoes on Earth, and every year there are 10 to 40 volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions produce hazardous effects for the environment, climate, and the health of the exposed persons, and are associated with the deterioration of social and economic conditions. Along with magma and steam (H2O), the following gases surface in the environment: carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), carbon sulphide (CS), carbon disulfide (CS2), hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen bromide (HBr) and various organic compounds, as well as heavy metals (mercury, lead, gold).Their unfavourable effects depend on the distance from a volcano, on magma viscosity, and on gas concentrations. The hazards closer to the volcano include pyroclastic flows, flows of mud, gases and steam, earthquakes, blasts of air, and tsunamis. Among the hazards in distant areas are the effects of toxic volcanic ashes and problems of the respiratory system, eyes and skin, as well as psychological effects, injuries, transport and communication problems, waste disposal and water supplies issues, collapse of buildings and power outage. Further effects are the deterioration of water quality, fewer periods of rain, crop damages, and the destruction of vegetation. During volcanic eruptions and their immediate aftermath, increased respiratory system morbidity has been observed as well as mortality among those affected by volcanic eruptions. Unfavourable health effects could partly be prevented by timely application of safety measures.

Does Early Environmental Complexity Influence Tyrosine Hydroxylase in the Chicken Hippocampus and "Prefrontal" Caudolateral Nidopallium?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tahamtani, Fernanda M; Nordgreen, Janicke; Brantsæter, Margrethe; Østby, Gunn C; Nordquist, Rebecca E; Janczak, Andrew M

2016-01-01

In adult chickens, the housing system influences hippocampal morphology and neurochemistry. However, no work has been done investigating the effects of the early life environment on chicken brain development. In the present study, we reared 67 commercial laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) in two

Moisture Buffer Effect and its Impact on Indoor Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Mingjie; Qin, Menghao; Chen, Zhi

2017-01-01

The moisture buffer effect of building materials may have great influence on indoor hygrothermal environment. In order to characterize the moisture buffering ability of materials, the basic concept of moisture buffer value (MBV) is adopted. Firstly, a theoretical correction factor is introduced...... in this paper. The moisture uptake/release by hygroscopic materials can be calculated with the factor and the basic MBV. Furthermore, the validation of the correction factor is carried out. The impact of moisture buffering on indoor environment is assessed by using numerical simulations. The results show...

The Effect of Peer-Mentoring Program on Nursing Students’ Clinical Environment Stressors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F Sardari Kashkooli

2014-01-01

Results: There was a significant difference between stress scores before and after of the intervention in both groups (p=0.00. Mean difference of clinical environment stress factors in two groups were not statistically significant (p=0.99. Conclusions: Peer-mentoring program is not significant effective on clinical environment stress reduction. Key Words: Nursing Education, Peer Mentoring, Clinical Environment Stressors

Environmental opportunities questionnaire: development of a measure of the environment supporting early motor development in the first year of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Doralp, Samantha; Bartlett, Doreen J

2013-09-01

The development and testing of a measure evaluating the quality and variability in the home environment as it relates to the motor development of infants during the first year of life. A sample of 112 boys and 95 girls with a mean age of 7.1 months (SD 1.8) and GA of 39.6 weeks (SD 1.5) participated in the study. The measurement development process was divided into three phases: measurement development (item generation or selection of items from existing measurement tools), pilot testing to determine acceptability and feasibility to parents, and exploratory factor analysis to organize items into meaningful concepts. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were also determined. The environmental opportunities questionnaire (EOQ) is a feasible 21-item measure comprised of three factors including opportunities in the play space, sensory variety and parental encouragement. Overall, test-retest reliability was 0.92 (CI 0.84-0.96) and the internal consistency is 0.79. The EOQ emphasizes quality of the environment and access to equipment and toys that have the potential to facilitate early motor development. The preliminary analyses reported here suggest more work could be done on the EOQ to strengthen its use for research or clinical purposes; however, it is adequate for use in its current form. Implications for Rehabilitation New and feasible 21-item questionnaire that enables identification of malleable environmental factors that serve as potential points of intervention for children that are not developing typically. Therapeutic tool for use by therapists to inform and guide discussions with caregivers about potential influences of environmental, social and attitudinal factors in their child's early development.

Effect of Increasing Yolk Testosterone Levels on Early Behaviour in Japanese Quail Hatchlings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Okuliarová

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of our study was to investigate effects of increased testosterone content in egg yolk on early behaviour of 1- and 2-day-old Japanese quail. Three different doses of testosterone (0.25; 2.5 and 25 ng, not exceeding a physiological range, were examined in three separate experiments. Testosterone propionate dissolved in 20 μl olive oil was injected into the yolk before the onset of incubation. Behaviour of newly hatched chicks was recorded in response to both a novel environment in the open-field test and manual restraining in the test of tonic immobility (TI. Behavioural consequences of embryonic exposure to elevated testosterone were observed in the open-field test in all three experiments which indicated inhibition of behavioural responses in hatchlings. Birds treated with testosterone in ovo displayed longer latency to leave the start square, decreased locomotor activity, enhanced defecation and lower number of distress calls as compared to control birds. In TI test, the influence of treatment was manifested at the highest concentration only. Hatchlings from testosterone treated eggs expressed longer duration of TI and required less attempts to induce TI in comparison with the control group. Our results demonstrated increased fearfulness of Japanese quail chicks hatched from eggs with experimentally elevated testosterone content. The effect is specific for a short period after hatching since previous studies reported stimulatory effect of yolk testosterone on behaviour of Japanese quail later in ontogeny.

Cardioprotective effects of early and late aerobic exercise training in experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension.

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Moreira-Gonçalves, Daniel; Ferreira, Rita; Fonseca, Hélder; Padrão, Ana Isabel; Moreno, Nuno; Silva, Ana Filipa; Vasques-Nóvoa, Francisco; Gonçalves, Nádia; Vieira, Sara; Santos, Mário; Amado, Francisco; Duarte, José Alberto; Leite-Moreira, Adelino F; Henriques-Coelho, Tiago

2015-11-01

Clinical studies suggest that aerobic exercise can exert beneficial effects in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. We compared the impact of early or late aerobic exercise training on right ventricular function, remodeling and survival in experimental PAH. Male Wistar rats were submitted to normal cage activity (SED), exercise training in early (EarlyEX) and in late stage (LateEX) of PAH induced by monocrotaline (MCT, 60 mg/kg). Both exercise interventions resulted in improved cardiac function despite persistent right pressure-overload, increased exercise tolerance and survival, with greater benefits in EarlyEX+MCT. This was accompanied by improvements in the markers of cardiac remodeling (SERCA2a), neurohumoral activation (lower endothelin-1, brain natriuretic peptide and preserved vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA), metabolism and mitochondrial oxidative stress in both exercise interventions. EarlyEX+MCT provided additional improvements in fibrosis, tumor necrosis factor-alpha/interleukin-10 and brain natriuretic peptide mRNA, and beta/alpha myosin heavy chain protein expression. The present study demonstrates important cardioprotective effects of aerobic exercise in experimental PAH, with greater benefits obtained when exercise training is initiated at an early stage of the disease.

A model for assessing information technology effectiveness in the business environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Cristina Riascos Erazo

2008-05-01

Full Text Available The impact of technology on administrative processes has improved business strategies (especially regarding the e-ffect of information technology - IT, often leading to organisational success. Its effectiveness in this environment was thus modelled due to such importance; this paper describes studying a series of models aimed at assessing IT, its ad-vantages and disadvantages. A model is proposed involving different aspects for an integral assessment of IT effecti-veness and considering administrative activities’ particular characteristics. This analytical study provides guidelines for identifying IT effectiveness in a business environment and current key strategies in technological innovation. This stu-dy was based on ISO 9126, ISO 9001, ISO 15939 and ISO 25000 standards as well as COBIT and CMM stan-dards.

Effective Packet Number for 5G IM WeChat Application at Early Stage Traffic Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Shafiq

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Accurate network traffic classification at early stage is very important for 5G network applications. During the last few years, researchers endeavored hard to propose effective machine learning model for classification of Internet traffic applications at early stage with few packets. Nevertheless, this essential problem still needs to be studied profoundly to find out effective packet number as well as effective machine learning (ML model. In this paper, we tried to solve the above-mentioned problem. For this purpose, five Internet traffic datasets are utilized. Initially, we extract packet size of 20 packets and then mutual information analysis is carried out to find out the mutual information of each packet on n flow type. Thereafter, we execute 10 well-known machine learning algorithms using crossover classification method. Two statistical analysis tests, Friedman and Wilcoxon pairwise tests, are applied for the experimental results. Moreover, we also apply the statistical tests for classifiers to find out effective ML classifier. Our experimental results show that 13–19 packets are the effective packet numbers for 5G IM WeChat application at early stage network traffic classification. We also find out effective ML classifier, where Random Forest ML classifier is effective classifier at early stage Internet traffic classification.

EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES AT z ∼ 1.3. II. MASSES AND AGES OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS AND THEIR DEPENDENCE ON STELLAR POPULATION MODEL ASSUMPTIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raichoor, A.; Mei, S.; Huertas-Company, M.; Nakata, F.; Kodama, T.; Stanford, S. A.; Rettura, A.; Jee, M. J.; Holden, B. P.; Illingworth, G.; Postman, M.; White, R. L.; Rosati, P.; Blakeslee, J. P.; Demarco, R.; Eisenhardt, P.; Tanaka, M.

2011-01-01

We have derived masses and ages for 79 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in different environments at z ∼ 1.3 in the Lynx supercluster and in the GOODS/CDF-S field using multi-wavelength (0.6-4.5 μm; KPNO, Palomar, Keck, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer) data sets. At this redshift the contribution of the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase is important for ETGs, and the mass and age estimates depend on the choice of the stellar population model used in the spectral energy distribution fits. We describe in detail the differences among model predictions for a large range of galaxy ages, showing the dependence of these differences on age. Current models still yield large uncertainties. While recent models from Maraston and Charlot and Bruzual offer better modeling of the TP-AGB phase with respect to less recent Bruzual and Charlot models, their predictions do not often match. The modeling of this TP-AGB phase has a significant impact on the derived parameters for galaxies observed at high redshift. Some of our results do not depend on the choice of the model: for all models, the most massive galaxies are the oldest ones, independent of the environment. When using the Maraston and Charlot and Bruzual models, the mass distribution is similar in the clusters and in the groups, whereas in our field sample there is a deficit of massive (M ∼> 10 11 M sun ) ETGs. According to those last models, ETGs belonging to the cluster environment host on average older stars with respect to group and field populations. This difference is less significant than the age difference in galaxies of different masses.

Unpacking Socio-Economic Risks for Reading and Academic Self-Concept in Primary School: Differential Effects and the Role of the Preschool Home Learning Environment

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Crampton, Alexandria; Hall, James

2017-01-01

Background: Uncertainty remains concerning how children's reading and academic self-concept are related and how these are differentially affected by social disadvantage and home learning environments. Aims: To contrast the impacts of early socio-economic risks and preschool home learning environments upon British children's reading abilities and…

Early life stress paradigms in rodents: potential animal models of depression?

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Schmidt, Mathias V; Wang, Xiao-Dong; Meijer, Onno C

2011-03-01

While human depressive illness is indeed uniquely human, many of its symptoms may be modeled in rodents. Based on human etiology, the assumption has been made that depression-like behavior in rats and mice can be modulated by some of the powerful early life programming effects that are known to occur after manipulations in the first weeks of life. Here we review the evidence that is available in literature for early life manipulation as risk factors for the development of depression-like symptoms such as anhedonia, passive coping strategies, and neuroendocrine changes. Early life paradigms that were evaluated include early handling, separation, and deprivation protocols, as well as enriched and impoverished environments. We have also included a small number of stress-related pharmacological models. We find that for most early life paradigms per se, the actual validity for depression is limited. A number of models have not been tested with respect to classical depression-like behaviors, while in many cases, the outcome of such experiments is variable and depends on strain and additional factors. Because programming effects confer vulnerability rather than disease, a number of paradigms hold promise for usefulness in depression research, in combination with the proper genetic background and adult life challenges.

40 CFR 76.8 - Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers. 76.8 Section 76.8 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.8 Early election for Group 1...

The evolution of early-type galaxies in distant clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stanford, S.A.; Eisenhardt, P.R.; Dickinson, M.

1998-01-01

We present results from an optical-infrared photometric study of early-type (E+S0) galaxies in 19 galaxy clusters out to z=0.9. The galaxy sample is selected on the basis of morphologies determined from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2 images and is photometrically defined in the K band in order to minimize redshift-dependent selection biases. Using new ground-based photometry in five optical and infrared bands for each cluster, we examine the evolution of the color-magnitude relation for early-type cluster galaxies, considering its slope, intercept, and color scatter around the mean relation. New multiwavelength photometry of galaxies in the Coma Cluster is used to provide a baseline sample at z∼0 with which to compare the distant clusters. The optical - IR colors of the early-type cluster galaxies become bluer with increasing redshift in a manner consistent with the passive evolution of an old stellar population formed at an early cosmic epoch. The degree of color evolution is similar for clusters at similar redshift and does not depend strongly on the optical richness or X-ray luminosity of the cluster, which suggests that the history of early-type galaxies is relatively insensitive to environment, at least above a certain density threshold. The slope of the color-magnitude relationship shows no significant change out to z=0.9, which provides evidence that it arises from a correlation between galaxy mass and metallicity, not age. Finally, the intrinsic scatter in the optical - IR colors of the galaxies is small and nearly constant with redshift, which indicates that the majority of giant, early-type galaxies in clusters share a common star formation history, with little perturbation due to uncorrelated episodes of later star formation. Taken together, our results are consistent with models in which most early-type galaxies in rich clusters are old, formed the majority of their stars at high redshift in a well-synchronized fashion, and evolved quiescently

Foreign language learning in immersive virtual environments

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Chang, Benjamin; Sheldon, Lee; Si, Mei; Hand, Anton

2012-03-01

Virtual reality has long been used for training simulations in fields from medicine to welding to vehicular operation, but simulations involving more complex cognitive skills present new design challenges. Foreign language learning, for example, is increasingly vital in the global economy, but computer-assisted education is still in its early stages. Immersive virtual reality is a promising avenue for language learning as a way of dynamically creating believable scenes for conversational training and role-play simulation. Visual immersion alone, however, only provides a starting point. We suggest that the addition of social interactions and motivated engagement through narrative gameplay can lead to truly effective language learning in virtual environments. In this paper, we describe the development of a novel application for teaching Mandarin using CAVE-like VR, physical props, human actors and intelligent virtual agents, all within a semester-long multiplayer mystery game. Students travel (virtually) to China on a class field trip, which soon becomes complicated with intrigue and mystery surrounding the lost manuscript of an early Chinese literary classic. Virtual reality environments such as the Forbidden City and a Beijing teahouse provide the setting for learning language, cultural traditions, and social customs, as well as the discovery of clues through conversation in Mandarin with characters in the game.

The Effect of Principal's Leadership Style on School Environment and Outcome

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Al-Safran, Eissa; Brown, David; Wiseman, Alexander

2014-01-01

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of principal's leadership style on school outcome. This study focused on the indirect relationship between the leadership style and the school environment. An additional objective was to investigate the impact of culture on leadership style as related to school environment and outcome.…

Earthquake Early Warning: User Education and Designing Effective Messages

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Burkett, E. R.; Sellnow, D. D.; Jones, L.; Sellnow, T. L.

2014-12-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and partners are transitioning from test-user trials of a demonstration earthquake early warning system (ShakeAlert) to deciding and preparing how to implement the release of earthquake early warning information, alert messages, and products to the public and other stakeholders. An earthquake early warning system uses seismic station networks to rapidly gather information about an occurring earthquake and send notifications to user devices ahead of the arrival of potentially damaging ground shaking at their locations. Earthquake early warning alerts can thereby allow time for actions to protect lives and property before arrival of damaging shaking, if users are properly educated on how to use and react to such notifications. A collaboration team of risk communications researchers and earth scientists is researching the effectiveness of a chosen subset of potential earthquake early warning interface designs and messages, which could be displayed on a device such as a smartphone. Preliminary results indicate, for instance, that users prefer alerts that include 1) a map to relate their location to the earthquake and 2) instructions for what to do in response to the expected level of shaking. A number of important factors must be considered to design a message that will promote appropriate self-protective behavior. While users prefer to see a map, how much information can be processed in limited time? Are graphical representations of wavefronts helpful or confusing? The most important factor to promote a helpful response is the predicted earthquake intensity, or how strong the expected shaking will be at the user's location. Unlike Japanese users of early warning, few Californians are familiar with the earthquake intensity scale, so we are exploring how differentiating instructions between intensity levels (e.g., "Be aware" for lower shaking levels and "Drop, cover, hold on" at high levels) can be paired with self-directed supplemental

Early prevention of pressure ulcers among elderly patients admitted through emergency departments: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

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Pham, Ba'; Teague, Laura; Mahoney, James; Goodman, Laurie; Paulden, Mike; Poss, Jeff; Li, Jianli; Ieraci, Luciano; Carcone, Steven; Krahn, Murray

2011-11-01

Every year, approximately 6.2 million hospital admissions through emergency departments (ED) involve elderly patients who are at risk of developing pressure ulcers. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of pressure-redistribution foam mattresses on ED stretchers and beds for early prevention of pressure ulcers in elderly admitted ED patients. Using a Markov model, we evaluated the incremental effectiveness (quality-adjusted life-days) and incremental cost (hospital and home care costs) between early prevention and current practice (with standard hospital mattresses) from a health care payer perspective during a 1-year time horizon. The projected incidence of ED-acquired pressure ulcers was 1.90% with current practice and 1.48% with early prevention, corresponding to a number needed to treat of 238 patients. The average upgrading cost from standard to pressure-redistribution mattresses was $0.30 per patient. Compared with current practice, early prevention was more effective, with 0.0015 quality-adjusted life-days gained, and less costly, with a mean cost saving of $32 per patient. If decisionmakers are willing to pay $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, early prevention was cost-effective even for short ED stay (ie, 1 hour), low hospital-acquired pressure ulcer risk (1% prevalence), and high unit price of pressure-redistribution mattresses ($3,775). Taking input uncertainty into account, early prevention was 81% likely to be cost-effective. Expected value-of-information estimates supported additional randomized controlled trials of pressure-redistribution mattresses to eliminate the remaining decision uncertainty. The economic evidence supports early prevention with pressure-redistribution foam mattresses in the ED. Early prevention is likely to improve health for elderly patients and save hospital costs. Copyright © 2011 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Inattention/hyperactivity and aggression from early childhood to adolescence: heterogeneity of trajectories and differential influence of family environment characteristics.

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Jester, Jennifer M; Nigg, Joel T; Adams, Kenneth; Fitzgerald, Hiram E; Puttler, Leon I; Wong, Maria M; Zucker, Robert A

2005-01-01

Inattention/hyperactivity and aggressive behavior problems were measured in 335 children from school entry throughout adolescence, at 3-year intervals. Children were participants in a high-risk prospective study of substance use disorders and comorbid problems. A parallel process latent growth model found aggressive behavior decreasing throughout childhood and adolescence, whereas inattentive/hyperactive behavior levels were constant. Growth mixture modeling, in which developmental trajectories are statistically classified, found two classes for inattention/hyperactivity and two for aggressive behavior, resulting in a total of four trajectory classes. Different influences of the family environment predicted development of the two types of behavior problems when the other behavior problem was held constant. Lower emotional support and lower intellectual stimulation by the parents in early childhood predicted membership in the high problem class of inattention/hyperactivity when the trajectory of aggression was held constant. Conversely, conflict and lack of cohesiveness in the family environment predicted membership in a worse developmental trajectory of aggressive behavior when the inattention/hyperactivity trajectories were held constant. The implications of these findings for the development of inattention/hyperactivity and for the development of risk for the emergence of substance use disorders are discussed.

Pisolithus tinctorius, Fungal Extremophile and Modern Analog to an Early Earth Environment; An Unlikely Harbor for Deeply Diverging and Novel Chemoautrophic Microbes

Science.gov (United States)

Cullings, K. C.; Lauzon, C.; Marinkovich, N.; Truong, T.

2014-12-01

Endosymbioses have given rise to some of the most important innovations in Earth's history. Indeed, ecological facilitation has been pivotal to the creation of higher order complexity, and in driving evolutionary transitions at every level of organization from cellular organelles to multicellularity. In this study we address a newly discovered endosymbiosis between prokaryotes and a eukaryote growing with no apparent external energy source in soils associated with acid-sulfate hydrothermal springs. Hydrothermal sites are relevant to origin of life because they provide a chemical and energetic environment that may have provided energy for pre-biotic synthesis in the absence of photosynthesis through chemoautotrophy. Pisolithus (genus, picture 1 below) is a terrestrial fungal extremophile that can grow in thermally altered soils of acid-thermal hot springs at extreme low pH and elevated temperature, thriving in conditions that are beyond the threshold of survivability for most other organisms. Fruiting bodies of this fungus accumulate elemental sulfur into the spore producing tissues (gleba) of the fruiting body. The gleba is encased in a thick peridium, or shell. Further, Pisolithus is capable of enzymatic conversion of elemental S to sulfate. The fruiting bodies are rich in hydrocarbons, contain water through much of their development and are also likely to contain CO2 from fungal cellular respiration. Further, our data indicate the presence of anaerobic zones within. Thus, the internal environment of Pisolithus contains many conditions relevant to early Earth environments in which life is thought to have originated. We used 16S rDNA sequences to test the hypothesis that Pisolithus individuals contain novel and/or ancient microbial lineages. Our data reveal lineages comprised of novel relatives of known aerobic and anaerobic chemoautrophic Bacteria (85-90% BLAST search matches), several deeply divergent and novel Bacterial lineages, and a newly discovered lineage

Irreversibility of a bad start: early exposure to osmotic stress limits growth and adaptive developmental plasticity.

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Wu, Chi-Shiun; Gomez-Mestre, Ivan; Kam, Yeong-Choy

2012-05-01

Harsh environments experienced early in development have immediate effects and potentially long-lasting consequences throughout ontogeny. We examined how salinity fluctuations affected survival, growth and development of Fejervarya limnocharis tadpoles. Specifically, we tested whether initial salinity effects on growth and rates of development were reversible and whether they affected the tadpoles' ability to adaptively accelerate development in response to deteriorating conditions later in development. Tadpoles were initially assigned to either low or high salinity, and then some were switched between salinity levels upon reaching either Gosner stage 30 (early switch) or 38 (late switch). All tadpoles initially experiencing low salinity survived whereas those initially experiencing high salinity had poor survival, even if switched to low salinity. Growth and developmental rates of tadpoles initially assigned to high salinity did not increase after osmotic stress release. Initial low salinity conditions allowed tadpoles to attain a fast pace of development even if exposed to high salinity afterwards. Tadpoles experiencing high salinity only late in development metamorphosed faster and at a smaller size, indicating an adaptive acceleration of development to avoid osmotic stress. Nonetheless, early exposure to high salinity precluded adaptive acceleration of development, always causing delayed metamorphosis relative to those in initially low salinity. Our results thus show that stressful environments experienced early in development can critically impact life history traits, having long-lasting or irreversible effects, and restricting their ability to produce adaptive plastic responses.

Children's Early Literacy Environment in Chinese and American Indian Families.

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Wang, Xiao-lei; Bernas, Ronan; Eberhard, Philippe

This study examined how Chinese and American Indian mothers support their young children's early literacy development in everyday interactions. Twenty mother-child dyads in each cultural community participated in the study. Analysis of videotaped interactions indicated that the mothers in the two communities differed greatly in the ways they…

Managerial strategies for creating an effective work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Luse, Kimberly A

2013-01-01

To create a highly functioning medical imaging team, radiology managers must be able to analyze their departments and identify areas for improvement. This type of analysis means assessing front-line personnel who already work in the department, along with identifying staffing needs and recruiting talented new employees. In addition, managers must develop effective retention tools such as career ladders and mentorship programs to improve the overall working environment. This article discusses a variety of different strategies to help managers develop a more effective department.

A common approach for radiological protection of humans and the environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holm, L.-E.

2004-01-01

Protection of the environment is developing rapidly at the national and international level, but there are still no internationally agreed recommendations as to how radiological protection of the environment should be carried out. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is currently reviewing its existing recommendations for human protection. It has set up a task group with the aim of developing a protection policy for, and suggesting a framework of, the protection of the environment that could feed into its recommendations at the start of the 21st century. The task group will propose a framework for the protection of the environment from harmful effects of radiation, harmonising with the principles for the protection of humans. Although the task group has not yet finalised on the objectives for the environment, these might be to safeguard the environment by preventing or reducing the frequency of effects likely to cause early mortality, reduced reproductive success, or the occurrence of scorable DNA damage in individual fauna and flora to a level where they would have a negligible impact on conservation of species, maintenance of biodiversity, or the health and status of natural habitats or communities. To achieve these objectives, a set of reference dose models, reference dose per unit intake and reference organisms will be required

Space Environment Effects on Materials at Different Positions and Operational Periods of ISS

Science.gov (United States)

Kimoto, Yugo; Ichikawa, Shoichi; Miyazaki, Eiji; Matsumoto, Koji; Ishizawa, Junichiro; Shimamura, Hiroyuki; Yamanaka, Riyo; Suzuki, Mineo

2009-01-01

A space materials exposure experiment was condcuted on the exterior of the Russian Service Module (SM) of the International Space Station (ISS) using the Micro-Particles Capturer and Space Environment Exposure Device (MPAC&SEED) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Results reveal artificial environment effects such as sample contamination, attitude change effects on AO fluence, and shading effects of UV on ISS. The sample contamination was coming from ISS components. The particles attributed to micrometeoroids and/or debris captured by MPAC might originate from the ISS solar array. Another MPAC&SEED will be aboard the Exposure Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module, KIBO Exposure Facility (EF) on ISS. The JEM/MPAC&SEED is attached to the Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment-Attached Payload (SEDA-AP) and is exposed to space. Actually, SEDA-AP is a payload on EF to be launched by Space Shuttle flight 2J/A. In fact, SEDA-AP has space environment monitors such as a high-energy particle monitor, atomic oxygen monitor, and plasma monitor to measure in-situ natural space environment data during JEM/MPAC&SEED exposure. Some exposure samples for JEM/MPAC&SEED are identical to SM/MPAC&SEED samples. Consequently, effects on identical materials at different positions and operation periods of ISS will be evaluated. This report summarizes results from space environment monitoring samples for atomic oxygen analysis on SM/MPAC&SEED, along with experimental plans for JEM/MPAC&SEED.

Effects of the environment on galaxies in the Catalogue of Isolated Galaxies: physical satellites and large scale structure

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Argudo-Fernández, M.; Verley, S.; Bergond, G.; Sulentic, J.; Sabater, J.; Fernández Lorenzo, M.; Espada, D.; Leon, S.; Sánchez-Expósito, S.; Santander-Vela, J. D.; Verdes-Montenegro, L.

2014-04-01

Context. We present a study of the 3D environment for a sample of 386 galaxies in the Catalogue of Isolated Galaxies (CIG, Karachentseva 1973) using the Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR9). Aims: We aim to identify and quantify the effects of the satellite distribution around a sample of galaxies in the CIG, as well as the effects of the large-scale structure (LSS). Methods: To recover the physically bound galaxies we first focused on the satellites that are within the escape speed of each CIG galaxy. We also propose a more conservative method using the stacked Gaussian distribution of the velocity difference of the neighbours. The tidal strengths affecting the primary galaxy were estimated to quantify the effects of the local and LSS environments. We also defined the projected number density parameter at the fifth nearest neighbour to characterise the LSS around the CIG galaxies. Results: Out of the 386 CIG galaxies considered in this study, at least 340 (88% of the sample) have no physically linked satellite. Following the more conservative Gaussian distribution of physical satellites around the CIG galaxies leads to upper limits. Out of the 386 CIG galaxies, 327 (85% of the sample) have no physical companion within a projected distance of 0.3 Mpc. The CIG galaxies are distributed following the LSS of the local Universe, although presenting a large heterogeneity in their degree of connection with it. When present around a CIG galaxy, the effect of physically bound galaxies largely dominates (typically by more than 90%) the tidal strengths generated by the LSS. Conclusions: The CIG samples a variety of environments, from galaxies with physical satellites to galaxies without neighbours within 3 Mpc. A clear segregation appears between early-type CIG galaxies with companions and isolated late-type CIG galaxies. Isolated galaxies are in general bluer, with probably younger stellar populations and very high star formation compared with older

An exploratory longitudinal study of social and language outcomes in children with autism in bilingual home environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Vanessa; Munson, Jeffrey A; Greenson, Jessica; Hou, Yan; Rogers, Sally; Estes, Annette M

2017-12-01

Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among children with autism spectrum disorder may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder raised in bilingual environments. We conducted an exploratory analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a larger study to explore associations between home language environment and language ability and social skills in response to early autism spectrum disorder intervention. Participants, aged 12-26 months when recruited, were a subset of a larger 2-year, randomized intervention trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00698997). Children from bilingual homes ( n = 13) began intervention with lower gesture use but otherwise demonstrated equal baseline language and social abilities as compared with age and nonverbal IQ-matched children from monolingual homes ( n = 24). Significant language growth was exhibited by children from both language groups and there was no moderating effect of home language environment. The bilingual home group demonstrated increased gesture use over the course of intervention as compared with the monolingual home group. Preliminary data revealed no basis for concerns regarding negative impact of a bilingual home environment on language or social development in young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Evidence-Based Occupational Hearing Screening I: Modeling the Effects of Real-World Noise Environments on the Likelihood of Effective Speech Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Soli, Sigfrid D; Giguère, Christian; Laroche, Chantal; Vaillancourt, Véronique; Dreschler, Wouter A; Rhebergen, Koenraad S; Harkins, Kevin; Ruckstuhl, Mark; Ramulu, Pradeep; Meyers, Lawrence S

The objectives of this study were to (1) identify essential hearing-critical job tasks for public safety and law enforcement personnel; (2) determine the locations and real-world noise environments where these tasks are performed; (3) characterize each noise environment in terms of its impact on the likelihood of effective speech communication, considering the effects of different levels of vocal effort, communication distances, and repetition; and (4) use this characterization to define an objective normative reference for evaluating the ability of individuals to perform essential hearing-critical job tasks in noisy real-world environments. Data from five occupational hearing studies performed over a 17-year period for various public safety agencies were analyzed. In each study, job task analyses by job content experts identified essential hearing-critical tasks and the real-world noise environments where these tasks are performed. These environments were visited, and calibrated recordings of each noise environment were made. The extended speech intelligibility index (ESII) was calculated for each 4-sec interval in each recording. These data, together with the estimated ESII value required for effective speech communication by individuals with normal hearing, allowed the likelihood of effective speech communication in each noise environment for different levels of vocal effort and communication distances to be determined. These likelihoods provide an objective norm-referenced and standardized means of characterizing the predicted impact of real-world noise on the ability to perform essential hearing-critical tasks. A total of 16 noise environments for law enforcement personnel and eight noise environments for corrections personnel were analyzed. Effective speech communication was essential to hearing-critical tasks performed in these environments. Average noise levels, ranged from approximately 70 to 87 dBA in law enforcement environments and 64 to 80 dBA in

Assessing the effectiveness of Australian early childhood education and care experiences: study protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Collette Tayler

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In Australia, 61.5 % of children aged 3–4 attend Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC programs. Children’s experiences within these programs vary widely and impact directly on educational wellbeing and social development. Research has shown that higher quality programs enhance children’s learning and developmental outcomes, foster social participation and have long-lasting effects on their productivity as adults. Quality matters, yet we do not know what components of ECEC result in a quality program. Effective Early Educational Experiences (E4Kids is a 5-year longitudinal study designed to identify and assess the impact of mainstream ECEC programs and program components on children’s learning, development, social inclusion and well-being. E4Kids sets out to measure quality ECEC; identify components that add value and positively impact children’s outcomes; evaluate the effects of child, family, community and environment characteristics on programs; and provide evidence on how best to invest in ECEC. Methods/design E4Kids follows a sample of 2,494 children who have experienced a variety of approved care programs (long day care, kindergarten, family day care and occasional care, as well as 157 children who have not accessed such programs. Children are tracked to the first point of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN testing at Year 3. The study presents a multi-level design in which ECEC programs were sampled from two states – Queensland and Victoria – then randomly sampled from two greater metropolitan regions and two regional and remote locations. Parents, centre directors, educators and carers complete questionnaires to provide information on demographics and children’s progress. Data collected also include the make-up and organisation of ECEC programs and schools children attended. The quality of adult-child interactions is directly assessed using the Classroom Assessment

Assessing the effectiveness of Australian early childhood education and care experiences: study protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Tayler, Collette; Cloney, Daniel; Adams, Ray; Ishimine, Karin; Thorpe, Karen; Nguyen, Thi Kim Cuc

2016-04-21

In Australia, 61.5 % of children aged 3-4 attend Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programs. Children's experiences within these programs vary widely and impact directly on educational wellbeing and social development. Research has shown that higher quality programs enhance children's learning and developmental outcomes, foster social participation and have long-lasting effects on their productivity as adults. Quality matters, yet we do not know what components of ECEC result in a quality program. Effective Early Educational Experiences (E4Kids) is a 5-year longitudinal study designed to identify and assess the impact of mainstream ECEC programs and program components on children's learning, development, social inclusion and well-being. E4Kids sets out to measure quality ECEC; identify components that add value and positively impact children's outcomes; evaluate the effects of child, family, community and environment characteristics on programs; and provide evidence on how best to invest in ECEC. E4Kids follows a sample of 2,494 children who have experienced a variety of approved care programs (long day care, kindergarten, family day care and occasional care), as well as 157 children who have not accessed such programs. Children are tracked to the first point of National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing at Year 3. The study presents a multi-level design in which ECEC programs were sampled from two states - Queensland and Victoria - then randomly sampled from two greater metropolitan regions and two regional and remote locations. Parents, centre directors, educators and carers complete questionnaires to provide information on demographics and children's progress. Data collected also include the make-up and organisation of ECEC programs and schools children attended. The quality of adult-child interactions is directly assessed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and direct testing of children's cognitive abilities

Disentangling behavior in early child development : Interpretability of early child language and its effect on utterance length measures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Dijk, M.W.G.; Van Geert, P. L. C.

Early child speech is often difficult to understand and interpret. Usually, these unintelligible units are not included in quantitative measures, such as MLU. In this paper, we claim that these interpretation problems have an unknown effect on utterance length measures (such as MLU), since we have

The Effects of Space Environment on Wireless Communication Devices' Performance

OpenAIRE

Landon, Hillyard; Dennison, JR

2012-01-01

This project evaluates the effects of the space environment on small radio hardware devices called Bluetooth (a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances) chips (hoovers). When electronics are exposed to the harsh environment outside the Earth's atmosphere, they sometimes do not perform as expected. The USU Getaway Away Special (GAS) team is now in the design stages of launching a CubeSat (a 10 cm cubed autonomous satellite to fly in Low Earth Orbi...

Using a logic model to evaluate the Kids Together early education inclusion program for children with disabilities and additional needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Clapham, Kathleen; Manning, Claire; Williams, Kathryn; O'Brien, Ginger; Sutherland, Margaret

2017-04-01

Despite clear evidence that learning and social opportunities for children with disabilities and special needs are more effective in inclusive not segregated settings, there are few known effective inclusion programs available to children with disabilities, their families or teachers in the early years within Australia. The Kids Together program was developed to support children with disabilities/additional needs aged 0-8 years attending mainstream early learning environments. Using a key worker transdisciplinary team model, the program aligns with the individualised package approach of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This paper reports on the use of a logic model to underpin the process, outcomes and impact evaluation of the Kids Together program. The research team worked across 15 Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres and in home and community settings. A realist evaluation using mixed methods was undertaken to understand what works, for whom and in what contexts. The development of a logic model provided a structured way to explore how the program was implemented and achieved short, medium and long term outcomes within a complex community setting. Kids Together was shown to be a highly effective and innovative model for supporting the inclusion of children with disabilities/additional needs in a range of environments central for early childhood learning and development. The use of a logic model provided a visual representation of the Kids Together model and its component parts and enabled a theory of change to be inferred, showing how a coordinated and collaborative approached can work across multiple environments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acetaldehyde involvement in ethanol’s postabsortive effects during early ontogeny

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samanta Mabel March

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Clinical and biomedical studies sustains the notion that early ontogeny is a vulnerable window to the impact of alcohol. Experiences with the drug during these stages increase latter disposition to prefer, use or abuse ethanol. This period of enhanced sensitivity to ethanol is accompanied by a high rate of activity in the central catalase system, which metabolizes ethanol in the brain. Acetaldehyde (ACD, the first oxidation product of ethanol, has been found to share many neurobehavioral effects with the drug. Cumulative evidence supports this notion in models employing adults. Nevertheless very few studies have been conducted to analyze the role of acetaldehyde in ethanol postabsorptive effects, in newborns or infant rats. In this work we review recent experimental literature that syndicates ACD as a mediator agent of reinforcing aspects of ethanol, during early ontogenetic stages. We also show a meta-analytical correlational approach that propose how differential concentrations of central catalase across ontogeny, could be modulating patterns of ethanol affinity.

The Environment as Information--An Examination of the Mechanism of Environmental Effect on Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Biggers, Thompson; Walker, Barbara

1984-01-01

Exposed subjects (N=96) to environments pretested to elicit feelings of pleasure or displeasure while hearing or reading a message. Results showed attitude change was significantly higher in pleasant environments than in unpleasant environments. The environmental effect was only found when subjects were allowed time to soak in the environment. (BH)

A stochastic model for early placental development.

KAUST Repository

Cotter, Simon L

2014-08-01

In the human, placental structure is closely related to placental function and consequent pregnancy outcome. Studies have noted abnormal placental shape in small-for-gestational-age infants which extends to increased lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease. The origins and determinants of placental shape are incompletely understood and are difficult to study in vivo. In this paper, we model the early development of the human placenta, based on the hypothesis that this is driven by a chemoattractant effect emanating from proximal spiral arteries in the decidua. We derive and explore a two-dimensional stochastic model, and investigate the effects of loss of spiral arteries in regions near to the cord insertion on the shape of the placenta. This model demonstrates that disruption of spiral arteries can exert profound effects on placental shape, particularly if this is close to the cord insertion. Thus, placental shape reflects the underlying maternal vascular bed. Abnormal placental shape may reflect an abnormal uterine environment, predisposing to pregnancy complications. Through statistical analysis of model placentas, we are able to characterize the probability that a given placenta grew in a disrupted environment, and even able to distinguish between different disruptions.

Exogenous determinants of early-life conditions, and mortality later in life.

Science.gov (United States)

van den Berg, Gerard J; Doblhammer, Gabriele; Christensen, Kaare

2009-05-01

We analyze causal effects of conditions early in life on the individual mortality rate later in life. Conditions early in life are captured by transitory features of the macro-environment around birth, notably the state of the business cycle around birth, but also food price deviations, weather indicators, and demographic indicators. We argue that these features can only affect high-age mortality by way of the individual early-life conditions. Moreover, they are exogenous from the individual point of view, which is a methodological advantage compared to the use of unique characteristics of the newborn individual or his or her family or household as early-life indicators. We collected national annual time-series data on the above-mentioned indicators, and we combine these to the individual data records from the Danish Twin Registry covering births in 1873-1906. The empirical analyses (mostly based on the estimation of duration models) indicate a significant negative causal effect of economic conditions early in life on individual mortality rates at higher ages. If the national economic performance in the year of birth exceeds its trend value (i.e., if the business cycle is favorable) then the mortality rate later in life is lower. The implied effect on the median lifetime of those who survive until age 35 is about 10 months. A systematic empirical exploration of all macro-indicators reveals that economic conditions in the first years after birth also affect mortality rates later in life.

Analysis of the effects of simulated synergistic LEO environment on solar panels

Science.gov (United States)

Allegri, G.; Corradi, S.; Marchetti, M.; Scaglione, S.

2007-02-01

The effects due to the LEO environment exposure of a solar array primary structure are here presented and discussed in detail. The synergistic damaging components featuring LEO environment are high vacuum, thermal cycling, neutral gas, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and cold plasma. The synergistic effects due to these environmental elements are simulated by "on ground" tests, performed in the Space Environment Simulator (SAS) at the University of Rome "La Sapienza"; numerical simulations are performed by the Space Environment Information System (SPENVIS), developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). A "safe life" design for a solar array primary structure is developed, taking into consideration the combined damaging action of the LEO environment components; therefore results from both numerical and experimental simulations are coupled within the framework of a standard finite element method (FEM) based design. The expected durability of the solar array primary structure, made of laminated sandwich composite, is evaluated assuming that the loads exerted on the structure itself are essentially dependent on thermo-elastic stresses. The optical degradation of surface materials and the stiffness and strength degradation of structural elements are taken into account to assess the global structural durability of the solar array under characteristic operative conditions in LEO environment.

Implications of tissue target-cell survival-curve shape for values of split-dose recovery doses: late versus early effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Redpath, J.L.; Peel, D.M.; Hopewell, J.W.

1984-01-01

Recent data from this laboratory on split-dose recovery for early and late effects in pig skin are consistent with the linear-quadratic model for cell survival, and with relative cell survival-curve shapes for early- and late-effect target cells where the early-effect cells have an intially steeper and straighter survival-curve than the late-effect cells. (author)

The Positive Effect of Resilience on Stress and Business Outcomes in Difficult Work Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Shatté, Andrew; Perlman, Adam; Smith, Brad; Lynch, Wendy D

2017-02-01

To examine whether resilience has a protective effect in difficult work environments. A survey of 2063 individuals measured individual resilience, stress, burnout, sleep problems, likelihood of depression, job satisfaction, intent to quit, absences, and productivity. It also measured work characteristics: job demands, job influence, and social support. Multivariate and logistic regression models examined the main effects and interactions of resilience and job characteristics. High strain work environments (high demand, low influence, and low support) have an unfavorable effect on all outcomes. Resilience has a protective effect on all outcomes. For stress, burnout, and sleep, higher resilience has a more protective effect under low-strain conditions. For depression, absence and productivity, resilience has a more protective effect when job strain is high. Workers with high resilience have better outcomes in difficult work environments.

Effects of early nerve repair on experimental brachial plexus injury in neonatal rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourke, Gráinne; McGrath, Aleksandra M; Wiberg, Mikael; Novikov, Lev N

2018-03-01

Obstetrical brachial plexus injury refers to injury observed at the time of delivery, which may lead to major functional impairment in the upper limb. In this study, the neuroprotective effect of early nerve repair following complete brachial plexus injury in neonatal rats was examined. Brachial plexus injury induced 90% loss of spinal motoneurons and 70% decrease in biceps muscle weight at 28 days after injury. Retrograde degeneration in spinal cord was associated with decreased density of dendritic branches and presynaptic boutons and increased density of astrocytes and macrophages/microglial cells. Early repair of the injured brachial plexus significantly delayed retrograde degeneration of spinal motoneurons and reduced the degree of macrophage/microglial reaction but had no effect on muscle atrophy. The results demonstrate that early nerve repair of neonatal brachial plexus injury could promote survival of injured motoneurons and attenuate neuroinflammation in spinal cord.

Parental care mitigates carry-over effects of poor early conditions on offspring growth

Science.gov (United States)

Auer, Sonya K.; Martin, Thomas E.

2017-01-01

Poor developmental conditions can have long-lasting negative effects on offspring phenotypes, but impacts often differ among species. Contrasting responses may reflect disparities in experimental protocols among single-species studies or inherent differences among species in their sensitivity to early conditions and/or ability to mitigate negative impacts. We used a common experimental protocol to assess and compare the role of parental care in mitigating effects of poor early conditions on offspring among 4 sympatric bird species in the wild. We experimentally induced low incubation temperatures and examined effects on embryonic developmental rates, hatching success, nestling growth rates, and parental responses. We examined the generality of these effects across 4 species that differ in their phylogenetic history, breeding ecology, and life histories. We found that cooling led to delayed hatching in all species, but carry-over effects on offspring differed among species. Parents of some but not all species increased their offspring provisioning rates in response to experimental cooling with critical benefits for offspring growth rates. Our study shows for the first time that species exhibit clear differences in the degree to which they are affected by poor early conditions. Observed differences among species demonstrate that parental care is a critical mechanism for mitigating potential negative effects on offspring and suggest that parental responses may be constrained to varying degrees by ecology and life histories.

The variable effects of stress on alcohol use from adolescence to early adulthood.

Science.gov (United States)

Aseltine, R H; Gore, S L

2000-04-01

Despite evidence of a strong association between stress and level of drinking in adolescent populations, the role of stress in accounting for changes in drinking behavior throughout the adolescent years is unclear. This study uses a linear growth curve analysis to examine the determinants of within-individual changes in drinking frequency and binge drinking across five waves of data from a community sample of adolescents who were followed into young adulthood. Predictors of drinking include: stressful life events, parental and peer social support, and parental and peer relationship problems. Findings indicate significant effects of stressful life events and parental support and conflict on both the frequency and intensity of alcohol use. Although age-related changes in these variables coincide with changes in drinking behavior, they do not account for drinking variability over this period. Results from conditional models demonstrate that the impact of the stress is contingent on age, and that the strong associations between drinking and stress evidenced during the high school years weaken considerably as individuals move into their late teens and early twenties. Discussion centers on the complex motivations for and facilitators of drinking as young people mature and change environments over the adolescent years.

Organochlorine Pesticides in the Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Stickel, L.F.

1968-01-01

acting directly as estrogens, their involvement in embryonic and early post-embryonic toxicity, interferences with antibody formation, effects on behavior, and interactions with stress such as nutritional deficiencies or food deprivation. Delayed mortality long after dosage ceased has shown the serious effects of storage of organochlorines in fat. DDT has been suggested as the indirect cause of a reduction of egg-shell thickness that occurred in the midforties in association with failing reproduction and population decline of certain predatory birds. The impact of these new components of the environment has appeared as death, reproductive impairment, disruption of species balance, and behavioral alteration, but the overall effects on the environment have not been determined. Research should be aimed at interpretation of the significance of pesticide residues to survival and reproduction, to assessment of levels of pesticides in critical environments, and to the kinetics of pesticides in individuals and the ecosystem.

Priority effects of early successional insects influence late successional fungi in dead wood.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobsen, Rannveig Margrete; Birkemoe, Tone; Sverdrup-Thygeson, Anne

2015-11-01

Community assembly is an integral process in all ecosystems, producing patterns of species distributions, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning. Environmental filters and colonization history govern the assembly process, but their relative importance varies depending on the study system. Dead wood decomposition is a slow process, allowing decomposer communities to develop within a slowly changing substrate for decades. Despite this, there are few long-term studies of priority effects from colonization history in this ecosystem. In this study, we investigate the importance of insects in early succession of dead wood on the fungal community present one decade later. Sixty aspen trees were killed in two study landscapes, each tree producing one aspen high stump and log. Insects were sampled with flight interception traps during the first 4 years after tree death, and fungal fruiting bodies were registered in year twelve. We found positive priority effects of two fungivorous beetles, the sap beetle Glischrochilus quadripunctatus and the round fungus beetle Agathidium nigripenne, on the Artist's bracket (Ganoderma applanatum) and a positive priority effect of wood-boring beetles on the ascomycete Yellow fairy cup (Bisporella citrina). The Aspen bracket (Phellinus tremulae) did not respond to insects in early succession of the dead wood. Our results suggest that early successional insects can have significant, long-lasting effects on the late successional fungal community in dead wood. Also, the effect can be specific, with one fungus species depending on one or a few fungivorous beetle species. This has implications for decomposition and biodiversity in dead wood, as loss of early colonizing beetles may also affect the successional pathways they seem to initiate.

The effect of early life stress on the cognitive phenotype of children with an extra X chromosome (47,XXY/47,XXX).

Science.gov (United States)

van Rijn, Sophie; Barneveld, Petra; Descheemaeker, Mie-Jef; Giltay, Jacques; Swaab, Hanna

2018-02-01

Studies on gene-environment interactions suggest that some individuals may be more susceptible to life adversities than others due to their genetic profile. This study assesses whether or not children with an extra X chromosome are more vulnerable to the negative impact of early life stress on cognitive functioning than typically-developing children. A total of 50 children with an extra X chromosome and 103 non-clinical controls aged 9 to 18 years participated in the study. Cognitive functioning in domains of language, social cognition and executive functioning were assessed. Early life stress was measured with the Questionnaire of Life Events. High levels of early life stress were found to be associated with compromised executive functioning in the areas of mental flexibility and inhibitory control, irrespective of group membership. In contrast, the children with an extra X chromosome were found to be disproportionally vulnerable to deficits in social cognition on top of executive dysfunction, as compared to typically-developing children. Within the extra X group the number of negative life events is significantly correlated with more problems in inhibition, mental flexibility and social cognition. It is concluded that children with an extra X chromosome are vulnerable to adverse life events, with social cognition being particularly impacted in addition to the negative effects on executive functioning. The findings that developmental outcome is codependent on early environmental factors in genetically vulnerable children also underscores opportunities for training and support to positively influence the course of development.

Sex-dependent effects of an early life treatment in rats that increases maternal care: vulnerability or resilience?

Science.gov (United States)

Fuentes, Sílvia; Daviu, Núria; Gagliano, Humberto; Garrido, Pedro; Zelena, Dóra; Monasterio, Nela; Armario, Antonio; Nadal, Roser

2014-01-01

Early life stress (ELS) in rodents has profound long-term effects that are partially mediated by changes in maternal care. ELS not only induces "detrimental" effects in adulthood, increasing psychopathology, but also promotes resilience to further stressors. In Long-Evans rats, we evaluated a combination of two procedures as a model of ELS: restriction of bedding during the first post-natal days and exposure to a "substitute" mother. The maternal care of biological and "substitute" mothers was measured. The male and female offspring were evaluated during adulthood in several contexts. Anxiety was measured by the elevated plus-maze (EPM), acoustic startle response (ASR) and forced swim test (FST). In other group of animals, novelty-seeking was measured (activity in an inescapable novel environment, preference for novel environments and exploration of novel objects). Plasmatic ACTH and corticosterone in basal conditions and in response to stress were also measured. Cognitive impulsivity was assessed by a delay-discounting paradigm, and impulsive action, attention and compulsive-like behavior by a five choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT). ELS decreased pup body weight and increased the care of the biological mother; however, the "substitute" mother did not exhibit overt maltreatment. A mixture of "detrimental" and "beneficial" effects was shown. In the 5CSRTT, attention was impaired in both genders, and in females, ELS increased compulsive-like behavior. Novel object exploration was only increased by ELS in males, but the preference for novel spaces decreased in both genders. Baseline anxiety (EPM and ASR) and recognition memory were not affected. Unexpectedly, ELS decreased the ACTH response to novelty and swim stress and increased active coping in the FST in both genders. Cognitive impulsivity was decreased only in females, but impulsive action was not affected. The enhancement in maternal care may "buffer" the effects of ELS in a context-dependent manner.

Sex-dependent effects of an early life treatment in rats that increases maternal care: vulnerability or resilience?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia eFuentes

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Early life stress (ELS in rodents has profound long-term effects that are partially mediated by changes in maternal care. ELS not only induces detrimental effects in adulthood, increasing psychopathology, but also promotes resilience to further stressors. In Long-Evans rats, we evaluated a combination of two procedures as a model of ELS: restriction of bedding during the first postnatal days and exposure to a substitute mother. The maternal care of biological and substitute mothers was measured. The male and female offspring were evaluated during adulthood in several contexts. Anxiety was measured by the elevated plus-maze (EPM, acoustic startle response (ASR and forced swim test (FST. In other group of animals, novelty-seeking was measured (activity in an inescapable novel environment, preference for novel environments and exploration of novel objects. Plasmatic ACTH and corticosterone in basal conditions and in response to stress were also measured. Cognitive impulsivity was assessed by a delay-discounting paradigm, and impulsive action, attention and compulsive-like behaviour by a five choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT. ELS decreased pup body weight and increased the care of the biological mother; however, the substitute mother did not exhibit overt maltreatment. A mixture of detrimental and beneficial effects was shown. In the 5CSRTT, attention was impaired in both genders, and in females, ELS increased compulsive-like behaviour. Novel object exploration was only increased by ELS in males, but the preference for novel spaces decreased in both genders. Baseline anxiety (EPM and ASR and recognition memory were not affected. Unexpectedly, ELS decreased the ACTH response to novelty and swim stress and increased active coping in the FST in both genders. Cognitive impulsivity was decreased only in females, but impulsive action was not affected. The enhancement in maternal care may buffer the effects of ELS in a context-dependent manner.

Early life nutrition, epigenetics and programming of later life disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Vickers, Mark H

2014-06-02

The global pandemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes is often causally linked to marked changes in diet and lifestyle; namely marked increases in dietary intakes of high energy diets and concomitant reductions in physical activity levels. However, less attention has been paid to the role of developmental plasticity and alterations in phenotypic outcomes resulting from altered environmental conditions during the early life period. Human and experimental animal studies have highlighted the link between alterations in the early life environment and increased risk of obesity and metabolic disorders in later life. This link is conceptualised as the developmental programming hypothesis whereby environmental influences during critical periods of developmental plasticity can elicit lifelong effects on the health and well-being of the offspring. In particular, the nutritional environment in which the fetus or infant develops influences the risk of metabolic disorders in offspring. The late onset of such diseases in response to earlier transient experiences has led to the suggestion that developmental programming may have an epigenetic component, as epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation or histone tail modifications could provide a persistent memory of earlier nutritional states. Moreover, evidence exists, at least from animal models, that such epigenetic programming should be viewed as a transgenerational phenomenon. However, the mechanisms by which early environmental insults can have long-term effects on offspring are relatively unclear. Thus far, these mechanisms include permanent structural changes to the organ caused by suboptimal levels of an important factor during a critical developmental period, changes in gene expression caused by epigenetic modifications (including DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA) and permanent changes in cellular ageing. A better understanding of the epigenetic basis of developmental programming and how these effects may be

Early Life Nutrition, Epigenetics and Programming of Later Life Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark H. Vickers

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The global pandemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes is often causally linked to marked changes in diet and lifestyle; namely marked increases in dietary intakes of high energy diets and concomitant reductions in physical activity levels. However, less attention has been paid to the role of developmental plasticity and alterations in phenotypic outcomes resulting from altered environmental conditions during the early life period. Human and experimental animal studies have highlighted the link between alterations in the early life environment and increased risk of obesity and metabolic disorders in later life. This link is conceptualised as the developmental programming hypothesis whereby environmental influences during critical periods of developmental plasticity can elicit lifelong effects on the health and well-being of the offspring. In particular, the nutritional environment in which the fetus or infant develops influences the risk of metabolic disorders in offspring. The late onset of such diseases in response to earlier transient experiences has led to the suggestion that developmental programming may have an epigenetic component, as epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation or histone tail modifications could provide a persistent memory of earlier nutritional states. Moreover, evidence exists, at least from animal models, that such epigenetic programming should be viewed as a transgenerational phenomenon. However, the mechanisms by which early environmental insults can have long-term effects on offspring are relatively unclear. Thus far, these mechanisms include permanent structural changes to the organ caused by suboptimal levels of an important factor during a critical developmental period, changes in gene expression caused by epigenetic modifications (including DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA and permanent changes in cellular ageing. A better understanding of the epigenetic basis of developmental programming and how

Evolutionary conserved neural signature of early life stress affects animal social competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyman, Cecilia; Fischer, Stefan; Aubin-Horth, Nadia; Taborsky, Barbara

2018-01-31

In vertebrates, the early social environment can persistently influence behaviour and social competence later in life. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying variation in animal social competence are largely unknown. In rats, high-quality maternal care causes an upregulation of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors ( gr ) and reduces offspring stress responsiveness. This identifies gr regulation as a candidate mechanism for maintaining variation in animal social competence. We tested this hypothesis in a highly social cichlid fish, Neolamprologus pulcher , reared with or without caring parents. We find that the molecular pathway translating early social experience into later-life alterations of the stress axis is homologous across vertebrates: fish reared with parents expressed the glucocorticoid receptor gr1 more in the telencephalon. Furthermore, expression levels of the transcription factor egr-1 (early growth response 1) were associated with gr1 expression in the telencephalon and hypothalamus. When blocking glucocorticoid receptors (GR) with an antagonist, mifepristone (RU486), parent-reared individuals showed more socially appropriate, submissive behaviour when intruding on a larger conspecific's territory. Remarkably, mifepristone-treated fish were less attacked by territory owners and had a higher likelihood of territory takeover. Our results indicate that early social-environment effects on stress axis programming are mediated by an evolutionary conserved molecular pathway, which is causally involved in environmentally induced variation of animal social competence. © 2018 The Author(s).

Pathways from Mothers' Early Social Support to Children's Language Development at Age 3

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Young Eun

2017-01-01

The relationships between early maternal social support, maternal psychological well-being, the home learning environment, and children's language skills at age 3 in Korean families were examined. We hypothesized that maternal social support would predict children's language development through its effect on maternal psychological well-being and…

Sense of coherence, career adaptability and burnout of early-career Black staff in the call centre environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nisha Harry

2013-11-01

Research purpose: This study explored whether call centre agents’ sense of coherence significantly influences their career adaptability and whether their burnout levels significantly moderate the sense of coherence–career adaptability relationship. The research also investigated whether age, gender and years of service (as control variables, along with sense of coherence, predicted career adaptability. Motivation for the study: The positive psychological construct of career adaptability and its association with call centre agents’ sense of coherence, burnout, age, gender and years of service have not yet been investigated in the call centre environment. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used. The Orientation to Life, Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory General Scale were administered to a non-probability purposive sample of 409 early-career Black staff employed in three of the largest outsourced financial call centres in Africa. Main findings: Multiple regression analyses revealed that age, gender and meaningfulness significantly predicted call centre agents’ career adaptability, but that their burnout levels do not significantly moderate the sense of coherence–career adaptability relationship. Practical/managerial implications: Enhancing call centre agents’ sense of meaningfulness will increase their levels of career adaptability and career wellbeing. Contribution/value-add: This research is the first to investigate the construct of career adaptability in the call centre environment and adds new knowledge and insights to the existing wellness and positive psychology literature.

Transgenerational transmission of a stress-coping phenotype programmed by early-life stress in the Japanese quail

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmer, Cédric; Larriva, Maria; Boogert, Neeltje J.; Spencer, Karen A.

2017-01-01

An interesting aspect of developmental programming is the existence of transgenerational effects that influence offspring characteristics and performance later in life. These transgenerational effects have been hypothesized to allow individuals to cope better with predictable environmental fluctuations and thus facilitate adaptation to changing environments. Here, we test for the first time how early-life stress drives developmental programming and transgenerational effects of maternal exposure to early-life stress on several phenotypic traits in their offspring in a functionally relevant context using a fully factorial design. We manipulated pre- and/or post-natal stress in both Japanese quail mothers and offspring and examined the consequences for several stress-related traits in the offspring generation. We show that pre-natal stress experienced by the mother did not simply affect offspring phenotype but resulted in the inheritance of the same stress-coping traits in the offspring across all phenotypic levels that we investigated, shaping neuroendocrine, physiological and behavioural traits. This may serve mothers to better prepare their offspring to cope with later environments where the same stressors are experienced. PMID:28387355

Effects of alpha and gamma radiation on glass reaction in an unsaturated environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wronkiewicz, D.J.; Young, J.E.; Bates, J.K.

1990-01-01

Radiation may effect the long-term performance of glass in an unsaturated repository site by interacting with air, water vapor, or liquid water. The present study examines (1) the effects of alpha or gamma irradiation in a water vapor environment, and (2) the influence of radiolytic products on glass reaction. Results indicate that nitric and organic acids form in an irradiated water vapor environment and are dissolved in thin films of condensed water. Glass samples exposed to these conditions react faster and have a different assemblage of secondary phases than glasses exposed to nonirradiated water vapor environments. 23 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

Effect of energy supplementation on intake and digestion of early ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Supplementation of early and mid-season Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum cv. Midmar) with maize meal, maize meal with NaHC03 buffer, or maize meal plus combinations of slowly degradable protein was studied. Supplements were administered via a rumen fistula. The effect on intake and digestion of ryegrass was ...

Effects of Various Early Writing Practices on Reading and Spelling

Science.gov (United States)

Rieben, Laurence; Ntamakiliro, Ladislas; Gonthier, Brana; Fayol, Michel

2005-01-01

The effects of different early word spelling practices on reading and spelling were studied in 145 five-year-old children. Three experimental treatments were designed to mimic different teaching activities by having children practice invented spelling (IS group), copied spelling (CS group), or invented spelling with feedback on correct orthography…

Improved climate risk simulations for rice in arid environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oort, van P.A.J.; Vries, de M.; Yoshida, H.; Saito, K.

2015-01-01

We integrated recent research on cardinal temperatures for phenology and early leaf growth, spikelet formation, early morning flowering, transpirational cooling, and heat- and cold-induced sterility into an existing to crop growth model ORYZA2000. We compared for an arid environment observed

Grain yield stability of early maize genotypes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chitra Bahadur Kunwar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to estimate grain yield stability of early maize genotypes. Five early maize genotypes namely Pool-17, Arun1EV, Arun-4, Arun-2 and Farmer’s variety were evaluated using Randomized Complete Block Design along with three replications at four different locations namely Rampur, Rajahar, Pakhribas and Kabre districts of Nepal during summer seasons of three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012 under farmer’s fields. Genotype and genotype × environment (GGE biplot was used to identify superior genotype for grain yield and stability pattern. The genotypes Arun-1 EV and Arun-4 were better adapted for Kabre and Pakhribas where as pool-17 for Rajahar environments. The overall findings showed that Arun-1EV was more stable followed by Arun-2 therefore these two varieties can be recommended to farmers for cultivation in both environments.

Radiation effects in the environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Begay, F.; Rosen, L.; Petersen, D.F.; Mason, C.; Travis, B. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Yazzie, A. [Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ (United States). Dept. of History; Isaac, M.C.P.; Seaborg, G.T. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (United States); Leavitt, C.P. [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

1999-04-01

Although the Navajo possess substantial resource wealth-coal, gas, uranium, water-this potential wealth has been translated into limited permanent economic or political power. In fact, wealth or potential for wealth has often made the Navajo the victims of more powerful interests greedy for the assets under limited Navajo control. The primary focus for this education workshop on the radiation effects in the environment is to provide a forum where scientists from the nuclear science and technology community can share their knowledge toward the advancement and diffusion of nuclear science and technology issues for the Navajo public. The scientists will make an attempt to consider the following basic questions; what is science; what is mathematics; what is nuclear radiation? Seven papers are included in this report: Navajo view of radiation; Nuclear energy, national security and international stability; ABC`s of nuclear science; Nuclear medicine: 100 years in the making; Radon in the environment; Bicarbonate leaching of uranium; and Computational methods for subsurface flow and transport. The proceedings of this workshop will be used as a valuable reference materials in future workshops and K-14 classrooms in Navajo communities that need to improve basic understanding of nuclear science and technology issues. Results of the Begay-Stevens research has revealed the existence of strange and mysterious concepts in the Navajo Language of nature. With these research results Begay and Stevens prepared a lecture entitled The Physics of Laser Fusion in the Navajo language. This lecture has been delivered in numerous Navajo schools, and in universities and colleges in the US, Canada, and Alaska.

7 CFR 4290.1610 - Effect of prepayment or early redemption of Leverage on a Trust Certificate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

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Linking the Gut Microbial Ecosystem with the Environment: Does Gut Health Depend on Where We Live?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nishat Tasnim

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Global comparisons reveal a decrease in gut microbiota diversity attributed to Western diets, lifestyle practices such as caesarian section, antibiotic use and formula-feeding of infants, and sanitation of the living environment. While gut microbial diversity is decreasing, the prevalence of chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity, allergies and asthma is on the rise in Westernized societies. Since the immune system development is influenced by microbial components, early microbial colonization may be a key factor in determining disease susceptibility patterns later in life. Evidence indicates that the gut microbiota is vertically transmitted from the mother and this affects offspring immunity. However, the role of the external environment in gut microbiome and immune development is poorly understood. Studies show that growing up in microbe-rich environments, such as traditional farms, can have protective health effects on children. These health-effects may be ablated due to changes in the human lifestyle, diet, living environment and environmental biodiversity as a result of urbanization. Importantly, if early-life exposure to environmental microbes increases gut microbiota diversity by influencing patterns of gut microbial assembly, then soil biodiversity loss due to land-use changes such as urbanization could be a public health threat. Here, we summarize key questions in environmental health research and discuss some of the challenges that have hindered progress toward a better understanding of the role of the environment on gut microbiome development.

The long term effects of early analysis of a trauma registry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashour Mazen

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We established a trauma registry in 2003 to collect data on trauma patients, which is a major cause of death in the United Arab Emirates (UAE. The aim of this paper is to report on the long term effects of our early analysis of this registry. Methods Data in the early stages of this trauma registry were collected for 503 patients during a period of 6 months in 2003. Data was collected on a paper form and then entered into the trauma registry using a self-developed Access database. Descriptive analysis was performed. Results Most were males (87%, the mean age (SD was 30.5 (14.9. UAE citizens formed 18.5%. Road traffic collisions caused an overwhelming 34.2% of injuries with 29.7% of those involving UAE citizens while work-related injuries were 26.2%. The early analysis of this registry had two major impacts. Firstly, the alarmingly high rate of UAE nationals in road traffic collisions standardized to the population led to major concerns and to the development of a specialized road traffic collision registry three years later. Second, the equally alarming high rate of work-related injuries led to collaboration with a Preventive Medicine team who helped with refining data elements of the trauma registry to include data important for research in trauma prevention. Conclusion Analysis of a trauma registry as early as six months can lead to useful information which has long term effects on the progress of trauma research and prevention.

Kindling of Life Stress in Bipolar Disorder: Effects of Early Adversity.

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Shapero, Benjamin G; Weiss, Rachel B; Burke, Taylor A; Boland, Elaine M; Abramson, Lyn Y; Alloy, Lauren B

2017-05-01

Most theoretical frameworks regarding the role of life stress in bipolar disorders (BD) do not incorporate the possibility of a changing relationship between psychosocial context and episode initiation across the course of the disorder. The kindling hypothesis theorizes that over the longitudinal course of recurrent affective disorders, the relationship between major life stressors and episode initiation declines (Post, 1992). The present study aimed to test an extension of the kindling hypothesis in BD by examining the effect of early life adversity on the relationship between proximal life events and prospectively assessed mood episodes. Data from 145 bipolar participants (59.3% female, 75.2% Caucasian, and mean age of 20.19 years; SD = 1.75 years) were collected as part of the Temple-Wisconsin Longitudinal Investigation of Bipolar Spectrum Project (112 Bipolar II; 33 Cyclothymic disorder). Participants completed a self-report measure of early adversity at baseline and interview-assessed mood episodes and life events at regular 4-month follow-ups. Results indicate that early childhood adversity sensitized bipolar participants to the effects of recent stressors only for depressive episodes and not hypomanic episodes within BD. This was particularly the case with minor negative events. The current study extends prior research examining the kindling model in BD using a methodologically rigorous assessment of life stressors and mood episode occurrence. Clinicians should assess experiences of early adversity in individuals with BD as it may impact reactivity to developing depressive episodes in response to future stressors. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Early Environmental Enrichment Enhances Abnormal Brain Connectivity in a Rabbit Model of Intrauterine Growth Restriction.

Science.gov (United States)

Illa, Miriam; Brito, Verónica; Pla, Laura; Eixarch, Elisenda; Arbat-Plana, Ariadna; Batallé, Dafnis; Muñoz-Moreno, Emma; Crispi, Fatima; Udina, Esther; Figueras, Francesc; Ginés, Silvia; Gratacós, Eduard

2017-10-12

The structural correspondence of neurodevelopmental impairments related to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) that persists later in life remains elusive. Moreover, early postnatal stimulation strategies have been proposed to mitigate these effects. Long-term brain connectivity abnormalities in an IUGR rabbit model and the effects of early postnatal environmental enrichment (EE) were explored. IUGR was surgically induced in one horn, whereas the contralateral one produced the controls. Postnatally, a subgroup of IUGR animals was housed in an enriched environment. Functional assessment was performed at the neonatal and long-term periods. At the long-term period, structural brain connectivity was evaluated by means of diffusion-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging and by histological assessment focused on the hippocampus. IUGR animals displayed poorer functional results and presented altered whole-brain networks and decreased median fractional anisotropy in the hippocampus. Reduced density of dendritic spines and perineuronal nets from hippocampal neurons were also observed. Of note, IUGR animals exposed to enriched environment presented an improvement in terms of both function and structure. IUGR is associated with altered brain connectivity at the global and cellular level. A strategy based on early EE has the potential to restore the neurodevelopmental consequences of IUGR. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Task distribution mechanism for effective collaboration in virtual environments

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