WorldWideScience

Sample records for strong families build

  1. HomeFront Strong (HFS): Building Resiliency in Military Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-09-01

    spouses. Contemporary Family Therapy , 37(3), 221-231. doi: 10.1007/s10591-015-9336-8. Presentations Kees, M. (2014). Promoting resilience in...diffe rent tastes on different parts of your tongue • Try tast ing things w ith strong flavors (e.g. sour lemon. bitter dark chocolate . salty pretzels

  2. Building strong brands – does it matter?

    OpenAIRE

    Aure, Kristin Gaaseide; Nervik, Kristine Dybvik

    2014-01-01

    Brand equity has proven, through several decades of research, to be a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings (Yoo & Donthu, 2001). Building strong brands has therefore become a priority for many organizations, with the presumption that building strong brands yields these advantages (Yasin et al., 2007). A quantitative survey was conducted at Sunnmøre in Norway in order to answer the two developed research questions. - Does the brand equity dimensions; brand...

  3. Engaging Military Fathers in a Reflective Parenting Program: Lessons from Strong Families Strong Forces

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeVoe, Ellen R.; Paris, Ruth

    2015-01-01

    Through Strong Families Strong Forces, a reflective parenting program for military families with young children, we were privileged to work with contemporary military fathers who served in the post-9/11 conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Due to this work, the authors gained valuable insight into the complexity of fathering during wartime, the…

  4. When Military Parents Come Home: Building "Strong Families Strong Forces," a Home-Based Intervention for Military Families with Very Young Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paris, Ruth; Acker, Michelle L.; Ross, Abigail M.; DeVoe, Ellen R.

    2011-01-01

    The long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have presented unique challenges to military-connected families with very young children, yet few evidence-based services are available to support these families through deployment and reintegration. Although many military families have shown remarkable resilience throughout the intense demands of the wars,…

  5. Low semen quality and experiences of masculinity and family building

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sylvest, Randi; Fürbringer, Jeanette Krogh; Pinborg, Anja

    2018-01-01

    analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: 'Threatened masculinity', 'Being the strong one: impact on the couple' and 'Consideration of family building options: a chapter not willing to start'. The men felt that they could not fulfill their role as a man. Some......INTRODUCTION: Infertility is a concern for men and women.There is limited knowledge on how male factor infertility affects the couple in fertility treatment. The aim of this study was to explore how severe male factor infertility affects men's sense of masculinity, the couple's relationship...... and intentions about family formation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Semi-structured qualitative interview study at the Fertility Clinic at Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark. Ten men with very poor semen quality initiating fertility treatment were interviewed between November 2014 and May 2015. Data were...

  6. Strong Military Families Program: A Multifamily Group Approach to Strengthening Family Resilience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Kate; Muzik, Maria; Waddell, Rachel; Thompson, Stephanie; Rosenberg, Lauren; Masini, Gabriella; Smith, Karen

    2015-01-01

    Military families frequently display remarkable resilience in the face of significant challenges, and yet deployment and parental separation are significant stressors for parents, particularly those with infants and young children. The Strong Military Families preventive intervention is a multifamily parenting and self-care skills group that aims…

  7. HomeFront Strong (HFS): Building Resiliency in Military Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    deployment and combat stress on families and children (parts 1 and 2)  Prevent and treat suicide behavior in service members/vets  Rates of...9/30/15; 10/5/15 University of Michigan Nurse Practitioner HFS program promotion 2 10/8/15; 1/20/16 VA Suicide Prevention Coordinator HFS...8/26/16 Multiple contacts within MING Child and Youth Programs HFS program promotion 3 9/15/15; 1/18/16; 7/21/16 MIARNG, CPT, Director of

  8. Before and after retrofit - response of a building during ambient and strong motions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celebi, M.; Liu, Huaibao P.; ,

    1998-01-01

    This paper presents results obtained from ambient vibration and strong-motion responses of a thirteen-story, moment-resisting steel framed Santa Clara County Office Building (SCCOB) before being retrofitted by visco-elastic dampers and from ambient vibration response following the retrofit. Understanding the cumulative structural and site characteristics that affect the response of SCCOB before and after the retrofit is important in assessing earthquake hazards to other similar buildings and decision making in retrofitting them. The results emphasize the need to better evaluate structural and site characteristics in developing earthquake resisting designs that avoid resonating effects. Various studies of the strong-motion response records from the SCCOB during the 24 April 1984 (MHE) Morgan Hill (MS = 6.1), the 31 March 1986 (MLE) Mt. Lewis (MS = 6.1) and the 17 October 1989 (LPE) Loma Prieta (MS = 7.1) earthquakes show that the dynamic characteristics of the building are such that it (a) resonated (b) responded with a beating effect due to close-coupling of its translational and torsional frequencies, and (c) had a long-duration response due to low-damping. During each of these earthquakes, there was considerable contents damage and the occupants felt the rigorous vibration of the building. Ambient tests of SCCOB performed following LPE showed that both translational and torsional periods of the building are smaller than those derived from strong motions. Ambient tests performed following the retrofit of the building with visco-elastic dampers show that the structural fundamental mode frequency of the building has increased. The increased frequency implies a stiffer structure. Strong-motion response of the building during future earthquakes will ultimately validate the effectiveness of the retrofit method.This paper presents results obtained from ambient vibration and strong-motion responses of a thirteen-story, moment-resisting steel framed Santa Clara County

  9. Retrofit of a MultiFamily Mass Masonry Building in New England

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ueno, K. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Kerrigan, P. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Wytrykowska, H. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Van Straaten, R. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States)

    2013-08-01

    Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity (MVHfH) has partnered with Building Science Corporation to provide high performance affordable housing for 10 families in the retrofit of an existing brick building (a former convent) into condominiums. The research performed for this project provides information regarding advanced retrofit packages for multi-family masonry buildings in Cold climates. In particular, this project demonstrates safe, durable, and cost-effective solutions that will potentially benefit millions of multi-family brick buildings throughout the East Coast and Midwest (Cold climates). The retrofit packages provide insight on the opportunities for and constraints on retrofitting multifamily buildings with ambitious energy performance goals but a limited budget. The condominium conversion project will contribute to several areas of research on enclosures, space conditioning, and water heating. Enclosure items include insulation of mass masonry building on the interior, airtightness of these types of retrofits, multi-unit building compartmentalization, window selection, and roof insulation strategies. Mechanical system items include combined hydronic and space heating systems with hydronic distribution in small (low load) units, and ventilation system retrofits for multifamily buildings.

  10. Healthy Children, Strong Families 2: A randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyle intervention for American Indian families designed using community-based approaches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomayko, Emily J; Prince, Ronald J; Cronin, Kate A; Parker, Tassy; Kim, Kyungmann; Grant, Vernon M; Sheche, Judith N; Adams, Alexandra K

    2017-04-01

    Background/Aims Few obesity prevention trials have focused on young children and their families in the home environment, particularly in underserved communities. Healthy Children, Strong Families 2 is a randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyle intervention for American Indian children and their families, a group at very high risk of obesity. The study design resulted from our long-standing engagement with American Indian communities, and few collaborations of this type resulting in the development and implementation of a randomized clinical trial have been described. Methods Healthy Children, Strong Families 2 is a lifestyle intervention targeting increased fruit and vegetable intake, decreased sugar intake, increased physical activity, decreased TV/screen time, and two less-studied risk factors: stress and sleep. Families with young children from five American Indian communities nationwide were randomly assigned to a healthy lifestyle intervention ( Wellness Journey) augmented with social support (Facebook and text messaging) or a child safety control group ( Safety Journey) for 1 year. After Year 1, families in the Safety Journey receive the Wellness Journey, and families in the Wellness Journey start the Safety Journey with continued wellness-focused social support based on communities' request that all families receive the intervention. Primary (adult body mass index and child body mass index z-score) and secondary (health behaviors) outcomes are assessed after Year 1 with additional analyses planned after Year 2. Results To date, 450 adult/child dyads have been enrolled (100% target enrollment). Statistical analyses await trial completion in 2017. Lessons learned Conducting a community-partnered randomized controlled trial requires significant formative work, relationship building, and ongoing flexibility. At the communities' request, the study involved minimal exclusion criteria, focused on wellness rather than obesity, and included an active

  11. 75 FR 60563 - Family Day, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-30

    ... healthy behaviors. Parents across America balance demanding responsibilities at work with family needs... the life of a child. Strong and engaged families help build a strong America, and it is our... Part III The President Proclamation 8570--Family Day, 2010 #0; #0; #0; Presidential Documents #0...

  12. Priorities for family building among patients and partners seeking treatment for infertility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duthie, Elizabeth A; Cooper, Alexandra; Davis, Joseph B; Sandlow, Jay; Schoyer, Katherine D; Strawn, Estil; Flynn, Kathryn E

    2017-04-05

    Infertility treatment decisions require people to balance multiple priorities. Within couples, partners must also negotiate priorities with one another. In this study, we assessed the family-building priorities of couples prior to their first consultations with a reproductive specialist. Participants were couples who had upcoming first consultations with a reproductive specialist (N = 59 couples (59 women; 59 men)). Prior to the consultation, couples separately completed the Family-Building Priorities Tool, which tasked them with ranking from least to most important 10 factors associated with family building. We describe the highest (top three) and lowest (bottom three) priorities, the alignment of priorities within couples, and test for differences in prioritization between men and women within couples (Wilcoxon signed rank test). Maintaining a close and satisfying relationship with one's partner was ranked as a high priority by majorities of men and women, and in 25% of couples, both partners ranked this factor as their most important priority for family building. Majorities of men and women also ranked building a family in a way that does not make infertility obvious to others as a low priority, and in 27% of couples, both partners ranked this factor as the least important priority for family building. There were also differences within couples that involved either men or women ranking a particular goal more highly than their partners. More women ranked two factors higher than did their partners: 1) that I become a parent one way or another (p = 0.015) and 2) that I have a child in the next year or two (p maintain a close relationship with my partner (p = 0.034), and 4) that I avoid side effects from treatment (p building paths should be aware that: (1) patients balance multiple priorities as a part of, or beside, becoming a parent; and (2) patients and their partners may not be aligned in their prioritization of achieving parenthood. For

  13. The Healthy Children, Strong Families Intervention: Design and Community Participation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Alexandra K.; LaRowe, Tara L.; Cronin, Kate A.; Prince, Ronald J.; Wubben, Deborah P.; Parker, Tassy; Jobe, Jared B.

    2012-01-01

    Healthy Children, Strong Families (HCSF) is a 2-year, community-driven, family-based randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyles intervention conducted in partnership with four Wisconsin American Indian tribes. HCSF is composed of 1 year of targeted home visits to deliver nutritional and physical activity curricula. During Year 1, trained…

  14. Families OverComing under Stress (FOCUS) for Early Childhood: Building Resilience for Young Children in High Stress Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogil, Catherine; Paley, Blair; Doud, Tricia; Havens, Linda; Moore-Tyson, Jessica; Beardslee, William R.; Lester, Patricia

    2010-01-01

    Parental distress and trauma affects the entire family, including the youngest children. Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) is a targeted prevention program for high-risk families that aims to enhance family cohesion, support the parent-child relationship, and build emotional regulation, communication, and problem-solving skills across the…

  15. Ties That Bind: Building and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Relationships through Family Traditions and Rituals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franklin, Diane, Ed.; Bankston, Karen, Ed.

    This booklet discusses the importance of family rituals as a way of staying connected to children as they move through adolescence. Family rituals give teens a sense of being part of a family that values its time together. Even something as simple as a family meal together can have great impact on maintaining a bond between parents and children.…

  16. Quality of web-based family-building information for LGBTQ individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreines, Fabiana M; Farr, Alex; Chervenak, Frank A; Grünebaum, Amos

    2018-02-01

    The number of patients who seek health information on the internet is increasing. Rates are particularly high among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, due to health care barriers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and inclusivity of web-based information pertaining to LGBTQ family building. The first 100 US-based websites pertaining to LGBTQ family building were identified through a terminology-based internet search. After eliminating 45 websites, 55 websites were found to be eligible. The 2016 Website Information Reliability Evaluation Instrument (of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, US Department of Health and Human Services) was used to analyse the quality of information on each website. Websites were analysed for inclusivity of important topics surrounding LGBTQ family building. A total of 46 websites (83.6%) belonged or were related to reproductive services and served as advertisements for their respective owners; nine websites (16.4%) belonged to third parties. No website met more than four of the six major reliability criteria, and 42 websites (76.4%) met only one or two of the six major reliability criteria. When inclusivity was considered, 29 websites (52.7%) mentioned options for transgender individuals and nine websites (16.4%) mentioned adoption. There is a lack of reliable web-based information for LGBTQ family building and a need for improvement in quality and scope. Improvements could lead to a shift in reproductive health care towards better inclusion of and catering to LGBTQ individuals.

  17. Family-Style Dining: Focusing on the Importance of Rituals in Building Relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parr, Jerry

    2002-01-01

    Discusses the importance of family-style dining in early childhood education and care settings for child nutrition, socialization, and cognitive development. Illustrates how family dining experiences build family relationships and provide a context for defining family roles and responsibilities. Shows how easily television can become a mealtime…

  18. Building Strong Geoscience Departments Through the Visiting Workshop Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ormand, C. J.; Manduca, C. A.; Macdonald, H.; Bralower, T. J.; Clemens-Knott, D.; Doser, D. I.; Feiss, P. G.; Rhodes, D. D.; Richardson, R. M.; Savina, M. E.

    2011-12-01

    The Building Strong Geoscience Departments project focuses on helping geoscience departments adapt and prosper in a changing and challenging environment. From 2005-2009, the project offered workshop programs on topics such as student recruitment, program assessment, preparing students for the workforce, and strengthening geoscience programs. Participants shared their departments' challenges and successes. Building on best practices and most promising strategies from these workshops and on workshop leaders' experiences, from 2009-2011 the project ran a visiting workshop program, bringing workshops to 18 individual departments. Two major strengths of the visiting workshop format are that it engages the entire department in the program, fostering a sense of shared ownership and vision, and that it focuses on each department's unique situation. Departments applied to have a visiting workshop, and the process was highly competitive. Selected departments chose from a list of topics developed through the prior workshops: curriculum and program design, program elements beyond the curriculum, recruiting students, preparing students for the workforce, and program assessment. Two of our workshop leaders worked with each department to customize and deliver the 1-2 day programs on campus. Each workshop incorporated exercises to facilitate active departmental discussions, presentations incorporating concrete examples drawn from the leaders' experience and from the collective experiences of the geoscience community, and action planning to scaffold implementation. All workshops also incorporated information on building departmental consensus and assessing departmental efforts. The Building Strong Geoscience Departments website complements the workshops with extensive examples from the geoscience community. Of the 201 participants in the visiting workshop program, 140 completed an end of workshop evaluation survey with an overall satisfaction rating of 8.8 out of a possible 10

  19. Building the Social Work Workforce: Saving Lives and Families

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharine Briar-Lawson

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This article depicts a journey over the decades to address some of the needs of children and families in the child welfare system. Recounting a few key milestones and challenges in the past 40 years, it is argued that workforce development is one key to improved outcomes for abused and neglected children and their families. Major events and several turning points are chronicled. Emerging workforce needs in aging are also cited as lessons learned from child welfare have implications for building a gero savvy social work workforce. Funding streams involving IV-E and Medicaid are discussed. It is argued that workforce development can be a life and death issue for some of these most vulnerable populations. Thus, the workforce development agenda must be at the forefront of the social work profession for the 21st century. Key funding streams are needed to foster investments in building and sustaining the social work workforce.

  20. Moisture supply in Danish single-family houses – the influence of building style

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Ernst Jan de Place; Møller, Eva B.

    2017-01-01

    According to ISO 13788 internal moisture supply in dwellings can be described by humidity classes defined by outdoor temperature, occupancy and ventilation. Hygrothermal measurements in 500 Danish single-family houses were made to investigate if building style and geographical location are import......According to ISO 13788 internal moisture supply in dwellings can be described by humidity classes defined by outdoor temperature, occupancy and ventilation. Hygrothermal measurements in 500 Danish single-family houses were made to investigate if building style and geographical location...

  1. Building our global family--achieving treatment for all.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skinner, M W

    2010-07-01

    Building our global family by reaching out to women, children and youth and those in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve Treatment for All. The World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) has committed to recognizing and incorporating the critical and important challenges that are faced by women with bleeding disorders within our global family. The next crucial steps include the development of outreach and registry programmes which can be adapted globally to accelerate the identification of such women, and to educate and guide them to the appropriate clinical care setting. Equally important, awareness must be raised within the broader medical community where women would typically first present with clinical symptoms. Family practitioners, nurse-midwives, obstetricians, gynaecologists and community health clinics will increasingly be strategic and central to WFH outreach efforts, in addition to serving as new care partners essential to the multidisciplinary model of care. Adapting and implementing the WFH development model regionally within Africa is proving to be a successful approach both for the introduction as well as the development of sustainable national care programmes for patients with bleeding disorders. The targeted development of solid national programmes such as in South Africa, Senegal and Kenya has expanded the training capacity of the WFH, as well as providing key regional examples. Local medical professionals are now responsible for providing the training in many regional programmes. Children with bleeding disorders in low-income countries are at great risk of dying young. WFH data demonstrate that among such patients, as the economic capacity of a country decreases so does the ratio of adults to children. The organization of care, training of a multi-disciplinary healthcare team, and education of patients and their families lead to improved mortality independent of economic capacity or increased clotting factor concentrate availability. Additionally, through

  2. How to build a strong global brand for an SME : Case: Company A

    OpenAIRE

    Huikko, Nicole

    2014-01-01

    This study falls into the category of product-oriented thesis and examines brands, brand management, and brand building in international B2B context. Through application of theoretical concepts, analysis of empirical data, and practical actions, a global B2B branding plan for case company A is developed. The case company is an SME and has the vision to become a globally recognized brand. The guiding research question is how to build a strong global B2B brand for an SME. The objective of ...

  3. The Army Family Team Building Program: Facilitating a Transformative Learning Process--An Intrinsic Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gall, Joseph A.

    2009-01-01

    This study sought to understand how the Army Family Team Building program influences self-reliance and self-sufficiency in Army spouses as they integrate into the Army community. The purpose of the Army Family Team Building program is to empower Army spouses with knowledge and skills, which foster well-being and improve quality of life. The…

  4. Germline rearrangements in families with strong family history of glioma and malignant melanoma, colon, and breast cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersson, Ulrika; Wibom, Carl; Cederquist, Kristina; Aradottir, Steina; Borg, Åke; Armstrong, Georgina N.; Shete, Sanjay; Lau, Ching C.; Bainbridge, Matthew N.; Claus, Elizabeth B.; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill; Lai, Rose; Il'yasova, Dora; Houlston, Richard S.; Schildkraut, Joellen; Bernstein, Jonine L.; Olson, Sara H.; Jenkins, Robert B.; Lachance, Daniel H.; Wrensch, Margaret; Davis, Faith G.; Merrell, Ryan; Johansen, Christoffer; Sadetzki, Siegal; Bondy, Melissa L.; Melin, Beatrice S.; Adatto, Phyllis; Morice, Fabian; Payen, Sam; McQuinn, Lacey; McGaha, Rebecca; Guerra, Sandra; Paith, Leslie; Roth, Katherine; Zeng, Dong; Zhang, Hui; Yung, Alfred; Aldape, Kenneth; Gilbert, Mark; Weinberger, Jeffrey; Colman, Howard; Conrad, Charles; de Groot, John; Forman, Arthur; Groves, Morris; Levin, Victor; Loghin, Monica; Puduvalli, Vinay; Sawaya, Raymond; Heimberger, Amy; Lang, Frederick; Levine, Nicholas; Tolentino, Lori; Saunders, Kate; Thach, Thu-Trang; Iacono, Donna Dello; Sloan, Andrew; Gerson, Stanton; Selman, Warren; Bambakidis, Nicholas; Hart, David; Miller, Jonathan; Hoffer, Alan; Cohen, Mark; Rogers, Lisa; Nock, Charles J; Wolinsky, Yingli; Devine, Karen; Fulop, Jordonna; Barrett, Wendi; Shimmel, Kristen; Ostrom, Quinn; Barnett, Gene; Rosenfeld, Steven; Vogelbaum, Michael; Weil, Robert; Ahluwalia, Manmeet; Peereboom, David; Staugaitis, Susan; Schilero, Cathy; Brewer, Cathy; Smolenski, Kathy; McGraw, Mary; Naska, Theresa; Rosenfeld, Steven; Ram, Zvi; Blumenthal, Deborah T.; Bokstein, Felix; Umansky, Felix; Zaaroor, Menashe; Cohen, Avi; Tzuk-Shina, Tzeela; Voldby, Bo; Laursen, René; Andersen, Claus; Brennum, Jannick; Henriksen, Matilde Bille; Marzouk, Maya; Davis, Mary Elizabeth; Boland, Eamon; Smith, Marcel; Eze, Ogechukwu; Way, Mahalia; Lada, Pat; Miedzianowski, Nancy; Frechette, Michelle; Paleologos, Nina; Byström, Gudrun; Svedberg, Eva; Huggert, Sara; Kimdal, Mikael; Sandström, Monica; Brännström, Nikolina; Hayat, Amina; Tihan, Tarik; Zheng, Shichun; Berger, Mitchel; Butowski, Nicholas; Chang, Susan; Clarke, Jennifer; Prados, Michael; Rice, Terri; Sison, Jeannette; Kivett, Valerie; Duo, Xiaoqin; Hansen, Helen; Hsuang, George; Lamela, Rosito; Ramos, Christian; Patoka, Joe; Wagenman, Katherine; Zhou, Mi; Klein, Adam; McGee, Nora; Pfefferle, Jon; Wilson, Callie; Morris, Pagan; Hughes, Mary; Britt-Williams, Marlin; Foft, Jessica; Madsen, Julia; Polony, Csaba; McCarthy, Bridget; Zahora, Candice; Villano, John; Engelhard, Herbert; Borg, Ake; Chanock, Stephen K; Collins, Peter; Elston, Robert; Kleihues, Paul; Kruchko, Carol; Petersen, Gloria; Plon, Sharon; Thompson, Patricia; Johansen, C.; Sadetzki, S.; Melin, B.; Bondy, Melissa L.; Lau, Ching C.; Scheurer, Michael E.; Armstrong, Georgina N.; Liu, Yanhong; Shete, Sanjay; Yu, Robert K.; Aldape, Kenneth D.; Gilbert, Mark R.; Weinberg, Jeffrey; Houlston, Richard S.; Hosking, Fay J.; Robertson, Lindsay; Papaemmanuil, Elli; Claus, Elizabeth B.; Claus, Elizabeth B.; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill; Sloan, Andrew E.; Barnett, Gene; Devine, Karen; Wolinsky, Yingli; Lai, Rose; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta; Il'yasova, Dora; Schildkraut, Joellen; Sadetzki, Siegal; Yechezkel, Galit Hirsh; Bruchim, Revital Bar-Sade; Aslanov, Lili; Sadetzki, Siegal; Johansen, Christoffer; Kosteljanetz, Michael; Broholm, Helle; Bernstein, Jonine L.; Olson, Sara H.; Schubert, Erica; DeAngelis, Lisa; Jenkins, Robert B.; Yang, Ping; Rynearson, Amanda; Andersson, Ulrika; Wibom, Carl; Henriksson, Roger; Melin, Beatrice S.; Cederquist, Kristina; Aradottir, Steina; Borg, Åke; Merrell, Ryan; Lada, Patricia; Wrensch, Margaret; Wiencke, John; Wiemels, Joe; McCoy, Lucie; McCarthy, Bridget J.; Davis, Faith G.

    2014-01-01

    Background Although familial susceptibility to glioma is known, the genetic basis for this susceptibility remains unidentified in the majority of glioma-specific families. An alternative approach to identifying such genes is to examine cancer pedigrees, which include glioma as one of several cancer phenotypes, to determine whether common chromosomal modifications might account for the familial aggregation of glioma and other cancers. Methods Germline rearrangements in 146 glioma families (from the Gliogene Consortium; http://www.gliogene.org/) were examined using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. These families all had at least 2 verified glioma cases and a third reported or verified glioma case in the same family or 2 glioma cases in the family with at least one family member affected with melanoma, colon, or breast cancer.The genomic areas covering TP53, CDKN2A, MLH1, and MSH2 were selected because these genes have been previously reported to be associated with cancer pedigrees known to include glioma. Results We detected a single structural rearrangement, a deletion of exons 1-6 in MSH2, in the proband of one family with 3 cases with glioma and one relative with colon cancer. Conclusions Large deletions and duplications are rare events in familial glioma cases, even in families with a strong family history of cancers that may be involved in known cancer syndromes. PMID:24723567

  5. Wave, particle-family duality and the conservation of discrete symmetries in strong interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van der Spuy, E.

    1984-01-01

    This paper starts from a nonlinear fermion field equation of motion with a strongly coupled self-interaction. Nonperturbative quark solutions of the equation of motion are constructed in terms of a Reggeized infinite component free spinor field. Such a field carries a family of strongly interacting unstable compounds lying on a Regge locus in the analytically continued quark spin. Such a quark field is naturally confined and also possesses the property of asymptotic freedom. Furthermore, the particular field self-regularizes the interactions and naturally breaks the chiral invariance of the equation of motion. We show why and how the existence of such a strongly coupled solution and its particle-family, wave duality forces a change in the field equation of motion such that it conserves C,P,T, although its individual interaction terms are of V-A and thus C,P nonconserving type

  6. Wave, particle-family duality and the conservation of discrete symmetries in strong interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van der Spuy, E.

    1984-01-01

    This paper starts from a nonlinear fermion field equation of motion with a strongly coupled selfinteraction. Nonperturbative quark solutions of the equation of motion are constructed in terms of a Reggeized infinite component free spinor field. Such a field carries a family of strongly interacting unstable compounds lying on a Regge locus in the analytically continued quark spin. Such a quark field is naturally confined and also possesses the property of asymptotic freedom. Furthermore the particular field selfregularizes the interactions and naturally breaks the chiral invariance of the equation of motion. We show why and how the existence of such a strongly coupled solution and its particle-family, wave duality forces a change in the field equation of motion such that it conserves C, P, T although its individual interaction terms are of V - A and thus C, P nonconserving type

  7. [Evaluation of the program "Strong families: love and limits" in families with teenagers aged 10 to 14 years].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corea V, M Loreto; Zubarew G, Tamara; Valenzuela M, M Teresa; Salas P, Francisca

    2012-06-01

    "Strong Families" is a family program aimed at preventing risk behaviors in adolescents from 10 to 14 years of age. It has been developed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and is based on the Iowa Strengthening Families Program. This program has been certified and has been proven to effectively prevent adolescent drug and alcohol abuse in several countries around the globe. To evaluate the Strong Families Program toward adjusting current parenting styles, aiming to decrease risk behaviors in Chilean adolescents. A quasi-experimental study involving 120 families, selected from 6 schools within the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile. A group of 129 adolescents and 124 parents were chosen by convenience to be intervened. A control group of 223 adolescents and 165 parents were not intervened. The families that underwent intervention attended to 7 educational sessions. The intervened and control groups were evaluated before intervention as well as 6 months after intervention, by means of self-administered evaluation tools. The intervened parents showed significant parenting changes six months after intervention, which resulted in less yelling (p = 0.007), insults (p = 0.002) and lack of control when their children misbehaved (p = 0.008). Regarding the risk behaviors in the intervened and control adolescents, no changes were observed in terms of the consumption rate of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drug use, or in sexual risk behaviors. After six months of intervention, the Program proved to be effective in modifying parenting styles. However, no changes were observed in risk behaviors among adolescents, which could occur within a longer period of time, as reported in other studies.

  8. Building Family Capacity for Native Hawaiian Women with Breast Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokuau, Noreen; Braun, Kathryn L.; Daniggelis, Ephrosine

    2012-01-01

    Native Hawaiian women have the highest breast cancer incidence and mortality rates when compared with other large ethnic groups in Hawai'i. Like other women, they rely on the support of their families as co-survivors. This project explored the feasibility and effects of a culturally tailored educational intervention designed to build family…

  9. Effect of strong-column weak-beam design provision on the seismic fragility of RC frame buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surana, Mitesh; Singh, Yogendra; Lang, Dominik H.

    2018-04-01

    Incremental dynamic analyses are conducted for a suite of low- and mid-rise reinforced-concrete special moment-resisting frame buildings. Buildings non-conforming and conforming to the strong-column weak-beam (SCWB) design criterion are considered. These buildings are designed for the two most severe seismic zones in India (i.e., zone IV and zone V) following the provisions of Indian Standards. It is observed that buildings non-conforming to the SCWB design criterion lead to an undesirable column failure collapse mechanism. Although yielding of columns cannot be avoided, even for buildings conforming to a SCWB ratio of 1.4, the observed collapse mechanism changes to a beam failure mechanism. This change in collapse mechanism leads to a significant increase in the building's global ductility capacity, and thereby in collapse capacity. The fragility analysis study of the considered buildings suggests that considering the SCWB design criterion leads to a significant reduction in collapse probability, particularly in the case of mid-rise buildings.

  10. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 660: Family Building Through Gestational Surrogacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-03-01

    Gestational surrogacy is an increasingly common form of family building that can allow individuals or a couple to become parents despite circumstances in which carrying a pregnancy is biologically impossible or medically contraindicated. The practice of gestational surrogacy involves a woman known as a gestational carrier who agrees to bear a genetically unrelated child with the help of assisted reproductive technologies for an individual or couple who intend(s) to be the legal and rearing parent(s), referred to as the intended parent(s). Obstetrician-gynecologists may become involved in gestational surrogacy through caring for the gestational carrier or by caring for the intended parent(s). Although gestational surrogacy increases options for family building, this treatment also involves ethical, medical, psychosocial, and legal complexities that must be taken into account to minimize risks of adverse outcomes for the gestational carrier, intended parent(s), and resulting children. The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of gestational surrogacy and to describe the ethical responsibilities for obstetrician-gynecologists who take part in the care of women who participate in these arrangements.

  11. Building Resilience in Families, Communities, and Organizations: A Training Program in Global Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saul, Jack; Simon, Winnifred

    2016-12-01

    This article describes the Summer Institute in Global Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, a brief immersion training program for mental health, health, and allied professionals who work with populations that have endured severe adversities and trauma, such as domestic and political violence, extreme poverty, armed conflict, epidemics, and natural disasters. The course taught participants to apply collaborative and contextually sensitive approaches to enhance social connectedness and resilience in families, communities, and organizations. This article presents core training principles and vignettes which illustrate how those engaging in such interventions must: (1) work in the context of a strong and supportive organization; (2) appreciate the complexity of the systems with which they are engaging; and (3) be open to the possibilities for healing and transformation. The program utilized a combination of didactic presentations, hands-on interactive exercises, case studies, and experiential approaches to organizational team building and staff stress management. © 2016 Family Process Institute.

  12. THE ROLE OF FAMILY SOCIALIZING IN BUILDING GENDER IDENTITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adina Magda lena IORGA

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Socialization is an interactive communication process that requires individual development and social influences, thus highlighting personal reception and interpretation of social messages, as well as the intensity and content dynamic of these social influences. In this context, family socialization represents the main model of the of gender interactions, of defining gender identity composition and gender expectations. Gender socialization within the family setting is very important because it internalizes the gender rules and ideologies, assimilating gender content from the two significant figures: Mom and Dad. This content is a fundamental cornerstone for building gender identity. The research aims to identify the views of students from the Veterinary Medicine University of Bucharest regarding the role of family socialization in the construction of gender identity. The research results confirm a trend of perception for most students towards the innovative socializing model, based on equality in the distribution of tasks within the family. However, there are differences between the genders in terms of perception and comprehension of the role of women and men. Thus, it appears that some of the students believe that the woman carries most of the household domestic tasks, while some students assigned the traditional role of financial support for the entire family to the men.

  13. The effect of building regulations on energy consumption in single family houses in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjærbye, Vibeke; Larsen, Anders; Togeby, Mikael

    This paper explores how changes in regulatory requirements for energy efficiency in buildings (in the US also known as building energy codes) affect household energy consumption. The focus in this paper is on natural gas consumption by Danish single-family owner-occupied houses. Unlike most other...... advanced econometric methods we examine differences in heating energy consumption due to different building regulation requirements at the time of house construction. As for the effect of the building regulation, we find that changes in Danish building regulations have led to significant reductions...... in energy used for heating. The latest revision of the Danish building regulation covered by this paper is that of 1998. This revision has resulted in a 7% reduction in natural gas consumption....

  14. Enhancing Homeland Security Efforts by Building Strong Relationships between the Muslim Community and Local Law Enforcement

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Jensen, Dennis L

    2006-01-01

    ... to follow up on the incident and to prevent future attacks. It is undeniable that building a strong relationship between the local police and the Muslim community is essential in defending America against acts of terrorism...

  15. A new multiple regression model to identify multi-family houses with a high prevalence of sick building symptoms "SBS", within the healthy sustainable house study in Stockholm (3H).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engvall, Karin; Hult, M; Corner, R; Lampa, E; Norbäck, D; Emenius, G

    2010-01-01

    The aim was to develop a new model to identify residential buildings with higher frequencies of "SBS" than expected, "risk buildings". In 2005, 481 multi-family buildings with 10,506 dwellings in Stockholm were studied by a new stratified random sampling. A standardised self-administered questionnaire was used to assess "SBS", atopy and personal factors. The response rate was 73%. Statistical analysis was performed by multiple logistic regressions. Dwellers owning their building reported less "SBS" than those renting. There was a strong relationship between socio-economic factors and ownership. The regression model, ended up with high explanatory values for age, gender, atopy and ownership. Applying our model, 9% of all residential buildings in Stockholm were classified as "risk buildings" with the highest proportion in houses built 1961-1975 (26%) and lowest in houses built 1985-1990 (4%). To identify "risk buildings", it is necessary to adjust for ownership and population characteristics.

  16. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 660 Summary: Family Building Through Gestational Surrogacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Ginny L

    2016-03-01

    Gestational surrogacy is an increasingly common form of family building that can allow individuals or a couple to become parents despite circumstances in which carrying a pregnancy is biologically impossible or medically contraindicated. The practice of gestational surrogacy involves a woman known as a gestational carrier who agrees to bear a genetically unrelated child with the help of assisted reproductive technologies for an individual or couple who intend(s) to be the legal and rearing parent(s), referred to as the intended parent(s). Obstetrician-gynecologists may become involved in gestational surrogacy through caring for the gestational carrier or by caring for the intended parent(s). Although gestational surrogacy increases options for family building, this treatment also involves ethical, medical, psychosocial, and legal complexities that must be taken into account to minimize risks of adverse outcomes for the gestational carrier, intended parent(s), and resulting children. The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of gestational surrogacy and to describe the ethical responsibilities for obstetrician-gynecologists who take part in the care of women who participate in these arrangements.

  17. Energy retrofitting of a typical old Danish multi-family building to a “nearly-zero” energy building based on experiences from a test apartment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morelli, Martin; Rønby, Leif; Mikkelsen, Svend Erik

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of the research described in this paper was to demonstrate that an old Danish multi-family building built in 1896 could be retrofitted to a “nearly-zero” energy building. Three types of retrofit measures were implemented in a “test” apartment to obtain practical experiences. The first...

  18. Investigation and description of European buildings that may be representative for “nearly-zero” energy single family houses in 2020

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skarning, Gunnlaug Cecilie Jensen; Svendsen, Svend; Hviid, Christian Anker

    2013-01-01

    As part of European energy politics and strategies for reduction of fossil fuels all new buildings should have a “nearly zero” energy consumption in 2020. This creates a strong need for research in cost-effective technologies and solutions that will contribute to the fulfilment of the ambitious...... of a set of reference parameters that can be expected to be representative for the behaviour of the “nearly zero” energy building of 2020 in different European climatic zones. This paper provides an overview of how single family houses with a very low energy demand for space heating and cooling can...... towards different orientations, where the windows in all rooms are dimensioned based on the diffuse daylight access at the specific location, it is shown that an equal window distribution will allow fulfilment of an ambitious energy target, while simultaneously enabling a balanced daylight access across...

  19. Primary prevention in patients with a strong family history of coronary heart disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Lora A

    2003-01-01

    The interplay of genetic and environmental factors places first-degree relatives of individuals with premature coronary heart disease at greater risk of developing the disease than the general population. Disease processes, such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, and glucose and insulin metabolism, and lifestyle habits, such as eating and exercise patterns, as well as socioeconomic status aggregate in families with coronary heart disease. The degree of risk associated with a family history varies with the degree of relationship and the age at onset of disease. All individuals with a family history of premature heart disease should have a thorough coronary risk assessment performed, which can be initiated in an office visit. Absolute risk for coronary heart disease determination will predict the intensity of preventive interventions. This article reviews the components of risk determination and primary prevention in individuals with a strong family history of coronary heart disease.

  20. From the Ground Up: Establishing Strong Core Policies for Infants, Toddlers, and Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ullrich, Rebecca; Cole, Patricia; Gebhard, Barbara; Matthews, Hannah; Schmit, Stephanie

    2017-01-01

    Because the earliest years of life are a period of incredible growth, they present an opportunity to shape strong and positive development. Good health, secure and stable families, and positive early learning environments are necessary to foster children's physical, intellectual, and social-emotional development during this significant period. Yet…

  1. Strongly regular family of boundary-fitted tetrahedral meshes of bounded C^2 domains

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hošek, Radim

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 61, č. 3 (2016), s. 233-251 ISSN 0862-7940 EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 320078 - MATHEF Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : boundary fitted mesh * strongly regular family * Sommerville tetrahedron Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.618, year: 2016 http://hdl.handle.net/10338.dmlcz/145699

  2. Analysis of Installed Measures and Energy Savings for Single-Family Residential Better Buildings Projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heaney, M. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Polly, B. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-04-30

    This report presents an analysis of data for residential single-family projects reported by 37 organizations that were awarded federal financial assistance (cooperative agreements or grants) by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Neighborhood Program.1 The report characterizes the energy-efficiency measures installed for single-family residential projects and analyzes energy savings and savings prediction accuracy for measures installed in a subset of those projects.

  3. Using professional expertise in partnership with families: A new model of capacity building.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clerke, Teena; Hopwood, Nick; Chavasse, Fran; Fowler, Cathrine; Lee, Sally; Rogers, Julie

    2017-03-01

    The first five years of parenting are critical to children's development. Parents are known to respond best to interventions with a partnership-based approach, yet child and family health nurses (CFHNs) report some tension between employing their expertise and maintaining a partnership relationship. This article identifies ways in which CFHNs skilfully use their professional expertise, underpinned by helping qualities and interpersonal skills, to assist families build confidence and capacity, and thus buffer against threats to parent and child well-being. It reports on an Australian ethnographic study of services for families with young children. Fifty-two interactions were observed between CFHNs and families in day-stay and home visiting services in Sydney. A new model is presented, based on four partnership activities and the fluid movement between them, to show how CFHNs use their expertise to identify strengths and foster resilience in families in the longer term, without undermining the principles of partnership.

  4. Experiences of Family Relationships Among Donor-Conceived Families: A Meta-Ethnography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wyverkens, Elia; Van Parys, Hanna; Buysse, Ann

    2015-09-01

    In this qualitative evidence synthesis, we explore how family relationships are experienced by parents who used gamete donation to conceive. We systematically searched four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and ProQuest) for literature related to this topic and retrieved 25 studies. Through the analysis of the qualitative studies, a comprehensive synthesis and framework was constructed. Following the meta-ethnography approach of Noblit and Hare, four main themes were identified: (a) balancing the importance of genetic and social ties, (b) normalizing and legitimizing the family, (c) building strong family ties, and (d) minimizing the role of the donor. Underlying these four main themes, a sense of being "different" and "similar" at the same time was apparent. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studying and counseling donor-conceived families. © The Author(s) 2014.

  5. Chokka-Chaffa' Kilimpi', Chikashshiyaakni' Kilimpi': Strong Family, Strong Nation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deacon, Zermarie; Pendley, Joy; Hinson, Waymon R.; Hinson, Joshua D.

    2011-01-01

    To encourage the health and well-being of American Indian (AI) communities, it is first necessary to understand the meaning of health for particular tribes. As such, this investigation reports on the meaning of health and well-being for Chickasaw families. Findings from this investigation additionally highlight ways in which characteristics of…

  6. HomeFront Strong: Building Resiliency in Military Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-09-01

    and also actively engaging with it by typing responses to such exercises as stress check-ins, gratitude journal entries, and fill-in-the- blank...strategies for resilience –4.949 .000 Can teach strategies for practicing gratitude –5.587 .000 Know how to help participants discover their own story...ability to be resilient –5.319 .000 Knew how to practice gratitude –6.240 .000 Knew my own story about military/veteran life –3.246 .002 Understood

  7. Strong families and declining fertility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hilevych, Yuliya

    2016-01-01

    This dissertation focuses on the role of family and social relationships in individuals’ reproductive careers during the fertility decline in Soviet Ukraine from around 1950 to 1975. These three decades after the Second World War signified the end of the First Demographic Transition in Ukraine

  8. <strong>Mini-project>

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Katajainen, Jyrki

    2008-01-01

    In this project the goal is to develop the safe * family of containers for the CPH STL. The containers to be developed should be safer and more reliable than any of the existing implementations. A special focus should be put on strong exception safety since none of the existing prototypes available...

  9. The effect of building regulations on energy consumption in single-family houses in Denmark. Final version

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansen Kjaerbye, V. (Roskilde Univ.. Dept. of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, Roskilde (Denmark)); AKF (Danish Institute of Governmental Research, Copenhagen (Denmark)); Larsen, Anders E. (Roskilde Univ.. Dept. of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde (Denmark)); Togeby, M (Ea Energy Analyses, Copenhagen (Denmark))

    2010-04-15

    This paper explores how changes in regulatory requirements for energy efficiency in buildings (in the US also known as building energy codes) affect household energy consumption. The focus in this paper is on natural gas consumption by Danish single-family owner-occupied houses. Unlike most other papers investigating household energy consumption this paper uses a unique panel data set constructed by merging several administrative data bases. The data set describes house and household characteristics, outdoor temperature and actual metered natural gas consumption over 6 years (1998-2003). Applying advanced econometric methods we examine differences in heating energy consumption due to different building regulation requirements at the time of house construction. As for the effect of the building regulation, we find that changes in Danish building regulations have led to significant reductions in energy used for heating. The latest revision of the Danish building regulation covered by this paper is that of 1998. This revision has resulted in a 7 percent reduction in natural gas consumption. (Author)

  10. Procedure to predict the storey where plastic drift dominates in two-storey building under strong ground motion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hibino, Y.; Ichinose, T.; Costa, J.L.D.

    2009-01-01

    A procedure is presented to predict the storey where plastic drift dominates in two-storey buildings under strong ground motion. The procedure utilizes the yield strength and the mass of each storey as well as the peak ground acceleration. The procedure is based on two different assumptions: (1....... The efficiency of the procedure is verified by dynamic response analyses using elasto-plastic model....

  11. Genetic and environmental contributions to cardiovascular disease risk in American Indians: the strong heart family study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    North, Kari E; Howard, Barbara V; Welty, Thomas K; Best, Lyle G; Lee, Elisa T; Yeh, J L; Fabsitz, Richard R; Roman, Mary J; MacCluer, Jean W

    2003-02-15

    The aims of the Strong Heart Family Study are to clarify the genetic determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in American Indians and to map and identify genes for CVD susceptibility. The authors describe the design of the Strong Heart Family Study (conducted between 1998 and 1999) and evaluate the heritabilities of CVD risk factors in American Indians from this study. In the first phase of the study, approximately 950 individuals, aged 18 years or more, in 32 extended families, were examined. The examination consisted of a personal interview, physical examination, laboratory tests, and an ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries. The phenotypes measured during the physical examination included anthropometry, lipoproteins, blood pressure, glycemic status, and clotting factors. Heritabilities for CVD risk factor phenotypes were estimated using a variance component approach and the program SOLAR. After accounting for the effects of covariates, the authors detected significant heritabilities for many CVD risk factor phenotypes (e.g., high density lipoprotein cholesterol (heritability = 0.50) and diastolic blood pressure (heritability = 0.34)). These results suggest that heredity explains a substantial proportion of the variability of CVD risk factors and that these heritabilities are large enough to warrant a search for major risk factor genes.

  12. Forecasting energy consumption of multi-family residential buildings using support vector regression: Investigating the impact of temporal and spatial monitoring granularity on performance accuracy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jain, Rishee K.; Smith, Kevin M.; Culligan, Patricia J.; Taylor, John E.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • We develop a building energy forecasting model using support vector regression. • Model is applied to data from a multi-family residential building in New York City. • We extend sensor based energy forecasting to multi-family residential buildings. • We examine the impact temporal and spatial granularity has on model accuracy. • Optimal granularity occurs at the by floor in hourly temporal intervals. - Abstract: Buildings are the dominant source of energy consumption and environmental emissions in urban areas. Therefore, the ability to forecast and characterize building energy consumption is vital to implementing urban energy management and efficiency initiatives required to curb emissions. Advances in smart metering technology have enabled researchers to develop “sensor based” approaches to forecast building energy consumption that necessitate less input data than traditional methods. Sensor-based forecasting utilizes machine learning techniques to infer the complex relationships between consumption and influencing variables (e.g., weather, time of day, previous consumption). While sensor-based forecasting has been studied extensively for commercial buildings, there is a paucity of research applying this data-driven approach to the multi-family residential sector. In this paper, we build a sensor-based forecasting model using Support Vector Regression (SVR), a commonly used machine learning technique, and apply it to an empirical data-set from a multi-family residential building in New York City. We expand our study to examine the impact of temporal (i.e., daily, hourly, 10 min intervals) and spatial (i.e., whole building, by floor, by unit) granularity have on the predictive power of our single-step model. Results indicate that sensor based forecasting models can be extended to multi-family residential buildings and that the optimal monitoring granularity occurs at the by floor level in hourly intervals. In addition to implications for

  13. Improving the thermal integrity of new single-family detached residential buildings: Documentation for a regional database of capital costs and space conditioning load savings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koomey, J.G.; McMahon, J.E.; Wodley, C.

    1991-07-01

    This report summarizes the costs and space-conditioning load savings from improving new single-family building shells. It relies on survey data from the National Association of Home-builders (NAHB) to assess current insulation practices for these new buildings, and NAHB cost data (aggregated to the Federal region level) to estimate the costs of improving new single-family buildings beyond current practice. Space-conditioning load savings are estimated using a database of loads for prototype buildings developed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, adjusted to reflect population-weighted average weather in each of the ten federal regions and for the nation as a whole

  14. Airborne Particulate Matter in Two Multi-Family Green Buildings: Concentrations and Effect of Ventilation and Occupant Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patton, Allison P; Calderon, Leonardo; Xiong, Youyou; Wang, Zuocheng; Senick, Jennifer; Sorensen Allacci, MaryAnn; Plotnik, Deborah; Wener, Richard; Andrews, Clinton J; Krogmann, Uta; Mainelis, Gediminas

    2016-01-20

    There are limited data on air quality parameters, including airborne particulate matter (PM) in residential green buildings, which are increasing in prevalence. Exposure to PM is associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and since Americans spend almost 90% of their time indoors, residential exposures may substantially contribute to overall airborne PM exposure. Our objectives were to: (1) measure various PM fractions longitudinally in apartments in multi-family green buildings with natural (Building E) and mechanical (Building L) ventilation; (2) compare indoor and outdoor PM mass concentrations and their ratios (I/O) in these buildings, taking into account the effects of occupant behavior; and (3) evaluate the effect of green building designs and operations on indoor PM. We evaluated effects of ventilation, occupant behaviors, and overall building design on PM mass concentrations and I/O. Median PMTOTAL was higher in Building E (56 µg/m³) than in Building L (37 µg/m³); I/O was higher in Building E (1.3-2.0) than in Building L (0.5-0.8) for all particle size fractions. Our data show that the building design and occupant behaviors that either produce or dilute indoor PM (e.g., ventilation systems, combustion sources, and window operation) are important factors affecting residents' exposure to PM in residential green buildings.

  15. The building process of single-family houses and the embeddedness (or disembeddedness) of energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palm, Jenny

    2013-01-01

    People building their own houses have, at least theoretically, substantial autonomy when choosing, for example, a heating system and windows. In this article, focus is on the process of building new single-family houses and how energy efficiency and energy-efficient technology are incorporated into the building process. The conclusions emphasize energy as only one factor in housing purchase decisions. It is a big challenge to make low-energy building important to consumers. Consumer preferences for new products are unlikely to fully develop unless individuals have the opportunity to interact with them. It is difficult for consumers to know what to ask for if they lack experience of energy-efficient technologies. In the studied cases, the building codes and established standards became extremely decisive for how energy issues were included in the process. There is a need to change the design of incentives so as to make the least energy-efficient choice the most expensive. The most energy-efficient solution should be standard, and if the buyer wants to depart from that standard and build using less energy-efficient construction, then that should cost more. -- Highlights: •Actors do not see energy efficiency as a critical problem. •Factors other than costs and price were important in the decision making. •Energy issues just one factor in housing purchase decisions. •The consumers don′t know what to ask for. •Building norms should require the most energy efficient solution

  16. How the strengths of Lisp-family languages facilitate building complex and flexible bioinformatics applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khomtchouk, Bohdan B; Weitz, Edmund; Karp, Peter D; Wahlestedt, Claes

    2016-12-31

    We present a rationale for expanding the presence of the Lisp family of programming languages in bioinformatics and computational biology research. Put simply, Lisp-family languages enable programmers to more quickly write programs that run faster than in other languages. Languages such as Common Lisp, Scheme and Clojure facilitate the creation of powerful and flexible software that is required for complex and rapidly evolving domains like biology. We will point out several important key features that distinguish languages of the Lisp family from other programming languages, and we will explain how these features can aid researchers in becoming more productive and creating better code. We will also show how these features make these languages ideal tools for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. We will specifically stress the advantages of domain-specific languages (DSLs): languages that are specialized to a particular area, and thus not only facilitate easier research problem formulation, but also aid in the establishment of standards and best programming practices as applied to the specific research field at hand. DSLs are particularly easy to build in Common Lisp, the most comprehensive Lisp dialect, which is commonly referred to as the 'programmable programming language'. We are convinced that Lisp grants programmers unprecedented power to build increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems that may ultimately transform machine learning and artificial intelligence research in bioinformatics and computational biology. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  17. Airborne Particulate Matter in Two Multi-Family Green Buildings: Concentrations and Effect of Ventilation and Occupant Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allison P. Patton

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available There are limited data on air quality parameters, including airborne particulate matter (PM in residential green buildings, which are increasing in prevalence. Exposure to PM is associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and since Americans spend almost 90% of their time indoors, residential exposures may substantially contribute to overall airborne PM exposure. Our objectives were to: (1 measure various PM fractions longitudinally in apartments in multi-family green buildings with natural (Building E and mechanical (Building L ventilation; (2 compare indoor and outdoor PM mass concentrations and their ratios (I/O in these buildings, taking into account the effects of occupant behavior; and (3 evaluate the effect of green building designs and operations on indoor PM. We evaluated effects of ventilation, occupant behaviors, and overall building design on PM mass concentrations and I/O. Median PMTOTAL was higher in Building E (56 µg/m3 than in Building L (37 µg/m3; I/O was higher in Building E (1.3–2.0 than in Building L (0.5–0.8 for all particle size fractions. Our data show that the building design and occupant behaviors that either produce or dilute indoor PM (e.g., ventilation systems, combustion sources, and window operation are important factors affecting residents’ exposure to PM in residential green buildings.

  18. Construction cost impact analysis of the U.S. Department of Energy mandatory performance standards for new federal commercial and multi-family, high-rise residential buildings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Massa, F.V.; Hadley, D.L.; Halverson, M.A.

    1993-12-01

    In accordance with federal legislation, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has conducted a project to demonstrate use of its Energy Conservation Voluntary Performance Standards for Commercial and Multi-Family High-Rise Residential Buildings; Mandatory for New Federal Buildings; Interim Rule (referred to in this report as DOE-1993). A key requisite of the legislation requires DOE to develop commercial building energy standards that are cost effective. During the demonstration project, DOE specifically addressed this issue by assessing the impacts of the standards on (1) construction costs, (2) builders (and especially small builders) of multi-family, high-rise buildings, and (3) the ability of low-to moderate-income persons to purchase or rent units in such buildings. This document reports on this project

  19. Swedish high school students' knowledge and attitudes regarding fertility and family building

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ekelin Maria

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Infertility is a serious problem for those who suffer. Some of the risks for infertility are preventable and the individual should therefore have knowledge of them. The purposes of this study were to investigate high-school students' knowledge about fertility, plans for family building and to compare views and knowledge between female and male students. Methods A questionnaire containing 34 items was answered by 274 students. Answers from male and female students were compared using student's t-test for normally distributed variables and Mann-Whitney U-test for non-normal distributions. The chi-square test was used to compare proportions of male and female students who answered questions on nominal and ordinal scales. Differences were considered as statistically significant at a p-value of 0.05. Results Analyses showed that 234 (85% intended to have children. Female students felt parenthood to be significantly more important than male students: p = 0.01. The mean age at which the respondents thought they would like to start to build their family was 26 (± 2.9 years. Men believed that women's fertility declined significantly later than women did: p = 0.01. Women answered that 30.7% couples were involuntarily infertile and men answered 22.5%: p = 0.01. Females thought it significantly more likely that they would consider IVF or adoption than men, p = 0.01. Men felt they were more likely to abstain from having children than women: p = 0.01. Women believed that body weight influenced fertility significantly more often than men: p = 0.01 and men believed significantly more often that smoking influenced fertility: p = 0.03. Both female and male students answered that they would like to have more knowledge about the area of fertility. Conclusions Young people plan to start their families when the woman's fertility is already in decline. Improving young people's knowledge about these issues would give them more opportunity to take

  20. The Healthy Children, Strong Families intervention promotes improvements in nutrition, activity and body weight in American Indian families with young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomayko, Emily J; Prince, Ronald J; Cronin, Kate A; Adams, Alexandra K

    2016-10-01

    American Indian children of pre-school age have disproportionally high obesity rates and consequent risk for related diseases. Healthy Children, Strong Families was a family-based randomized trial assessing the efficacy of an obesity prevention toolkit delivered by a mentor v. mailed delivery that was designed and administered using community-based participatory research approaches. During Year 1, twelve healthy behaviour toolkit lessons were delivered by either a community-based home mentor or monthly mailings. Primary outcomes were child BMI percentile, child BMI Z-score and adult BMI. Secondary outcomes included fruit/vegetable consumption, sugar consumption, television watching, physical activity, adult health-related self-efficacy and perceived health status. During a maintenance year, home-mentored families had access to monthly support groups and all families received monthly newsletters. Family homes in four tribal communities, Wisconsin, USA. Adult and child (2-5-year-olds) dyads (n 150). No significant effect of the mentored v. mailed intervention delivery was found; however, significant improvements were noted in both groups exposed to the toolkit. Obese child participants showed a reduction in BMI percentile at Year 1 that continued through Year 2 (PChild fruit/vegetable consumption increased (P=0·006) and mean television watching decreased for children (P=0·05) and adults (P=0·002). Reported adult self-efficacy for health-related behaviour changes (P=0·006) and quality of life increased (P=0·02). Although no effect of delivery method was demonstrated, toolkit exposure positively affected adult and child health. The intervention was well received by community partners; a more comprehensive intervention is currently underway based on these findings.

  1. A case of an 8-year-old boy who was strongly suspected of suffering from familial angiolipomatosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yutaka Kanamori

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Familial angiolipomatosis is a rare inherited disease mainly diagnosed in the adult stage. It is usually inherited in an autosomal recessive manner; however, some cases of autosomal dominant mode of inheritance have been reported. The disease may be misdiagnosed as neurofibromatosis type I in some cases due to the similar feature of multiple subcutaneous soft masses. However, familial angiolipomatosis is not associated with malignant tumors and it is very important to distinguish these two conditions. We report here the rare case of a subcutaneous mass that was composed of fat tissues and some fibrous tissue with small venous vessels and capillaries in an 8-year-old boy whose father also has a long history of generalized multiple angiolipomas. These facts strongly suggest that the patient suffers from familial angiolipomatosis and careful follow-up is needed in the future.

  2. Predictors of family strength: the integrated spiritual-religious/resilient perspective for understanding the healthy/strong family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghaffari, Majid; Fatehizade, Maryam; Ahmadi, Ahmad; Ghasemi, Vahid; Baghban, Iran

    2013-01-01

    The present study aimed to investigate the effects of spiritual well-being and family protective factors on the family strength in a propositional structural model. The research population consisted of all the married people of the Isfahan, Iran, in 2012 with preschool-aged children and in the first decade of marriage with at least eight grades of educational level. Three hundred and ninety five voluntary and unpaid participants were selected randomly through multi-stage sampling from seven regions of the city. The instruments used were the Spiritual Well-being Scale, Inventory of Family Protective Factors, and Family Strength Scale. Descriptive statistics and a structural equation modeling analytic approach were used. The analytic model predicted 82% of the variance of the family strength. The total effect of the spiritual well-being on the family strength was higher compared to the family protective factors. Furthermore, spiritual well-being predicted 43% of the distribution of the family protective factors and had indirect effect on the family strength through the family protective factors (p spiritual well-being and family protective factors, and their simultaneous effects on family strength. Family counselors may employ an integrated spiritual-religious/resilient perspective to inform their strength-based work with individuals and their families. None.

  3. When strong unions meet precarious migrants: Building trustful relations to unionise labour migrants in a high union-density setting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Refslund, Bjarke

    2018-01-01

    Based on case studies in a fish processing plant and a demolition company, this article shows how strong and institutionally embedded unions interact with migrant workers in a precarious labour market position in order to safeguard their working conditions and organise them. It shows how strong...... in the IR-model. The dynamic relation between migrant workers and national unions in this high-density setting is discussed emphasising the need for building a trustful relation between the migrant workers and the unions in order to empower the migrants to better navigate in the national labour market...... unions are in a good position to include migrant workers and thereby resist labour market segmentation. The strong Danish unions, faced with the serious challenges of intra-European labour migration, have increased their attention and resources devoted to organising migrant workers and including them...

  4. Extreme Family Poverty Rises in the Midst of a Strong Economy. Family Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindjord, Denise

    2000-01-01

    Discusses the sudden increase of families with incomes below 50 percent of the poverty line, noting particularly the impact on children. Notes a direct link between increased family poverty and the decreasing protective role of cash welfare and food stamp benefits. Describes federal proposals to increase minimum wage and cut taxes; makes…

  5. Joint association of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor variants with abdominal obesity in American Indians: the Strong Heart Family Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yun; Yang, Jingyun; Yeh, Fawn; Cole, Shelley A; Haack, Karin; Lee, Elisa T; Howard, Barbara V; Zhao, Jinying

    2014-01-01

    Cigarette smoke is a strong risk factor for obesity and cardiovascular disease. The effect of genetic variants involved in nicotine metabolism on obesity or body composition has not been well studied. Though many genetic variants have previously been associated with adiposity or body fat distribution, a single variant usually confers a minimal individual risk. The goal of this study is to evaluate the joint association of multiple variants involved in cigarette smoke or nicotine dependence with obesity-related phenotypes in American Indians. To achieve this goal, we genotyped 61 tagSNPs in seven genes encoding nicotine acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in 3,665 American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Family Study. Single SNP association with obesity-related traits was tested using family-based association, adjusting for traditional risk factors including smoking. Joint association of all SNPs in the seven nAChRs genes were examined by gene-family analysis based on weighted truncated product method (TPM). Multiple testing was controlled by false discovery rate (FDR). Results demonstrate that multiple SNPs showed weak individual association with one or more measures of obesity, but none survived correction for multiple testing. However, gene-family analysis revealed significant associations with waist circumference (p = 0.0001) and waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.0001), but not body mass index (p = 0.20) and percent body fat (p = 0.29), indicating that genetic variants are jointly associated with abdominal, but not general, obesity among American Indians. The observed combined genetic effect is independent of cigarette smoking per se. In conclusion, multiple variants in the nAChR gene family are jointly associated with abdominal obesity in American Indians, independent of general obesity and cigarette smoking per se.

  6. Dimensioning of Solar Thermal Systems for Multi-Family Buildings in Lithuania: an Optimisation Study

    OpenAIRE

    Valančius, Rokas; Jurelionis, Andrius; Vaičiūnas, Juozas; Perednis, Eugenijus

    2017-01-01

    Small-scale solar thermal domestic hot water (DHW) systems in Lithuania can produce up to 523 kWh per year per one square meter of solar collector area. It is therefore one of the most common solar thermal applications in the country with the expected payback period of approximately 10 years. However, the number of solar water heating systems (SWH) installed in the renovated multi-family buildings is quite limited. On the other hand, the potential of integrating solar thermal systems in these...

  7. Family Capital: Implications for Interventions with Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belcher, John R.; Peckuonis, Edward V.; Deforge, Bruce R.

    2011-01-01

    Social capital has been extensively discussed in the literature as building blocks that individuals and communities utilize to leverage system resources. Similarly, some families also create capital, which can enable members of the family, such as children, to successfully negotiate the outside world. Families in poverty confront serious…

  8. Building a framework for theory-based ethnographies for studying intergenerational family food practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visser, Sanne Siete; Hutter, Inge; Haisma, Hinke

    2016-02-01

    The growing rates of (childhood) obesity worldwide are a source concern for health professionals, policy-makers, and researchers. The increasing prevalence of associated diseases-such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and psychological problems-shows the impact of obesity on people's health, already from a young age. In turn, these problems have obvious consequences for the health care system, including higher costs. However, the treatment of obesity has proven to be difficult, which makes prevention an important goal. In this study, we focus on food practices, one of the determinants of obesity. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that interventions designed to encourage healthy eating of children and their families are not having the desired impact, especially among groups with a lower socioeconomic background (SEB). To understand why interventions fail to have an impact, we need to study the embedded social and cultural constructions of families. We argue that we need more than just decision-making theories to understand this cultural embeddedness, and to determine what cultural and social factors influence the decision-making process. By allowing families to explain their cultural background, their capabilities, and their opportunities, we will gain new insights into how families choose what they eat from a complex set of food choices. We have thus chosen to build a framework based on Sen's capability approach and the theory of cultural schemas. This framework, together with a holistic ethnographic research approach, can help us better understand what drives the food choices made in families. The framework is built to serve as a starting point for ethnographic research on food choice in families, and could contribute to the development of interventions that are embedded in the cultural realities of the targeted groups. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  9. Numerical prediction of energy consumption in buildings with controlled interior temperature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jarošová, P.; Št’astník, S. [Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, 602 00 Brno, Veveří 95, Czech Republic, e-mail jarosova.p@fce.vutbr.cz, stastnik.s@fce.vutbr.cz (Czech Republic)

    2015-03-10

    New European directives bring strong requirement to the energy consumption of building objects, supporting the renewable energy sources. Whereas in the case of family and similar houses this can lead up to absurd consequences, for building objects with controlled interior temperature the optimization of energy demand is really needed. The paper demonstrates the system approach to the modelling of thermal insulation and accumulation abilities of such objetcs, incorporating the significant influence of additional physical processes, as surface heat radiation and moisture-driven deterioration of insulation layers. An illustrative example shows the numerical prediction of energy consumption of a freezing plant in one Central European climatic year.

  10. Exploring the role nurses play at different stages of the birthing process. Developing strong and long-term relationships with women by examining relationship-building stages prior to delivery, during delivery, and after delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peltier, J W; Schibrowski, J A; Westfall, J

    2000-01-01

    The health care community is becoming increasingly aware of the need to develop strong and long-term relationships with the women who make up the majority of the health care market. The perceived quality of obstetric care positively impacts future revenue streams by creating "family" loyalty for an umbrella of other health services offered by the provider organization. This article examines the differential impact that various service performance dimensions have on women's perceptions of quality for different stages of the birthing process, and how relationship-marketing principles can be utilized to develop loyal partnerships. The three distinct relationship-building stages are examined--birthing experiences prior to delivery, during delivery, and after delivery--along with their implications for perceptions of quality analyzed.

  11. Orbits in weak and strong bars

    CERN Document Server

    Contopoulos, George

    1980-01-01

    The authors study the plane orbits in simple bar models embedded in an axisymmetric background when the bar density is about 1% (weak), 10% (intermediate) or 100% (strong bar) of the axisymmetric density. Most orbits follow the stable periodic orbits. The basic families of periodic orbits are described. In weak bars with two Inner Lindblad Resonances there is a family of stable orbits extending from the center up to the Outer Lindblad Resonance. This family contains the long period orbits near corotation. Other stable families appear between the Inner Lindblad Resonances, outside the Outer Lindblad Resonance, around corotation (short period orbits) and around the center (retrograde). Some families become unstable or disappear in strong bars. A comparison is made with cases having one or no Inner Lindblad Resonance. (12 refs).

  12. The Organic Secondary Building Unit: Strong Intermolecular π Interactions Define Topology in MIT-25, a Mesoporous MOF with Proton-Replete Channels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Sarah S; Hendon, Christopher H; Fielding, Alistair J; Walsh, Aron; O'Keeffe, Michael; Dincă, Mircea

    2017-03-15

    The structure-directing role of the inorganic secondary building unit (SBU) is key for determining the topology of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Here we show that organic building units relying on strong π interactions that are energetically competitive with the formation of common inorganic SBUs can also play a role in defining the topology. We demonstrate the importance of the organic SBU in the formation of Mg 2 H 6 (H 3 O)(TTFTB) 3 (MIT-25), a mesoporous MOF with the new ssp topology. A delocalized electronic hole is critical in the stabilization of the TTF triad organic SBUs and exemplifies a design principle for future MOF synthesis.

  13. Innovative Approaches to Building Comprehensive Talent Pipelines: Helping to Grow a Strong and Diverse Professional Workforce

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Cherinka

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The world today is constantly changing requiring organizations to adapt quickly and seek expertise to help meet the demands on their business. There are many workforce challenges that organizations seek to overcome, and one of the hardest things to do in modern corporations is to keep the talent pool young and vibrant. Early career hires tend to bring new and exciting ideas into play that may not even be considered by their more seasoned peers. The challenge with early career hires, especially in the Science, Technology, Engineeringand Math (STEM career fields, is the extreme difficulty in finding candidates who, not only have book knowledge, but also have hands-on, real world experience. Statistics show that this is a real concern to professional workforce employers. In this presentation, we highlight a model aimed at adopting new approaches for seeking and evaluating high quality candidates for on-boarding, conducting interviews and hiring to build a corporate talent pipeline. We discuss the model as it relates to recruiting, training, competition-based interviewing and providing hands-on work experience toward helping to build strong professionals in an organization. We conclude by highlighting several examples of successful approaches and their outcomes.

  14. Building a career despite family pressures

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Lawrence

    My family encouraged my school and college education. I did my bachelor's from ... In middle-class Bengali families it was not common for a girl to stay on her own in ... I joined the Indian Institute of Science as a research asso- ciate but fortunately ... on the other hand, I feel I have achieved many things in my aca- demic life ...

  15. Strong Convergence to Common Fixed Points of a Countable Family of Asymptotically Strictly Quasi-ϕ-Pseudocontractions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei-Qi Deng

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Based on an original idea, namely, a specific way of choosing the indexes of the involved mappings, we propose a new hybrid shrinking iteration scheme for approximating some common fixed points of a countable family of asymptotically strictly quasi-ϕ-pseudocontractions and obtain a strong convergence theorem in the framework of Banach space. Our result extends other authors, related results existing in the current literature. As application, an iterative solution to a system of equilibrium problems is provided.

  16. What Young Children Need To Succeed: Working Together To Build Assets from Birth to Age 11.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roehlkepartain, Jolene L.; Leffert, Nancy

    Providing children developmental assets such as family support, a caring neighborhood, positive values, and social skills will help them to grow up healthy, well-adjusted, and strong. This book spells out more than 1,000 practical, creative ways to build 40 key assets in children from birth to 11 years. The book describes developmental assets as…

  17. Encouraging Strong Family Relationships. State Policies That Work. Brief Number 6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Center for the Study of Social Policy, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The relational well-being of families is an important factor affecting a family's economic success, physical and mental heath, the readiness and success of children in school, and the engagement of youth in positive and productive roles. In short, the strength of family bonds is crucial to a family's capacity to provide, nurture, and care for its…

  18. Building characteristics associated with moisture related problems in 8,918 Swedish dwellings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hägerhed-Engman, Linda; Bornehag, Carl-Gustaf; Sundell, Jan

    2009-08-01

    Moisture problems in buildings have in a number of studies been shown to increase the risk for respiratory symptoms. The study Dampness in Buildings and Health (DBH) was initiated with the aim to identify health relevant exposures related to dampness in buildings. A questionnaire study about home environment with a focus on dampness problems and health was conducted in one county of Sweden (8,918 homes, response rate 79%). Building characteristics that were associated with one or more of the dampness indicators were for single-family houses, older houses, flat-roofed houses built in the 1960s and 1970s, houses with a concrete slab on the ground that were built before 1983. Moreover, tenancy and earlier renovation due to mould or moisture problems was strongly associated with dampness. A perception of dry air was associated with window-pane condensation, e.g. humid indoor air.

  19. Postabortion Care: 20 Years of Strong Evidence on Emergency Treatment, Family Planning, and Other Programming Components.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, Douglas; Curtis, Carolyn; Irani, Laili; Pappa, Sara; Arrington, Lauren

    2016-09-28

    Worldwide 75 million women need postabortion care (PAC) services each year following safe or unsafe induced abortions and miscarriages. We reviewed more than 550 studies on PAC published between 1994 and 2013 in the peer-reviewed and gray literature, covering emergency treatment, postabortion family planning, organization of services, and related topics that impact practices and health outcomes, particularly in the Global South. In this article, we present findings from studies with strong evidence that have major implications for programs and practice. For example, vacuum aspiration reduced morbidity, costs, and time in comparison to sharp curettage. Misoprostol 400 mcg sublingually or 600 mcg orally achieved 89% to 99% complete evacuation rates within 2 weeks in multiple studies and was comparable in effectiveness, safety, and acceptability to manual vacuum aspiration. Misoprostol was safely introduced in several PAC programs through mid-level providers, extending services to secondary hospitals and primary health centers. In multiple studies, postabortion family planning uptake before discharge increased by 30-70 percentage points within 1-3 years of strengthening postabortion family planning services; in some cases, increases up to 60 percentage points in 4 months were achieved. Immediate postabortion contraceptive acceptance increased on average from 32% before the interventions to 69% post-intervention. Several studies found that women receiving immediate postabortion intrauterine devices and implants had fewer unintended pregnancies and repeat abortions than those who were offered delayed insertions. Postabortion family planning is endorsed by the professional organizations of obstetricians/gynecologists, midwives, and nurses as a standard of practice; major donors agree, and governments should be encouraged to provide universal access to postabortion family planning. Important program recommendations include offering all postabortion women family planning

  20. To integrate family planning into the building up of mental civilization by offering comprehensive services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-03-01

    The government of Nangong City, a newly instituted city with a relatively large proportion of agricultural workers has integrated family planning into the building up of mental civilization. As a result, in 1986, the family planning practice rate was 98.4%. One way the government accomplished this was by developing production to eliminate poverty, to show that population development has a significant impact on socioeconomic development. To help change people's attitudes about family planning, the government 1) used publicity, such as speechmaking, mass media, and courses in population theory; 2) awarded those who made contributions; 3) carried out publicity and education in accordance with characteristics of different groups of people; and 4) encouraged bridegrooms to live with their wives' families if the wives' parents had had no son. Another technique the government used as the popularization of scientific knowledge about population theory, physiology and hygiene, birth control, and eugenics and health in births. A 4th method was to popularize knowledge of laws and regulations, such as of early marriage and consanguineous marriage. 5th, the government developed social security undertakings: 1) giving priority to single-child families and 2) taking care of the elderly. Finally, the government improved maternal and child care by 1) providing premarital health care; 2) creating a project for healthier births and better upbringing; 3) family planning workers showing warm concern for reproductive women; and 4) controlling women's diseases and providing health care knowledge, as well as family planning services. These 6 activities have resulted in 1) the decreasing momentum of per capita arable land being controlled, 2) 1-child couples having more time to learn, 3) the development of educational undertakings, 4) a change in people's traditional practices, and 5) improvement in the understanding of patriotism.

  1. On Strong Convergence by the Hybrid Method for Equilibrium and Fixed Point Problems for an Inifnite Family of Asymptotically Nonexpansive Mappings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cai Gang

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We introduce two modifications of the Mann iteration, by using the hybrid methods, for equilibrium and fixed point problems for an infinite family of asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in a Hilbert space. Then, we prove that such two sequences converge strongly to a common element of the set of solutions of an equilibrium problem and the set of common fixed points of an infinite family of asymptotically nonexpansive mappings. Our results improve and extend the results announced by many others.

  2. The impact of building-integrated photovoltaics on the energy demand of multi-family dwellings in Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ordenes, Martin; Marinoski, Deivis Luis; Braun, Priscila; Ruther, Ricardo

    2007-01-01

    Brazil faces a continuous increase of energy demand and a decrease of available resources to expand the generation system. Residential buildings are responsible for 23% of the national electricity demand. Thus, it is necessary to search for new energy sources to both diversify and complement the energy mix. Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) is building momentum worldwide and can be an interesting alternative for Brazil due its solar radiation characteristics. This work analyses the potential of seven BIPV technologies implemented in a residential prototype simulated in three different cities in Brazil (Natal, Brasilia and Florianopolis). Simulations were performed using the software tool EnergyPlus to integrate PV power supply with building energy demand (domestic equipment and HVAC systems). The building model is a typical low-cost residential building for middle-class families, as massively constructed all over the country. Architectural input and heat gain schedules are defined from statistical data (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica - Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and Sistema de Informacoes de Posses de Eletrodomesticos e Habitos de Consumo - Consumer Habits and Appliance Ownership Information System (SIMPHA)). BIPV is considered in all opaque surfaces of the envelope. Results present an interesting potential for decentralized PV power supply even for vertical surfaces at low-latitude sites. In each facade, BIPV power supply can be directly linked to local climatic conditions. In general, for 30% of the year photovoltaic systems generate more energy than building demand, i.e., during this period it could be supplying the energy excess to the public electricity grid. Contrary to the common belief that vertical integration of PV is only suitable for high latitude countries, we show that there is a considerable amount of energy to be harvested from vertical facades at the sites investigated. (Author)

  3. What Young Children Need To Succeed: Working Together To Build Assets from Birth to Age 11. A Leader's Guide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roehlkepartain, Jolene L.; Leffert, Nancy

    Providing children developmental assets such as family support, a caring neighborhood, positive values, and social skills will help them grow up healthy, well-adjusted, and strong. This leader's guide provides instructions for five workshops that introduce the concept of children's assets and address how to build assets in infants, toddlers,…

  4. Better Buildings Neighborhood Program: BetterBuildings Lowell Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Heslin, Thomas

    2014-01-31

    The City of Lowell set four goals at the beginning of the Better Buildings Neighborhood Program: 1. Improve the Downtown Historic Park District’s Carbon Footprint 2. Develop a sustainable and replicable model for energy efficiency in historic buildings 3. Create and retain jobs 4. Promote multi-stakeholder partnerships The City of Lowell, MA was awarded $5 million in May 2010 to conduct energy efficiency retrofits within the downtown National Historical Park (NHP). The City’s target was to complete retrofits in 200,000 square feet of commercial space and create 280 jobs, while adhering to the strict historical preservation regulations that govern the NHP. The development of a model for energy efficiency in historic buildings was successfully accomplished. BetterBuildings Lowell’s success in energy efficiency in historic buildings was due to the simplicity of the program. We relied strongly on the replacement of antiquated HVAC systems and air sealing and a handful of talented energy auditors and contractors. BetterBuildings Lowell was unique for the Better Buildings Neighborhood Program because it was the only program that focused solely on commercial properties. BetterBuildings Lowell did target multi-family properties, which were reported as commercial, but the majority of the building types and uses were commercial. Property types targeted were restaurants, office buildings, museums, sections of larger buildings, mixed use buildings, and multifamily buildings. This unique fabric of building type and use allows for a deeper understanding to how different properties use energy. Because of the National Historical Park designation of downtown Lowell, being able to implement energy efficiency projects within a highly regulated historical district also provided valuable research and precedent proving energy efficiency projects can be successfully completed in historical districts and historical buildings. Our program was very successful in working with the local

  5. Diverse interpretations of confidence building

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Macintosh, J.

    1998-01-01

    This paper explores the variety of operational understandings associated with the term 'confidence building'. Collectively, these understandings constitute what should be thought of as a 'family' of confidence building approaches. This unacknowledged and generally unappreciated proliferation of operational understandings that function under the rubric of confidence building appears to be an impediment to effective policy. The paper's objective is to analyze these different understandings, stressing the important differences in their underlying assumptions. In the process, the paper underlines the need for the international community to clarify its collective thinking about what it means when it speaks of 'confidence building'. Without enhanced clarity, it will be unnecessarily difficult to employ the confidence building approach effectively due to the lack of consistent objectives and common operating assumptions. Although it is not the intention of this paper to promote a particular account of confidence building, dissecting existing operational understandings should help to identify whether there are fundamental elements that define what might be termed 'authentic' confidence building. Implicit here is the view that some operational understandings of confidence building may diverge too far from consensus models to count as meaningful members of the confidence building family. (author)

  6. Germline rearrangements in families with strong family history of glioma and malignant melanoma, colon, and breast cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Ulrika; Wibom, Carl; Cederquist, Kristina

    2014-01-01

    -dependent probe amplification. These families all had at least 2 verified glioma cases and a third reported or verified glioma case in the same family or 2 glioma cases in the family with at least one family member affected with melanoma, colon, or breast cancer.The genomic areas covering TP53, CDKN2A, MLH1...

  7. Supersymmetric family unification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frampton, P.H.; Kephart, T.W.

    1983-01-01

    The superheavy symmetry breaking of the gauge group in supersymmetrized unified theories is studied. The requirement that supersymmetry be unbroken strongly constrains the possible gauge group breaking, and we systematize such constraints group theoretically. In model building, one issue is whether to permit an adjoint matter superfield with concomitant color exotic fermions. A second issue is that of naturalness which is complicated by the well-known supersymmetry non-renormalization theorems. Both with and without an adjoint matter superfield, the most promising group appears to be SU(9) where three families can be naturally accommodated, at least for low-energy gauge group SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1). With an extra U(1) factor, as advocated by Fayet, the non-renormalization theorem must be exploited. (orig.)

  8. Strongly intensive quantities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorenstein, M. I.; Gazdzicki, M.

    2011-01-01

    Analysis of fluctuations of hadron production properties in collisions of relativistic particles profits from use of measurable intensive quantities which are independent of system size variations. The first family of such quantities was proposed in 1992; another is introduced in this paper. Furthermore we present a proof of independence of volume fluctuations for quantities from both families within the framework of the grand canonical ensemble. These quantities are referred to as strongly intensive ones. Influence of conservation laws and resonance decays is also discussed.

  9. Achieving Health SDG 3 in Africa through NGO Capacity Building - Insights from the Gates Foundation Investment in Partnership in Advocacy for Child and Family Health (PACFaH) Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Judith-Ann

    2016-09-01

    As global impact investors gear up to support roll out of the Sustainable Development Goals in the developing world, African CSOs are urged to ensure that governments shift health funding sources away from aid and loans to innovative domestic funding sources which prioritize health. To do so, African CSOs require support to build their capacity for policy and budget advocacy. Governments and development partners have failed to invest in long term capacity building projects for indigenous NGOs and instead support INGOs to push the health advocacy agenda forward. In Nigeria, the Gates foundation has risen to the challenge of building capacity of indigenous NGOs for social accountability in child and family health. The 3 year pilot project - Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health Project (PACFaH) mainstreams capacity building as an effective implementation strategy for 8 indigenous NGOs to deliver on - policy; budgetary; legislative; and administrative advocacy in four issue areas: 1) family planning; 2) nutrition; 3) routine immunization; and 4) reduction of under-5 deaths from diarrhea and pneumonia. This paper documents the achievements of the eight advocacy NGOs in PACFaH, at midterm and notes that while there have been challenges, working through capacity building as an implementation strategy has enabled the local groups in the delivery of evidence based advocacy.

  10. Indonesia. B. The building of a successful population-family planning programme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suyono, H

    1984-01-01

    Indonesia's population and family planning program is one of the most successful in the world, but much work must be done to meet the reduction in fertility targets set by the government. The goal is a birthrate of 22/1000 by the year 1990, a 50% decrease from the 1970 birthrate. With eligible couples entering the program at a rate of 600,000-750,000, a hard job lies ahead. The basic tenets which have made the Indonesia program strong will be used to meet the goals for 1990. The first of these is political commitment, meaning that all government leaders, from the President to the village chief, back the program and work actively for its success. Along with political commitment is the use of cultural values. The javanese society is feudal, in the sense that people try to respect elders, both leaders in the village and beyond. Thus, when the President speaks in favor of family planning, it carries considerable weight and significance. The village chief speaks favorably of family planning and that means the villagers are receptive to trying it. Another important cultural tenet is that of mutual help, or what is termed "gotong royong." This system goes back for centuries and forms the basis of village interaction. It is simply that people help each other for the common good. The National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), with the help of the formal and informal leaders, has defined family planning as something which is for the mutual benefit of the entire community. A 3rd tenet of the program is flexibility. The BKKBN has continually experimented with various approaches. With flexibility comes some risk. The BKKBN has managed to maintain a system whereby it is possible to take risks, and this element of flexibility has benefitted the program greatly. Ownership is another important tenet of the program. The community feels that the program is theirs and that they can decide the activities of the acceptor groups and that they are responsible for maintaining and

  11. Feelings of Women With Strong Family Histories Who Subsequent to Their Breast Cancer Diagnosis Tested BRCA Positive.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Meera; Rab, Faiza; Panabaker, Karen; Nisker, Jeff

    2015-05-01

    Family physicians in Canada as reported in several studies do not recognize the importance of family history in relation to breast/ovarian cancer and thus Canadian women with strong family histories continue to develop early-onset breast cancer without the knowledge of or ability to make choices regarding increased surveillance or preventative strategies. This study explored the feelings of women who learned about their hereditary risk only after their diagnosis younger than 52 years and who eventually tested positive for a BRCA gene mutation. Thirty-four such women were mailed an invitation to participate in this research including a letter of information, consent form, and discussion prompts for their written narrative response. Rigorous mixed method analyses were performed using Charmaz-based qualitative analyses as well as quantitative analyses. Thirteen women (38.2%) responded with narratives for qualitative analysis from which 4 themes were coconstructed as follows: I, types of emotions; II, emotional response; III, coping with emotions; and IV, advice to women at similar risk. Women felt they should have learned about their hereditary risk from their family physician and through public education before their diagnosis. Although not experienced at the time of diagnosis, anger, frustration, and regret were experienced after receiving their BRCA results. These emotions arose from our research participants' lack of opportunity for prior genetic counseling and testing opportunity for genetic counseling and testing. With increased public and physician education, it is hoped that women with significant family histories of breast/ovarian cancer will be identified before diagnosis and given options regarding cancer surveillance and risk reduction strategies.

  12. ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION WITH FAMILY PATTERN RELATED TO STRONG PERSONALITIES: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY IN MARRIED ROMANIAN STUDENTS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrescu, Cristina

    2016-01-01

    In the study conducted the aim was to investigate strong personalities (SP) related to alcohol consumption in married students from Romania. Consisted in 2 samples: a case-sample (23 alcohol consumer students with a family pattern of weekly consumption, 47.8% male and 52.2% female, aged 21-29 years) and a control-sample (42 no-alcohol consumer students without a family pattern of consumption, 26.2% male and 73.8% female, aged 21-29 years), selected from a sample of 176 married students. An observational inquiry (case-control) consisted in applying 2 questionnaires: Health Questionnaire (60 items, 7: Q43-Q49 -alcohol consumption) and Strong Personalities Questionnaire (88 items, alpha-Crohnbach index-0.823). Statistical analysis was performed by the aid of SPSS 20 Program. For alcohol consumer students with weekly pattern of consumption the main reason of alcohol consumption was curiosity (60.9%) and the most frequent consumed alcohol was beer (38.6%, 500-3000 ml/week). Personalities' profiles revealed V-hyperthymic, III-hyperperseverant and X-emotive strong personalities (SP) as being symptomatic (over 50% symptomatic level-SL) for both samples, with a difference (control-case) for X-emotive SP (71.7% students--57.1% students, respectively). I-demonstrative, VII-cyclothymic and IV-unruly SP presented a difference between case (symptomatic: 61.8%; 61.8% and 61.8% students, respectively) and control (symptomatic: 36.8%; 37.5% and 45% students, respectively) samples. A statistically significant difference case-control samples was demonstrated for I-Demonstrative (item S29: chi square chi2 = 10.65; Sig.0.002; gamma correlation gamma=0.73; Sig.0.002) and for X-emotive (item S25: chi2 = 8.76; gamma = -0.66; Sig.0.003) SP. In conclusion, a relation SP-alcohol consumption in married students is suggested.

  13. Nuclear and cpDNA sequences combined provide strong inference of higher phylogenetic relationships in the phlox family (Polemoniaceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Leigh A; Chan, Lauren M; Weese, Terri L; Busby, Lisa D; McMurry, Samuel

    2008-09-01

    Members of the phlox family (Polemoniaceae) serve as useful models for studying various evolutionary and biological processes. Despite its biological importance, no family-wide phylogenetic estimate based on multiple DNA regions with complete generic sampling is available. Here, we analyze one nuclear and five chloroplast DNA sequence regions (nuclear ITS, chloroplast matK, trnL intron plus trnL-trnF intergeneric spacer, and the trnS-trnG, trnD-trnT, and psbM-trnD intergenic spacers) using parsimony and Bayesian methods, as well as assessments of congruence and long branch attraction, to explore phylogenetic relationships among 84 ingroup species representing all currently recognized Polemoniaceae genera. Relationships inferred from the ITS and concatenated chloroplast regions are similar overall. A combined analysis provides strong support for the monophyly of Polemoniaceae and subfamilies Acanthogilioideae, Cobaeoideae, and Polemonioideae. Relationships among subfamilies, and thus for the precise root of Polemoniaceae, remain poorly supported. Within the largest subfamily, Polemonioideae, four clades corresponding to tribes Polemonieae, Phlocideae, Gilieae, and Loeselieae receive strong support. The monogeneric Polemonieae appears sister to Phlocideae. Relationships within Polemonieae, Phlocideae, and Gilieae are mostly consistent between analyses and data permutations. Many relationships within Loeselieae remain uncertain. Overall, inferred phylogenetic relationships support a higher-level classification for Polemoniaceae proposed in 2000.

  14. Strong family history and early onset of schizophrenia: about 2 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Schizophrenia is a highly heritable psychotic disorder and high genetic loading is associated with early onset of the disease. The outcome of schizophrenia has also been linked with the age of onset as well as the presence of family history of the disease. Therefore families with patients with early onset Schizophrenia are ...

  15. Straw insulated buildings. Nature building materials; Strohgedaemmte Gebaeude. Naturbaustoffe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-06-01

    Straw is one of the major agricultural by-products and is mainly used as litter in animal husbandry and to compensate the balance of humus. A relatively recent development is the use of straw bales for the construction of buildings. The brochure under consideration documents the technical development of straw construction in Germany. Possibilities of the use of straw in single family homes up to commercial buildings are described.

  16. CSR, environment-friendly investments and innovations - the three elements necessary to build a modern and strong coal mining company?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hałasik Katarzyna

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, strongly increasing globalization forces companies around the world to search new ways to build competitive advantage and achieving goals. Society having wider access to information and products, began to pay attention not only to the attractiveness of the goods, but also to the credibility of the environmental and social of functioning companies. This makes, that the concept of corporate social responsibility and the green revolution, which are strongly associated with innovations, in last years become widely discussed in the literature, as well as popular in the activities of enterprises. This article is an attempt to answer the question, whether the combination of these three elements is a guarantee for the creations of a positive image, and thus the value of a modern and strong company. The research literature aims to identify the current approach to these three factors and their characteristics. In contrast, the analysis of Polish hard coal mining sector indicates the role of innovation, environmental protection and CSR in the industry - whether the actions in this area are present and to what extent. In addition, it will be presented to outline the current state of Polish hard coal mining sector

  17. Synergy between building rating systems and design methodology for intellingent and green buildings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zeiler, W.; Boxem, G.; Plesser, S.

    2008-01-01

    There is a strong need for more efficient and more sustainable buildings. At present it is difficult to define the performance of buildings in an objective way to efficiency and sustainability. Goal of this project is to examine and to understand differences between different building rating systems

  18. Assessment of technical and economical viability for large-scale conversion of single family residential buildings into zero energy buildings in Brazil: Climatic and cultural considerations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pacheco, Miguel; Lamberts, Roberto

    2013-01-01

    This paper addresses the viability of converting single-family residential buildings in Brazil into zero energy buildings (ZEBs). The European Union and the United States aim ZEBs implementation to address ‘peak oil’ and environmental concerns. However, literature shows no agreement on a consensual definition of ZEB. Seeking a Brazilian ZEB definition, this paper addresses PassivHaus and thermal comfort standards for hot climates, source metrics for ZEB, Brazil′s energy mix, residential energy end uses and Brazilian legal framework for residential photovoltaic (PV) generation. Internal Rate of Return for PV systems in two Brazilian cities is calculated under various scenarios. It shows grid parity was reached from April 2012 to November 2012 assuming residential electric tariffs of that period and the financial conditions given by the Brazilian government for the construction of new dams in the Amazon and the lowest rates offered by Brazilian banks to private individuals. Governmental decision to lower electric residential tariffs in November 2012 reduced the scope of grid parity. Later revocation of a tax exemption in April 2013 ended grid parity in Brazil. It concludes, conversely to developed countries, it is the volatile Brazilian energy policy, instead of economical barriers, the main obstacle for ZEB viability in Brazil. - Highlights: • Critique on super insolated buildings as a good solution for hot climates. • PV parity already reached in some parts of Brazil. • Proposal for a zero energy building definition for Brazil. • Critique of the source metric for energy balance in zero energy buildings. • Average roof area in Brazil enough for PV array to meet average energy consumption

  19. Environmental effect of structural solutions and building materials to a building

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haapio, Appu; Viitaniemi, Pertti

    2008-01-01

    The field of building environmental assessment tools has become a popular research area over the past decade. However, how the service life of a building affects the results of the environmental assessment of a building has not been emphasised previously. The aim of this study is to analyse how different structural solutions and building materials affect the results of the environmental assessment of a whole building over the building's life cycle. Furthermore, how the length of the building's service life affects the results is analysed. The environmental assessments of 78 single-family houses were calculated for this study. The buildings have different wall insulations, claddings, window frames, and roof materials, and the length of the service life varies from 60 years up to 160 years. The current situation and the future of the environmental assessment of buildings are discussed. In addition, topics for further research are suggested; for example, how workmanship affects the service life and the environmental impact of a building should be studied

  20. Life cycle primary energy analysis of residential buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gustavsson, Leif; Joelsson, Anna [Ecotechnology, Department of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Mid Sweden University, SE-831 25 Oestersund (Sweden)

    2010-02-15

    The space heating demand of residential buildings can be decreased by improved insulation, reduced air leakage and by heat recovery from ventilation air. However, these measures result in an increased use of materials. As the energy for building operation decreases, the relative importance of the energy used in the production phase increases and influences optimization aimed at minimizing the life cycle energy use. The life cycle primary energy use of buildings also depends on the energy supply systems. In this work we analyse primary energy use and CO{sub 2} emission for the production and operation of conventional and low-energy residential buildings. Different types of energy supply systems are included in the analysis. We show that for a conventional and a low-energy building the primary energy use for production can be up to 45% and 60%, respectively, of the total, depending on the energy supply system, and with larger variations for conventional buildings. The primary energy used and the CO{sub 2} emission resulting from production are lower for wood-framed constructions than for concrete-framed constructions. The primary energy use and the CO{sub 2} emission depend strongly on the energy supply, for both conventional and low-energy buildings. For example, a single-family house from the 1970s heated with biomass-based district heating with cogeneration has 70% lower operational primary energy use than if heated with fuel-based electricity. The specific primary energy use with district heating was 40% lower than that of an electrically heated passive row house. (author)

  1. Building Strong Children: Why We Need Nurses in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maughan, Erin D.

    2016-01-01

    The number of students with chronic and complex health conditions significantly affects a teacher's ability to teach and meet the needs of the whole child--especially combined with the impact of societal issues such as poverty, violence, and the growing population of families who speak a language other than English at home. Education in America is…

  2. Building the capacity of family day care educators to promote children's social and emotional wellbeing: an exploratory cluster randomised controlled trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sims Margaret

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Childhood mental health problems are highly prevalent, experienced by one in five children living in socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Although childcare settings, including family day care are ideal to promote children's social and emotional wellbeing at a population level in a sustainable way, family day care educators receive limited training in promoting children's mental health. This study is an exploratory wait-list control cluster randomised controlled trial to test the appropriateness, acceptability, cost, and effectiveness of "Thrive," an intervention program to build the capacity of family day care educators to promote children's social and emotional wellbeing. Thrive aims to increase educators' knowledge, confidence and skills in promoting children's social and emotional wellbeing. Methods/Design This study involves one family day care organisation based in a low socioeconomic area of Melbourne. All family day care educators (term used for registered carers who provide care for children for financial reimbursement in the carers own home are eligible to participate in the study. The clusters for randomisation will be the fieldworkers (n = 5 who each supervise 10-15 educators. The intervention group (field workers and educators will participate in a variety of intervention activities over 12 months, including workshops; activity exchanges with other educators; and focused discussion about children's social and emotional wellbeing during field worker visits. The control group will continue with their normal work practice. The intervention will be delivered to the intervention group and then to the control group after a time delay of 15 months post intervention commencement. A baseline survey will be conducted with all consenting educators and field workers (n = ~70 assessing outcomes at the cluster and individual level. The survey will also be administered at one month, six months and 12 months post

  3. Family Businesses Transitioning to a Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Núñez-Cacho

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability addresses environmental and social issues affecting this and future generations. When family businesses perceive that the community is disrupted, recognize an environmental problem and respond by implementing new environmental policies or regulations, the family business’s socio-emotional values press to transition to a more sustainable production system, such as the ‘Circular Economy.’ Drawing on the Dubin (1978 methodology—a paradigm for building models through deduction—we design a sustainable model, which shows family businesses’ responses to changes in the environment. It explains the reasons why family firms transition to the Circular Economy, based on the theory of Socio-Emotional Wealth (SEW. We check the model through the case study of the food retail leader in the Spanish market—Mercadona—which applies policies about energy, resources and waste to become a Circular Economy business model. Because of the strong family character of Mercadona, this case can be useful for the decision-making of other family businesses.

  4. Metabolic Profiles of Obesity in American Indians: The Strong Heart Family Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qi Zhao

    Full Text Available Obesity is a typical metabolic disorder resulting from the imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. American Indians suffer disproportionately high rates of obesity and diabetes. The goal of this study is to identify metabolic profiles of obesity in 431 normoglycemic American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Family Study. Using an untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we detected 1,364 distinct m/z features matched to known compounds in the current metabolomics databases. We conducted multivariate analysis to identify metabolic profiles for obesity, adjusting for standard obesity indicators. After adjusting for covariates and multiple testing, five metabolites were associated with body mass index and seven were associated with waist circumference. Of them, three were associated with both. Majority of the obesity-related metabolites belongs to lipids, e.g., fatty amides, sphingolipids, prenol lipids, and steroid derivatives. Other identified metabolites are amino acids or peptides. Of the nine identified metabolites, five metabolites (oleoylethanolamide, mannosyl-diinositol-phosphorylceramide, pristanic acid, glutamate, and kynurenine have been previously implicated in obesity or its related pathways. Future studies are warranted to replicate these findings in larger populations or other ethnic groups.

  5. Metabolic Profiles of Obesity in American Indians: The Strong Heart Family Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Qi; Zhu, Yun; Best, Lyle G; Umans, Jason G; Uppal, Karan; Tran, ViLinh T; Jones, Dean P; Lee, Elisa T; Howard, Barbara V; Zhao, Jinying

    2016-01-01

    Obesity is a typical metabolic disorder resulting from the imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. American Indians suffer disproportionately high rates of obesity and diabetes. The goal of this study is to identify metabolic profiles of obesity in 431 normoglycemic American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Family Study. Using an untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we detected 1,364 distinct m/z features matched to known compounds in the current metabolomics databases. We conducted multivariate analysis to identify metabolic profiles for obesity, adjusting for standard obesity indicators. After adjusting for covariates and multiple testing, five metabolites were associated with body mass index and seven were associated with waist circumference. Of them, three were associated with both. Majority of the obesity-related metabolites belongs to lipids, e.g., fatty amides, sphingolipids, prenol lipids, and steroid derivatives. Other identified metabolites are amino acids or peptides. Of the nine identified metabolites, five metabolites (oleoylethanolamide, mannosyl-diinositol-phosphorylceramide, pristanic acid, glutamate, and kynurenine) have been previously implicated in obesity or its related pathways. Future studies are warranted to replicate these findings in larger populations or other ethnic groups.

  6. Impact of different LEED versions for green building certification and energy efficiency rating system: A Multifamily Midrise case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rastogi, Ankush; Choi, Jun-Ki; Hong, Taehoon; Lee, Minhyun

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: •Energy consumption change from applying different LEED versions were investigated. •Four analysis scenarios were compared using different versions of ASHRAE Standard. •A case study of a mid-rise multi-family building was conducted using energy simulation. •Residential buildings could benefit from LEED v4 due to the low prerequisite. •Renovation buildings are highly incentivized regardless of LEED version used. -- Abstract: Various versions of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED ® ) have been introduced with the addition of more stringent sustainability parameters and credit scoring schemes over the past decade. Such changes in LEED versions strongly affect the energy performance and LEED scores of the target building in the LEED certification process. Therefore, to validate and improve the current LEED version, it is crucial to investigate and compare the impact of different LEED versions on the building energy performance and scoring scheme. However, researches comparing the sustainability metrics for mid-rise multi-family buildings are rare. Therefore, this paper investigates the potential changes in the energy performance resulted from applying different LEED versions (i.e., LEED v3 and v4) for the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category. Towards this end, a case study was carried out with energy modeling and simulation using TRACE 700 to compare the changes in the energy performance of four analysis scenarios applied to an existing mid-rise multi-family building located in Ohio. Results showed notable changes in LEED points when different versions of LEED using different ASHRAE Standards (i.e., ASHRAE Standards 90.1-2007 and 90.1-2010) are applied for the building energy analysis. In particular, mid-rise multi-family buildings could benefit from LEED v4 in terms of LEED credits as the prerequisite for the minimum energy performance improvement in EA category became significantly lenient compared to LEED v3. On the

  7. Effectiveness of duct sealing and duct insulation in multi-family buildings. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karins, N.H.; Tuluca, A.; Modera, M.

    1997-07-01

    This research investigated the cost-effectiveness of sealing and insulating the accessible portions of duct systems exposed to unconditioned areas in multifamily housing. Airflow and temperature measurements were performed in 25 apartments served by 10 systems a 9 multi-family properties. The measurements were performed before and after each retrofit, and included apartment airflow (supply and return), duct system temperatures, system fan flow and duct leakage area. The costs for each retrofit were recorded. The data were analyzed and used to develop a prototypical multifamily house. This prototype was used in energy simulations (DOE-2.1E) and air infiltration simulations (COMIS 2.1). The simulations were performed for two climates: New York City and Albany. In each climate, one simulation was performed assuming the basement was tight, and another assuming the basement was leaky. Simulation results and average retrofit costs were used to calculate cost-effectiveness. The results of the analysis indicate that sealing leaks of the accessible ductwork is cost-effective under all conditions simulated (simple payback was between 3 and 4 years). Insulating the accessible ductwork, however, is only cost-effective for buildings with leaky basement, in both climates (simple paybacks were less than 5 years). The simple payback period for insulating the ducts in buildings with tight basements was greater than 10 years, the threshold of cost-effectiveness for this research. 13 refs., 5 figs., 27 tabs.

  8. Harnessing the hybrid power supply systems of utility grid and photovoltaic panels at retrofit residential single family building in Medan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pangaribuan, A. B.; Rahmat, R. F.; Lidya, M. S.; Zálešák, M.

    2017-01-01

    The paper describes improvisation mode of energy supply source by collaboration between national utility grid as represented by fossil fuels and PV as independent renewable power resource in order to aim the energy consumptions efficiently in retrofit single family house. In this case, one existing single family house model in Medan, Indonesia was observed for the possibility of future refurbishment. The eco-design version of the house model and prediction analyses regarding nearby potential renewable energy resource (solar system) had been made using Autodesk Revit MEP 2015, Climate Consultant 6.0 and Green Building Studio Analysis. Economical evaluation of using hybrid power supply is discussed as well.

  9. Retrofit of a Multifamily Mass Masonry Building in New England

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ueno, K.; Kerrigan, P.; Wytrykowska, H.; Van Straaten, R.

    2013-08-01

    Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity (MVHfH) has partnered with Building Science Corporation to provide high performance affordable housing for 10 families in the retrofit of an existing brick building (a former convent) into condominiums. The research performed for this project provides information regarding advanced retrofit packages for multi-family masonry buildings in Cold climates. In particular, this project demonstrates safe, durable, and cost-effective solutions that will potentially benefit millions of multi-family brick buildings throughout the East Coast and Midwest (Cold climates). The retrofit packages provide insight on the opportunities for and constraints on retrofitting multifamily buildings with ambitious energy performance goals but a limited budget. The condominium conversion project will contribute to several areas of research on enclosures, space conditioning, and water heating. Enclosure items include insulation of mass masonry building on the interior, airtightness of these types of retrofits, multi-unit building compartmentalization, window selection, and roof insulation strategies. Mechanical system items include combined hydronic and space heating systems with hydronic distribution in small (low load) units, and ventilation system retrofits for multifamily buildings.

  10. Green Building Adoption Index 2017

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kok, Nils

    2017-01-01

    In the early 2000s, energy efficiency was for the committed few, and “green” building was a niche concept. But with the advent of strong tenant and investor interest in constructing, operating, and occupying better buildings, the concept of energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings has taken

  11. Stigma Management Trajectories in Youth with Perinatally Acquired HIV and Their Families: A Qualitative Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Proulx-Boucher, Karène; Fernet, Mylène; Blais, Martin; Lapointe, Normand; Samson, Johanne; Lévy, Joseph J; Otis, Joanne; Morin, Guylaine; Thériault, Jocelyne; Trottier, Germain

    2017-09-01

    This study explores how family, secrecy and silence contribute to the adoption of stigma management strategies among youth with perinatally acquired HIV (PAHIV). A qualitative method was used. Eighteen youths with PAHIV aged 13-22 years old took part in a semi-structured interview. An exploratory content analysis was performed. Analyses of interviews allowed identification of two HIV stigma management trajectories, both sensitive to the family context: [1] a consolidation of family ties, which contributes to solidarity in stigma management; and [2] a weakening or dissolution of family ties, which contributes to solitary stigma management strategy. Family conditions that support the children in their efforts to develop active stigma management strategies are described. Children likely to experience weakening or dissolution family ties must build strong bonds in the clinical environment and maintain these into adulthood so as to afford them the support they need.

  12. Building supertrees: an empirical assessment using the grass family (Poaceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salamin, Nicolas; Hodkinson, Trevor R; Savolainen, Vincent

    2002-02-01

    Large and comprehensive phylogenetic trees are desirable for studying macroevolutionary processes and for classification purposes. Such trees can be obtained in two different ways. Either the widest possible range of taxa can be sampled and used in a phylogenetic analysis to produce a "big tree," or preexisting topologies can be used to create a supertree. Although large multigene analyses are often favored, combinable data are not always available, and supertrees offer a suitable solution. The most commonly used method of supertree reconstruction, matrix representation with parsimony (MRP), is presented here. We used a combined data set for the Poaceae to (1) assess the differences between an approach that uses combined data and one that uses different MRP modifications based on the character partitions and (2) investigate the advantages and disadvantages of these modifications. Baum and Ragan and Purvis modifications gave similar results. Incorporating bootstrap support associated with pre-existing topologies improved Baum and Ragan modification and its similarity with a combined analysis. Finally, we used the supertree reconstruction approach on 55 published phylogenies to build one of most comprehensive phylogenetic trees published for the grass family including 403 taxa and discuss its strengths and weaknesses in relation to other published hypotheses.

  13. Bequeathing Family Continuity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spanier, Graham B.

    1989-01-01

    Notes that many children who experience abuse, family disruption, or poverty reach adulthood with a strong commitment to family life. Questions whether changes in American families are indicators of pathology, deterioration, and instability; and asks how dysfunctional families transmit commitment to the concept of family to succeeding generations.…

  14. Study on the optimum PCM melting temperature for energy savings in residential buildings worldwide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saffari, M.; de Gracia, A.; Fernández, C.; Zsembinszki, G.; Cabeza, L. F.

    2017-10-01

    To maintain comfort conditions in residential buildings along a full year period, the use of active systems is generally required to either supply heating or cooling. The heating and cooling demands strongly depend on the climatic conditions, type of building and occupants’ behaviour. The overall annual energy consumption of the building can be reduced by the use of renewable energy sources and/or passive systems. The use of phase change materials (PCM) as passive systems in buildings enhances the thermal mass of the envelope, and reduces the indoor temperature fluctuations. As a consequence, the overall energy consumption of the building is generally lower as compared to the case when no PCM systems are used. The selection of the PCM melting temperature is a key issue to reduce the energy consumption of the buildings. The main focus of this study is to determine the optimum PCM melting temperature for passive heating and cooling according to different weather conditions. To achieve that, numerical simulations were carried out using EnergyPlus v8.4 coupled with GenOpt® v3.1.1 (a generic optimization software). A multi-family residential apartment was selected from ASHRAE Standard 90.1- 2013 prototype building model, and different climate conditions were considered to determine the optimum melting temperature (in the range from 20ºC to 26ºC) of the PCM contained in gypsum panels. The results confirm that the optimum melting temperature of the PCM strongly depends on the climatic conditions. In general, in cooling dominant climates the optimum PCM temperature is around 26ºC, while in heating dominant climates it is around 20ºC. Furthermore, the results show that an adequate selection of the PCM as passive system in building envelope can provide important energy savings for both heating dominant and cooling dominant regions.

  15. Indoor thermal environment, air exchange rates, and carbon dioxide concentrations before and after energy retro fits in Finnish and Lithuanian multi-family buildings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leivo, Virpi; Prasauskas, Tadas; Du, Liuliu; Turunen, Mari; Kiviste, Mihkel; Aaltonen, Anu; Martuzevicius, Dainius; Haverinen-Shaughnessy, Ulla

    2018-04-15

    Impacts of energy retrofits on indoor thermal environment, i.e. temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH), as well as ventilation rates and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations, were assessed in 46 Finnish and 20 Lithuanian multi-family buildings, including 39 retrofitted case buildings in Finland and 15 in Lithuania (the remaining buildings were control buildings with no retrofits). In the Finnish buildings, high indoor T along with low RH levels was commonly observed both before and after the retrofits. Ventilation rates (l/s per person) were higher after the retrofits in buildings with mechanical exhaust ventilation than the corresponding values before the retrofits. Measured CO 2 levels were low in vast majority of buildings. In Lithuania, average indoor T levels were low before the retrofits and there was a significant increase in the average T after the retrofits. In addition, average ventilation rate was lower and CO 2 levels were higher after the retrofits in the case buildings (N=15), both in apartments with natural and mixed ventilation. Based on the results, assessment of thermal conditions and ventilation rates after energy retrofits is crucial for optimal indoor environmental quality and energy use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. The role of family institutes in promoting the practice of family therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rampage, Cheryl

    2014-09-01

    Much of the development of family therapy as a discipline was an outcome of the clinical, training, and theory-building activities conducted at family institutes around the United States. Beginning in the 1960s, these institutes were the crucibles in which the concepts and practices of family therapy flourished. The author, a leader at one of the largest family institutes in the United States, discusses the role of family institutes in promoting the practice of family therapy, as well as the challenges of doing so. © 2014 FPI, Inc.

  17. Radon in large buildings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, D.L.; Dudney, C.S.; Gammage, R.B.

    1993-01-01

    Over the past several years, considerable research has been devoted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and others to develop radon sampling protocols for single family residences and schools. However, very little research has been performed on measuring radon in the work place. To evaluate possible sampling protocols, 833 buildings throughout the United States were selected for extensive radon testing. The buildings tested (warehouses, production plants and office buildings) were representative of commercial buildings across the country both in design, size and use. Based on the results, preliminary radon sampling protocols for the work place have been developed. (orig.). (5 refs., 3 figs.)

  18. Supporting Family Engagement in Home Visiting with the Family Map Inventories

    OpenAIRE

    Kyzer, Angela; Whiteside-Mansell, Leanne; McKelvey, Lorraine; Swindle, Taren

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and usefulness of a universal screening tool, the Family Map Inventory (F MI), to assess family strengths and needs in a home visiting program. The FMI has been used successfully by center-based early childcare programs to tailor services to family need and build on existing strengths. Home visiting coordinators (N = 39) indicated the FMI would provide useful information, and they had the capacity to implement. In total, 70 families who...

  19. Environmental Evaluation of Building Materials of 5 Slovak Buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porhincak, Milan; Estokova, Adriana

    2013-11-01

    Building activity has recently led to the deterioration of environment and has become unsustainable. Several strategies have been introduced in order to minimize consumption of energy and resulting CO2 emissions having their origin in the operational phase. But also other stages of Life Cycle should are important to identify the overall environmental impact of construction sector. In this paper 5 similar Slovak buildings (family houses) were analyzed in terms of environmental performance of building materials used for their structures. Evaluation included the weight of used materials, embodied energy and embodied CO2 and SO2 emissions. Analysis has proven that the selection of building materials is an important factor which influences the environmental profile. Findings of the case study indicated that materials like concrete, ceramic or thermal insulation materials based on polystyrene and mineral wool are ones with the most negative environmental impact.

  20. Indoor environmental quality in French dwellings and building characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langer, Sarka; Ramalho, Olivier; Derbez, Mickaël; Ribéron, Jacques; Kirchner, Severine; Mandin, Corinne

    2016-03-01

    A national survey on indoor environmental quality covering 567 residences in mainland France was performed during 2003-2005. The measured parameters were temperature, relative humidity, CO2, and the indoor air pollutants: fourteen individual volatile organic compounds (VOC), four aldehydes and particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5. The measured indoor concentrations were analyzed for correlations with the building characteristics: type of dwelling, period of construction, dwelling location, type of ventilation system, building material, attached garage and retrofitting. The median night time air exchange rate (AER) for all dwellings was 0.44 h-1. The night time AER was higher in apartments (median = 0.49 h-1) than in single-family houses (median = 0.41 h-1). Concentration of formaldehyde was approximately 30% higher in dwellings built after 1990 compared with older ones; it was higher in dwellings with mechanical ventilation and in concrete buildings. The VOC concentrations depended on the building characteristics to various extents. The sampling season influenced the majority of the indoor climate parameters and the concentrations of the air pollutants to a higher degree than the building characteristics. Multivariate linear regression models revealed that the indoor-outdoor difference in specific humidity, a proxy for number of occupants and their indoor activities, remained a significant predictor for most gaseous and particulate air pollutants. The other strong predictors were outdoor concentration, smoking, attached garage and AER (in descending order).

  1. Family building using embryo adoption: relationships and contact arrangements between provider and recipient families-a mixed-methods study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frith, Lucy; Blyth, Eric; Lui, Steve

    2017-05-01

    What contact arrangements are established between providers and recipients of embryos using Snowflakes® Embryo Adoption Program? Contact arrangements varied considerably and were generally positively described, although some challenges were acknowledged. Reproductive technologies create new and diverse family forms, and the ways in which families created by embryo adoption are negotiated in practice have not been extensively investigated. This exploratory, mixed-methods study had two phases: (i) an online survey (open May-September 2013) and (ii) qualitative semi-structured interviews by email (conducted between 2014 and 2015), exploring participants' experiences of contact with their embryo provider or recipient. Phase I included 17 providers (14 women and 3 men) and 28 recipients (27 women and 1 man). Phase II included 8 providers (5 women and 3 men) and 12 recipients (10 women and 2 men). All participants, except one, were located in the US. This study illustrates how embryo adoption in the US, as a form of conditional donation, can operate and how the participants define and negotiate these emerging relationships. All families were open with their children about how they were conceived and early contact between recipients and providers (frequently before birth) was valued. On the whole, participants were happy with the amount and type of contact they had, and where the current contact did not involve the children, it was seen as a way of keeping the channels open for future contact when the children were older. Participants often portrayed the opportunities for contact as being in the best interests of the child. The study participants are a particular group who had chosen to either receive or give their embryos via a conditional embryo adoption agency in the US and had established contact. Therefore, this is not a representative sample of those who provide or receive embryos for family building. This embryo adoption model clearly fulfils a need; some people

  2. Family Planning Policy Environment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Levers of Positive Change and Prospects for Sustainability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukaba, Thibaut; Binanga, Arsene; Fohl, Sarah; Bertrand, Jane T

    2015-06-17

    Building on expressed support from the Prime Minister to the Ministries of Health and Planning, the country's new family planning commitment grew out of: (1) recognition of the impact of family planning on maternal mortality and economic development; (2) knowledge sharing of best practices from other African countries; (3) participatory development of a national strategic plan; (4) strong collaboration between stakeholders; (5) effective advocacy by champions including country and international experts; and (6) increased donor support. The question becomes: Will the favorable policy environment translate into effective local programming?

  3. Santa Fé: building a virtual city to develop a family health game.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tubelo, Rodrigo; Dahmer, Alessandra; Pinheiro, Luciana; Pinto, Maria E

    2013-01-01

    The current tendency of education in health is the use of new technologies like Virtual Reality. The course of UNASUS-UFCSPA specialization in family health was developed for health professionals that work in primary health care (PHC); in order to reach all Brazilian territory. Moodle is a platform where virtual activities are posted and evaluated. Santa Fé is a virtual city created in the Sketch up Pro, which aims to fit in specific clinical cases that involve matters of medicine, nursing and dentistry. The Software eAdventure was the tool used for the development of a game, offering interaction to the student with the Virtual City and the clinical cases, in the perspective of learning utilizing an entertainment method and evaluating individual performance of the students. The building of the city in the Sketch up Pro was successful and at low cost. The eAdventure was an efficient and intuitive tool, therefore, there was not necessarily a huge specific knowledge of technology or hardware with high speed processing and also speedy broad band internet for its use.

  4. Wood: a construction material for tall buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wimmers, Guido

    2017-12-01

    Wood has great potential as a building material, because it is strong and lightweight, environmentally friendly and can be used in prefabricated buildings. However, only changes in building codes will make wood competitive with steel and concrete.

  5. Small family, smart family? : family size and the IQ scores of young men

    OpenAIRE

    Black, Sandra E.; Devereux, Paul J.; Salvanes, Kjell Gunnar

    2007-01-01

    How do families influence the ability of children? Cognitive skills have been shown to be a strong predictor of educational attainment and future labor market success; as a result, understanding the determinants of cognitive skills can lead to a better understanding of children's long run outcomes. This paper uses a large dataset on the male population of Norway and focuses on one family characteristic: the effect of family size on IQ. Because of the endogeneity of family size, we instrument ...

  6. Building Strong Bonds with Program Sponsors--Public Relations Ideas To Make It Happen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, Karen

    2003-01-01

    Lists public relations strategies for child care center directors seeking to cultivate relationships with their program sponsors. Suggests ways to identify a public relations message, make the sponsor part of the child care family, become part of the sponsor's family, give public recognition, and share the children's accomplishments. (JPB)

  7. Building a Culinary Arts Academy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Robert L.

    2005-01-01

    When Judy Karen Brown (the 2004 Alabama Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year) arrived at Bob Jones High School (BJHS) in Madison, Alabama, in the summer of 1999, she immediately identified a need to build both student and community interests in family and consumer sciences (FACS). She noticed the student and faculty interest in the…

  8. The Strong Family Program: an innovative model to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth and Elders with reproductive and sexual health community education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duley, P; Botfield, J R; Ritter, T; Wicks, J; Brassil, A

    2017-08-01

    Issue addressed Aboriginal youth in Australia often experience high rates of intimate partner violence (family violence) and poorer reproductive and sexual health than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. To address some of the disparities, the Strong Family Program was developed to deliver reproductive and sexual health education to Aboriginal communities in New South Wales. Methods Development of the program was based on an extensive consultation process with Aboriginal communities. It was implemented in three communities, with two groups from each hosting Aboriginal youth and Elders in a yarning circle within the culturally respectful frameworks of 'men and boys'' and 'women and girls'' business. An evaluation was conducted to measure reproductive and sexual health knowledge and attitude changes upon program completion, using pre- and post-program surveys and yarning (focus group discussions). Results Program participants comprised 48 females and 28 males. Overall, mean knowledge and attitude scores improved upon completion of the program (from 77% to 82% and from 4.15 to 4.32 out of 5, respectively). Among participants aged 20 years and under (the youngest participant was 13 years), there was an increase in knowledge (P=0.034); among participants aged over 20 years (the oldest participant was 78 years), there was an increase in positive attitudes (P=0.001). Participants perceived the information provided to be useful and relevant, with many reporting improved knowledge and attitudes around rights and respectful relationships. Conclusions Reproductive and sexual health education in Aboriginal communities should be based on community consultations and carried out within a culturally appropriate framework to promote greater success. Continued implementation of the Strong Family Program will promote increased understanding of respectful relationships and improved health outcomes for Aboriginal young people. So what? The Strong Family Program was based on an extensive

  9. Strong interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Froissart, Marcel

    1976-01-01

    Strong interactions are introduced by their more obvious aspect: nuclear forces. In hadron family, the nucleon octet, OMEGA - decuplet, and quark triply are successively considered. Pion wave having been put at the origin of nuclear forces, low energy phenomena are described, the force being explained as an exchange of structure corresponding to a Regge trajectory in a variable rotating state instead of the exchange of a well defined particle. At high energies the concepts of pomeron, parton and stratons are introduced, pionization and fragmentation are briefly differentiated [fr

  10. Earnings Management and CSR Disclosure. Family vs. Non-Family Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanna Gavana

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Building on Institutional theory and Signaling theory, integrated with the socioemotional wealth (SEW approach, we studied the effect of earnings management (EM practices on a firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR disclosure behavior. In so doing, we analyzed a sample of 226 non-financial, family and non-family listed firms for the period, 2006–2015. Our results suggest that family firms, in instances of downward earnings management, are more prone to diverting attention from these practices by means of CSR disclosure, compared to non-family firms, although the level of family ownership exerts a moderating effect. Moreover, we found that a firm’s visibility, in terms of size, significantly enhances this behavior and that the effect is higher for family firms.

  11. The joint discourse 'reflexive sustainable development'. From weak towards strong sustainable development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nilsen, Heidi Rapp

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards moving the predominant situation of weak sustainable development (WSD) in the direction of strong sustainable development (SSD). More people - academics, politicians, bureaucrats and laymen alike - need to recognize SSD as an alternative to WSD. A joint discourse of WSD and SSD is suggested, called reflexive sustainable development. Here, advocates of WSD and SSD must argue for each specific case why their solution is better. This will expose, amongst other things, the ethical foundations which form part of resulting policy advice. Reflexive sustainable development is to be framed in discourse ethics, thereby remedying the power imbalance and allowing for substantial discussion. Reflexive sustainable development builds on a common theoretical base but will not lead to consensus in all matters. A family metaphor is introduced to inspire a discourse of both consensus and compromise. (author)

  12. Highlight: Building a strong future for African-led HIV prevention ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2016-04-14

    Apr 14, 2016 ... The event was a platform to demonstrate the strong collaborations between Canadian and African ... trials, from scientific research to trial administration and management to communicating results. ... Related articles ...

  13. Energy performance requirements for new buildings in 11 countries from Central Europe. Exemplary comparison of three buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loga, Tobias; Knissel, Jens; Diefenbach, Nikolaus

    2008-12-05

    The objective of the present comparison study is to show which energy efficiency require-ments have to be complied in different European countries when a new building is going to be constructed. For this purpose three Model Buildings were defined: a single-family house, a multi-family house and a school building. For each involved country (or region) the energy quality of the thermal envelope was determined which is necessary in order to just comply with the building code. Due to requirements on the overall energy performance the requested envelope quality usually depends also on the type of heat supply system or energy carrier. Therefore the systems were varied in a parameter study. The main result for each of the three Model Buildings is a comparison table which shows the heat transfer coefficient by transmission (a sort of mean U-value) for the different countries differenti-ated by supply system types. In a final step the primary energy demand according to the German regulation (EnEV 2007) was calculated for every envelope/system combination of the different countries. This allows a comparison of buildings with different supply systems. The study was performed by experts from 11 European member states: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. (orig.)

  14. Architectural layout and vulnerability to earthquakes of housing buildings of the Modernism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bostenaru, M.

    2009-04-01

    Bucharest, the capital of Romania, lays in a high seismic risk zone, being affected about three times a century by strong earthquakes. These occur in the mountainous region of Vrancea, at about 150 km from Bucharest, but given the fact that Bucharest is situated on alluvial soil deposits the effect of the earthquakes is stronger than in other regions of the country. In the 20th century damaging earthquakes occurred in 1940 and 1977. In both of them mostly affected were the interwar buildings, built 1920-1940 in the style of Romanian Modernism. There is little data about the 1940 earthquake, but the effects of the 1977 earthquake were extensively studied and last year 30 years since this earthquake passed. Scope of this contribution is to examine the architectural characteristics of the buildings of Modernism which lead to this high vulnerability, more precisely the criterion of zoning in the layout of the plans. This is the scope of a research project funded 2007-2010 by the European Commission with a Marie Curie Reintegration Grant; contract MERG-CT-2007-200636. Not only the buildings from Bucharest will be considered, but also from Athens, Greece and from Milan, Italy. Both Greece and Italy are countries with high seismic risk; however, Athens did not experience such damaging earthquakes until 1999 and Milan ever. The buildings of Romanian Modernism are characterised by a highly irregular shape in plan in both the overall contour as well as in the distribution of columns and beams. This is due to the following the architectural layout as well as to a lacking local seismic culture to apply at high rise buildings. It will be explained that Vrancea earthquakes, with their specific vibration periods, affect high rise buildings, and previously the style of living in Romania was the single family house, low rise, and thus less affected. Strong earthquakes used to affect slender high constructions, like the towers of churches, for example, and this is where the local

  15. Waves in strong centrifugal fields: dissipationless gas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogovalov, S. V.; Kislov, V. A.; Tronin, I. V.

    2015-04-01

    Linear waves are investigated in a rotating gas under the condition of strong centrifugal acceleration of the order 106 g realized in gas centrifuges for separation of uranium isotopes. Sound waves split into three families of the waves under these conditions. Dispersion equations are obtained. The characteristics of the waves strongly differ from the conventional sound waves on polarization, velocity of propagation and distribution of energy of the waves in space for two families having frequencies above and below the frequency of the conventional sound waves. The energy of these waves is localized in rarefied region of the gas. The waves of the third family were not specified before. They propagate exactly along the rotational axis with the conventional sound velocity. These waves are polarized only along the rotational axis. Radial and azimuthal motions are not excited. Energy of the waves is concentrated near the wall of the rotor where the density of the gas is largest.

  16. Energy Performance Indicators in the Swedish Building Procurement Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingrid Allard

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In Sweden, all new buildings need to comply with the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning’s requirement on specific purchased energy (kWh/m2. Accordingly, this indicator is often used to set design criteria in the building procurement process. However, when energy use is measured in finished buildings, the measurements often deviate significantly from the design calculations. The measured specific purchased energy does not necessarily reflect the responsibility of the building contractor, as it is influenced by the building operation, user behavior and climate. Therefore, Swedish building practitioners may prefer other indicators for setting design criteria in the building procurement process. The aim of this study was twofold: (i to understand the Swedish building practitioners’ perspectives and opinions on seven building energy performance indicators (envelope air leakage, U-values for different building parts, average U-value, specific heat loss, heat loss coefficient, specific net energy, and specific purchased energy; and (ii to understand the consequences for the energy performance of multi-family buildings of using the studied indicators to set criteria in the procurement process. The study involved a Delphi approach and simulations of a multi-family case study building. The studied indicators were discussed in terms of how they may meet the needs of the building practitioners when used to set building energy performance criteria in the procurement process.

  17. Building on piles in floodplains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Harke, J.; van der Maarel, A.J.G.; Schielen, Ralph Mathias Johannes; Ribberink, Jan S.; Augustijn, Dionysius C.M.; van Os, A.G.

    2007-01-01

    Last year in the Netherlands 15 locations were allocated along the Rhine branches where – under strong restrictions - it was allowed to build in floodplains. Building in floodplains may lead to a water level rise during floods and moreover, the river bed morphology may be disturbed

  18. A theory-based dual-focus alcohol intervention for preadolescents: the Strong African American Families Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerrard, Meg; Gibbons, Frederick X; Brody, Gene H; Murry, Velma McBride; Cleveland, Michael J; Wills, Thomas A

    2006-06-01

    This study examined mediators of the Strong African American Families Program, a randomized, dual-focus prevention trial intended to delay the onset of alcohol use and reduce alcohol consumption among rural African American youths. More specifically, it demonstrated that changes in consumption 2 yrs after the intervention were mediated through 2 different paths, a social reaction path and a reasoned/intention path. The social reaction path provided evidence that relative to the control condition, the intervention decreased children's willingness to drink by making their images of drinkers less favorable. The reasoned/intention path provided evidence that the intervention influenced the children's intentions to drink by increasing targeted parenting behaviors related to alcohol. Furthermore, the data demonstrate that these changes in willingness and intentions were independently associated with alcohol consumption at the follow-up, and they suggest that a dual-process model approach that targets both intentions and willingness can be more successful than either approach alone.

  19. Multiple Blockholder Structures and Family Firm Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fattoum-Guedri, Asma; Guedri, Zied; Delmar, Frédéric

    2018-01-01

    This study examines how multiple blockholder structures affect family firm performance. Building on arguments from both principal–principal agency and familiness perspectives, we suggest that asymmetrical distribution of voting power among family and nonfamily blockholders hurts firm performance....

  20. Strong expectations cancel locality effects: evidence from Hindi.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samar Husain

    Full Text Available Expectation-driven facilitation (Hale, 2001; Levy, 2008 and locality-driven retrieval difficulty (Gibson, 1998, 2000; Lewis & Vasishth, 2005 are widely recognized to be two critical factors in incremental sentence processing; there is accumulating evidence that both can influence processing difficulty. However, it is unclear whether and how expectations and memory interact. We first confirm a key prediction of the expectation account: a Hindi self-paced reading study shows that when an expectation for an upcoming part of speech is dashed, building a rarer structure consumes more processing time than building a less rare structure. This is a strong validation of the expectation-based account. In a second study, we show that when expectation is strong, i.e., when a particular verb is predicted, strong facilitation effects are seen when the appearance of the verb is delayed; however, when expectation is weak, i.e., when only the part of speech "verb" is predicted but a particular verb is not predicted, the facilitation disappears and a tendency towards a locality effect is seen. The interaction seen between expectation strength and distance shows that strong expectations cancel locality effects, and that weak expectations allow locality effects to emerge.

  1. Strong expectations cancel locality effects: evidence from Hindi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husain, Samar; Vasishth, Shravan; Srinivasan, Narayanan

    2014-01-01

    Expectation-driven facilitation (Hale, 2001; Levy, 2008) and locality-driven retrieval difficulty (Gibson, 1998, 2000; Lewis & Vasishth, 2005) are widely recognized to be two critical factors in incremental sentence processing; there is accumulating evidence that both can influence processing difficulty. However, it is unclear whether and how expectations and memory interact. We first confirm a key prediction of the expectation account: a Hindi self-paced reading study shows that when an expectation for an upcoming part of speech is dashed, building a rarer structure consumes more processing time than building a less rare structure. This is a strong validation of the expectation-based account. In a second study, we show that when expectation is strong, i.e., when a particular verb is predicted, strong facilitation effects are seen when the appearance of the verb is delayed; however, when expectation is weak, i.e., when only the part of speech "verb" is predicted but a particular verb is not predicted, the facilitation disappears and a tendency towards a locality effect is seen. The interaction seen between expectation strength and distance shows that strong expectations cancel locality effects, and that weak expectations allow locality effects to emerge.

  2. Building Trust, Elevating Voices, and Sharing Power in Family Partnership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidson, Kristen; Case, Madeleine

    2018-01-01

    Research has shown that traditional ways of promoting family involvement in school are often ineffective, especially among families whose approach does not align with the middle-class child-rearing practices embraced in many U.S. schools. To encourage greater family involvement, a Colorado school district is piloting a program in which educators…

  3. Familial hypercholesterolemia

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... and Tests A physical exam may show fatty skin growths called xanthomas and cholesterol deposits in the eye (corneal arcus). The health care provider will ask questions about your personal and family medical history. There may be: A strong family history of ...

  4. Developing programs for african families, by african families

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Halliday, Jennifer A; Green, Julie; Mellor, David

    2013-01-01

    Obesity is an emerging problem for African migrants in Australia, but few prevention programs incorporate their cultural beliefs and values. This study reports on the application of community capacity-building and empowerment principles in 4 workshops with Sudanese families in Australia. Workshop...

  5. Engaging Men in Family Planning: Perspectives From Married Men in Lomé, Togo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koffi, Tekou B; Weidert, Karen; Ouro Bitasse, Erakalaza; Mensah, Marthe Adjoko E; Emina, Jacques; Mensah, Sheila; Bongiovanni, Annette; Prata, Ndola

    2018-05-09

    Family planning programs have made vast progress in many regions of sub-Saharan Africa in the last decade, but francophone West Africa is still lagging behind. More emphasis on male engagement might result in better outcomes, especially in countries with strong patriarchal societies. Few studies in francophone West Africa have examined attitudes of male involvement in family planning from the perspective of men themselves, yet this evidence is necessary for development of successful family planning projects that include men. This qualitative study, conducted in 2016, explored attitudes of 72 married men ages 18-54 through 6 focus groups in the capital of Togo, Lomé. Participants included professional workers as well as skilled and unskilled workers. Results indicate that men have specific views on family planning based on their knowledge and understanding of how and why women might use contraception. While some men did have reservations, both founded and not, there was an overwhelmingly positive response to discussing family planning and being engaged with related decisions and services. Four key findings from the analyses of focus group responses were: (1) socioeconomic motivations drive men's interest in family planning; (2) men strongly disapprove of unilateral decisions by women to use family planning; (3) misconceptions surrounding modern methods can hinder support for family planning; and (4) limited method choice for men, insufficient venues to receive services, and few messages that target men create barriers for male engagement in family planning. Future attempts to engage men in family planning programs should pay specific attention to men's concerns, misconceptions, and their roles in family decision making. Interventions should educate men on the socioeconomic and health benefits of family planning while explaining the possible side effects and dispelling myths. To help build trust and facilitate open communication, family planning programs that

  6. Books that Focus on Family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winfield, Evelyn T.

    1989-01-01

    Twelve books which touch upon family relationships are reviewed in this article. These books show how families can build positive relationships among their members in a variety of situations. Issues include self-concept, health, sibling rivalry, the generation gap, divorce, and death. (IAH)

  7. Interventions to build resilience in family caregivers of people living with dementia: a comprehensive systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petriwskyj, Andrea; Parker, Deborah; O'Dwyer, Siobhan; Moyle, Wendy; Nucifora, Nikki

    2016-06-01

    Recent studies have indicated that family caregivers of people with dementia have higher rates of depression, anxiety and hopelessness, as well as higher levels of burden, stress and distress. Not all caregivers, however, succumb to the negative effects of caring. Caregivers who are able to recover from, resist or adapt to the physical and psychological demands of caring can be considered "resilient". The objective of this review was to examine the existing evidence regarding interventions for building resilience in family caregivers of people living with dementia. This review considered studies that included family caregivers of people with dementia. Studies investigating interventions to build resilience in family caregivers were considered by the review. For qualitative studies, the phenomena of interest were family caregivers' experiences of the interventions including factors affecting implementation and their subjective experience of outcomes. Studies conducted in any cultural or geographical context and any settings including participants' homes in the community, residential aged care or hospital, medical or allied health practice were considered for inclusion. Quantitative studies incorporating experimental and descriptive study designs and qualitative studies, including, but not limited to, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research were considered for inclusion. Quantitative studies were included that contained either objective or subjective outcome measures (or a combination of both). In cases in which proxy measures of resilience were used, only those papers that explicitly related the aims of the intervention and the measurement of outcomes to resilience itself were considered for inclusion. Proxies could include, but were not limited to, self-efficacy, locus of control, perceived burden, psychological wellbeing, strength, coping, positive adjustment and resourcefulness. Qualitative studies were similarly

  8. Comparison of the inelastic response of steel building frames to strong earthquake and underground nuclear explosion ground motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murray, R.C.; Tokarz, F.J.

    1976-01-01

    Analytic studies were made of the adequacy of simulating earthquake effects at the Nevada Test Site for structural testing purposes. It is concluded that underground nuclear explosion ground motion will produce inelastic behavior and damage comparable to that produced by strong earthquakes. The generally longer duration of earthquakes compared with underground nuclear explosions does not appear to significantly affect the structural behavior of the building frames considered. A comparison of maximum ductility ratios, maximum story drifts, and maximum displacement indicate similar structural behavior for both types of ground motion. Low yield (10 - kt) underground nuclear explosions are capable of producing inelastic behavior in large structures. Ground motion produced by underground nuclear explosions can produce inelastic earthquake-like effects in large structures and could be used for testing large structures in the inelastic response regime. The Nevada Test Site is a feasible earthquake simulator for testing large structures

  9. LEED AND THE DESIGN/BUILD EXPERIENCE: A SHELTER FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES RETURNING TO POST-KATRINA NEW ORLEANS.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Verderber

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Hurricane Katrina displaced nearly one million citizens from the New Orleans metro region in 2005. Five years after the catastrophe, in August of 2010, more than 150,000 citizens remained scattered across the United States. Katrina was the largest Diaspora in the nation’s history. The number of homes damaged or destroyed by Katrina’s devastation numbered more than 125,000. An award-winning case study is presented of a unique partnership forged between academia, a local social service agency, professional architectural and engineering firms, and a national humanitarian aid organization whose mission is to provide affordable housing for homeless persons in transition. This collaboration resulted in a sustainable design/build project that originated in a research-based university design studio. The facility is a 38-bed family shelter for homeless mothers and their children seeking to rebuild their lives in post-Katrina New Orleans. The site for this 4,400 facility did not flood when the city’s federally built levee system failed in 2005. This case study is presented from its inception, to programming and design, construction, occupancy, and the postoccupancy assessment of the completed building. This facility is the first LEED certified (Silver building in New Orleans. Project limitations, lessons learned, and recommendations for future initiatives of this type are discussed, particularly in the context of any inner urban community coping with the aftermath of an urban disaster.

  10. Resolution on Creating Family-Style Children's Homes, August 1988.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-01-01

    This Resolution approves a proposal of the V.I. Lenin Soviet Children's Fund for setting up "family-style" children's homes in the Soviet Union. Children's homes are to consist of a) children's towns--single-family, multiroom homes occupied by families raising at least ten orphaned children and children left without parental care; and b) premises of individual families raising at least five such children while occupying separate multiroom units in regular apartment buildings, specialized buildings, or groups of buildings. In addition to residential buildings, children's towns are to contain a secondary school, a sports and fitness center, preschool facilities, housekeeping and preventative health care buildings, auxiliary farming plots, and other land where children and adults can work together. Thirty homes are to be built in the period 1988-1991. The Resolution also approves proposals establishing an All-Union Wardship Council; charging public health officials with providing permanent, qualified health care, consultation, mental health care, and diagnostics to every family assuming the responsibility of raising children; setting the task of organizing expanded research on children's health and treatment; recommending that enterprises, organizations, and institutions provide transportation service to family-style children's homes and families of employees raising these children and give them passes to sanatoriums, preventoriums, recreation centers and vacation complexes; and pledging the Council of Ministers' participation in the financing, construction, outfitting, and equipping of these homes and in providing material assistance to families raising orphaned children and children left without parental care. The Council of Ministers also decided that the time foster parents spend in raising five or more such children will be added to their overall continuous work record for the purposes of pensions and benefits and to their length of service in their specialty

  11. Building trust to work with children after a severe traumatic accident.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Julianne; Nayar, Shoba

    2014-01-01

    Trust is integral to nursing; yet little is known about how nurses establish trust when working with patients. This grounded theory study explored nurses' perspectives of how to build trust with a child and family in the context of paediatric acute health care. Seven paediatric acute care nurses were asked what they did when they cared for a child admitted to an acute care ward from emergency department or intensive care unit following a severe traumatic accident. Building trust emerged as the basic social process for an effective working relationship between a nurse and family to promote the rehabilitation of the child. This paper argues that building trust is critical to nurses developing a working relationship with both child and family to promote optimal health, and enables nurses to effectively step out and handover the care of the child to the family.

  12. Work-Family Conflict and the Perception of Departmental and Institutional Work-Family Policies in Collegiate Athletic Trainers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godek, Michelle M.

    2012-01-01

    Employees throughout the United States struggle to balance their work and family commitments, in part because the workforce makeup has changed significantly over the last half century. The evolving family structure also has contributed to this struggle. This research seeks to build on previous work-family literature by incorporating the six…

  13. Characteristics and Motivational Factors of Effective Extension Advisory Leaders: Implications for Building Strong Extension Advisory Councils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joy Kish

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics and motivational factors of effective Extension advisory leaders. This Delphi study was conducted with a selected group of County Extension Directors and a group of Extension State Advisory Leaders. The study identified 10 characteristics that distinguish an effective Extension advisory leader. Some of these characteristics are explicit and easy to observe, while others are implicit and difficult to directly observe. Therefore, it is practical to use directly observable characteristics of effective advisory leaders when selecting volunteers. Once potential volunteers are spotted in the community, implicit characteristics of effective advisory leaders should be used to further screen them before they are selected. The study also identified the eight most important factors motivating individuals to volunteer as effective advisory leaders. Understanding these motivational factors is helpful for creating an environment for attracting and retaining effective volunteers. Understanding their motivation for volunteer work and creating an environment for them to meet the motivating factors for volunteering will lead to volunteer satisfaction and retention. The findings of this study can be used to build strong Extension advisory councils.

  14. Building social and economic capital: the family and medical savings accounts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherry, Mark J

    2012-12-01

    Despite the well-documented social, economic, and adaptive advantages for young children, adolescents, and adults, the traditional family in the West is in decline. A growing percentage of men and women choose not to be bound by the traditional moral and social expectations of marriage and family life. Adults are much more likely than in the past to live as sexually active singles, with a concomitant increase in forms of social isolation as well as in the number of children born outside of marriage. These social shifts are also connected to public policies that provide incentives for individuals to exit the family, leaving behind its social, capital, and economic resources. The individualistic character of the social-democratic egalitarian ideology that underlies the current dominant approaches to health care financing in Western Europe and much of North America, for example, is associated with a decline in family stability. Welfare entitlements, including state-based health care, have made it easier to exit the family, undermining the centrality of the family's core human relationships. This essay argues for the importance of recognizing the cardinal role and reality of the family and for the importance of family-based health care savings accounts for preserving family integrity, while also providing for sustainable long-term health care reform.

  15. Axions from chiral family symmetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, D.; Pal, P.B.; Maryland Univ., College Park; Senjanovic, G.

    1985-01-01

    We investigate the possibility that family symmetry, Gsub(F), is spontaneously broken chiral global symmetry. We classify the interesting cases when family symmetry can result in an automatic Peccei-Quinn symmetry U(1)sub(PQ) and thus provide a solution to the strong CP problem. The result disfavors having two or four families. For more than four families, U(1)sub(PQ) is in general automatic. In the case of three families, a unique Higgs sector allows U(1)sub(PQ) in the simplest case of Gsub(F)=[SU(3)] 3 . Cosmological consideration also puts strong constraint on the number of families. For Gsub(F)=[SU(N)] 3 cosmology singles out the three-family (N=3) case as a unique solution if there are three light neutrinos. Possible implication of decoupling theorem as applied to family symmetry breaking is also discussed. (orig.)

  16. Domestic hot water use study, multi-family building energy monitoring and analysis for DHW system sizing criteria development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldner, F.S.

    1993-01-01

    Thirty New York City multifamily building combined steam heating and domestic hot water (DHW) plants were instrumented for monitoring (mostly hourly) apartment, outdoor, boiler and DHW temperatures and burner on-off times. In nine of these buildings, which had been upgraded, additional data collected were: stack temperature, DHW flow in 15-minute increments, oil ampersand boiler make-up water flows, and DHW temperature before and after the mixing (tempering) valve and on the circulating return line. The project's objectives are to develop comprehensive operating data on combined DHW and heating systems to be used in system design and specifications and for improving operating procedures. DHW requirements in multi-family buildings are currently calculated on the basis of questionable standards. These new, more precise DHW flow data result in a better basis for sizing than existed heretofore. There is a critical need for improved specifications and performance in newly constructed and renovated buildings. Better system choices among various instantaneous generation and storage scenarios will result in savings derived from smaller initial equipment investments as well as more energy efficient operations. The data being generated define figures for DHW energy use so that more reliable and accurate predictions of savings can be calculated. This paper presents DHW demand patterns, seasonal variations, weekday vs. weekend consumption, consumption vs. occupancy levels, coincidence of 15- and 60-minute demand periods, and average vs. peak demand levels. This project is sponsored by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The results of this research are being reviewed for inclusion in a revision of DHW guidelines for the next edition of the ASHRAE Handbook

  17. Family planning education helps build self-esteem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choudhary, P

    1993-10-01

    I got married at the age of 20. In our community, generally girls are married off at 15 or 16, but my marriage was delayed according to my father's and my wishes. I did not desire to have my first child immediately. My husband and I are very young and I did not want to assume maternal responsibilities so early in life. Picking up courage, I spoke to my husband. On learning that he had similar views, I was very relieved. I belong to a middle-class family. Due to an absence of a high school in the village. I was forced to drop out of school. Young girls in our community are not allowed to move freely within the village, much less the outside world. But when I was 19, I got the opportunity to gain a lot of information on family planning, health, personal hygiene and good nutrition as part of the Better Life Project. I also learned beauty skills, embroidery, knitting and video film-making. Often I share the information and skills I learned with others. I have even advised my brother's wives about proper child care and immunization. Now that I have a good relationship with the unmarried sister of my husband, I sometimes tell her whatever I have learned. I have felt a great change in myself. My earlier inhibitions in talking to people have dropped, and I can entertain and speak freely with guests who come home. I am more confident about traveling outside my village to other places alone or with company. Learning to operate a video camera and producing a film was my favorite experience. I discovered that I can do what is normally said to be the work of boys only. Sometimes I think that if I had not learned new skills, I would not have been able to share my feelings about family planning with my husband. My mother-in-law is also agreeable to our decision about waiting to have children because both my brothers-in-law have large families. However, I have to face my sisters-in-law who taunt me about my childless status. The problem now is that my husband is not satisfied

  18. The Building Wealth and Health Network: methods and baseline characteristics from a randomized controlled trial for families with young children participating in temporary assistance for needy families (TANF).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Jing; Patel, Falguni; Kirzner, Rachel; Newton-Famous, Nijah; Owens, Constance; Welles, Seth L; Chilton, Mariana

    2016-07-16

    Families with children under age six participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) must participate in work-related activities for 20 h per week. However, due to financial hardship, poor health, and exposure to violence and adversity, families may experience great difficulty in reaching self-sufficiency. The purpose of this report is to describe study design and baseline findings of a trauma-informed financial empowerment and peer support intervention meant to mitigate these hardships. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a 28-week intervention called Building Wealth and Health Network to improve financial security and maternal and child health among caregivers participating in TANF. Participants, recruited from County Assistance offices in Philadelphia, PA, were randomized into two intervention groups (partial and full) and one control group. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline to assess career readiness, economic hardship, health and wellbeing, exposure to adversity and violence, and interaction with criminal justice systems. Baseline characteristics demonstrate that among 103 participants, there were no significant differences by group. Mean age of participants was 25 years, and youngest child was 30 months. The majority of participants were women (94.2 %), never married (83.5 %), unemployed (94.2 %), and without a bank account (66.0 %). Many reported economic hardship (32.0 % very low household food secure, 65.0 % housing insecure, and 31.1 % severe energy insecure), and depression (57.3 %). Exposure to adversity was prevalent, where 38.8 % reported four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences including abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. In terms of community violence, 64.7 % saw a seriously wounded person after an incident of violence, and 27.2 % had seen someone killed. Finally, 14.6 % spent time in an adult correctional institution, and 48.5 % of the fathers of the youngest child spent

  19. THE ROLE OF FAMILY SOCIALIZING IN BUILDING GENDER IDENTITY

    OpenAIRE

    Adina Magda lena IORGA

    2015-01-01

    Socialization is an interactive communication process that requires individual development and social influences, thus highlighting personal reception and interpretation of social messages, as well as the intensity and content dynamic of these social influences. In this context, family socialization represents the main model of the of gender interactions, of defining gender identity composition and gender expectations. Gender socialization within the family setting is very important because i...

  20. Building houses with earth blocks: A guide for upgrading traditional building methods using handmade earth blocks

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Bolton, M

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available This report is a guide to building strong earth houses that will last a long time but without having to spend a lot of extra money or hire outside experts to do the building. It supports the process of improving the quality of earth housing...

  1. Building Teachers' Data-Use Capacity: Insights from Strong and Developing Coaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huguet, Alice; Marsh, Julie A.; Farrell, Caitlin C.

    2014-01-01

    Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity to interpret and respond to student learning data. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the implementation of these initiatives. This article begins to addresses this gap by examining the elements of a coach's practice that appear…

  2. 78 FR 71431 - National Family Week, 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-27

    ..., same-sex couple, single parent, or guardian--families are the building blocks of American society... Family Week, 2013 #0; #0; #0; Presidential Documents #0; #0; #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol. 78 , No. 229...

  3. Experimental building with new types of building envelope structures. Part 1: Structures/systems. Building system: Brick walls; Forsoegshus med nye typer klimaskaermskonstruktioner. Del 1: Konstruktioner/systemer - Byggesystem: Fuldmuret

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2003-07-01

    The house described in this report is one of several experimental houses forming part of the project 'Experimental buildings with new types of building envelope structures'. One purpose of the project is to demonstrate that it is possible to build typical single-family houses with an energy consumption that meets expected increased building regulations. Furthermore, it is important that the houses can be made securely as regards construction technology and within reasonable financial limits. Thus, the purpose is also to contribute to strengthen the development of improved building envelope structures. Another purpose is to carry out detailed measurements of energy consumption in order to validate thermal performance of future building envelope structures. The report describes the constructive design and energy systems of the house plus heat loss calculations and expected energy consumption. (BA)

  4. A Research Proposal to Examine Entrepreneurship in Family Business

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge A. Durán-Encalada

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper builds on existing theoretical and empirical studies in the areas of family business and entrepreneurship. It uses Dubin´s theory building framework to propose a model for conducting research of family businesses and its linkage to entrepreneurial activities in Mexico. This works starts by describing the concepts of family business and explains the importance that these definitions can have on the variables to be included in the research. After that, the paper explains how the concept of “familiness” relates to the essence definition of family business. Using the resource-based view (RBV, agency theory, and social capital theories we describe how social capital resources are the basis for building firm capabilities and competitive advantages that influence firm’s performances. Based on this perspective, a theoretical model, laws of interaction, a set of propositions and suggestions for further research are provided.

  5. Knowledge Transfer in Family Business Successions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boyd, Britta; Royer, Susanne; Pei, Rong

    Knowledge often is the fundament for strategic competitive advantage. Thus, it is highly relevant to understand better how knowledge is transferred from one generation to the next in family businesses. Building on the contingency model of family business succession (Royer, Simons, Boyd & Rafferty...

  6. Strong Proximities on Smooth Manifolds and Vorono\\" i Diagrams

    OpenAIRE

    Peters, J. F.; Guadagni, C.

    2015-01-01

    This article introduces strongly near smooth manifolds. The main results are (i) second countability of the strongly hit and far-miss topology on a family $\\mathcal{B}$ of subsets on the Lodato proximity space of regular open sets to which singletons are added, (ii) manifold strong proximity, (iii) strong proximity of charts in manifold atlases implies that the charts have nonempty intersection. The application of these results is given in terms of the nearness of atlases and charts of proxim...

  7. The role of family social background and inheritance in later life volunteering: evidence from SHARE-Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youssim, Iaroslav; Hank, Karsten; Litwin, Howard

    2015-01-01

    Building on a tripartite model of capitals necessary to perform productive activities and on work suggesting that cumulative (dis-)advantage processes are important mechanisms for life course inequalities, our study set out to investigate the potential role of family social background and inheritance in later life volunteering. We hypothesized that older individuals who inherited work-relevant economic and cultural capitals from their family of origin are more likely to be engaged in voluntary activities than their counterparts with a less advantageous family social background. Our main findings from the analysis of a representative sample of community-dwelling Israelis aged 50 and over provide strong support for this hypothesis: the likelihood to volunteer is significantly higher among those who received substantial financial transfers from their family of origin ("inherited economic capital") and among those having a "white collar" parental background ("inherited cultural capital"). We conclude with perspectives for future research. © The Author(s) 2014.

  8. The absolute environmental performance of buildings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brejnrod, Kathrine Nykjær; Kalbar, Pradip; Petersen, Steffen

    2017-01-01

    Our paper presents a novel approach for absolute sustainability assessment of a building's environmental performance. It is demonstrated how the absolute sustainable share of the earth carrying capacity of a specific building type can be estimated using carrying capacity based normalization factors....... A building is considered absolute sustainable if its annual environmental burden is less than its share of the earth environmental carrying capacity. Two case buildings – a standard house and an upcycled single-family house located in Denmark – were assessed according to this approach and both were found...... to exceed the target values of three (almost four) of the eleven impact categories included in the study. The worst-case excess was for the case building, representing prevalent Danish building practices, which utilized 1563% of the Climate Change carrying capacity. Four paths to reach absolute...

  9. Marital Expectations in Strong African American Marriages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaterlaus, J Mitchell; Skogrand, Linda; Chaney, Cassandra; Gahagan, Kassandra

    2017-12-01

    The current exploratory study utilized a family strengths framework to identify marital expectations in 39 strong African American heterosexual marriages. Couples reflected on their marital expectations over their 10 or more years of marriage. Three themes emerged through qualitative analysis and the participants' own words were used in the presentation of the themes. African Americans indicated that there was growth in marital expectations over time, with marital expectations often beginning with unrealistic expectations that grew into more realistic expectations as their marriages progressed. Participants also indicated that core expectations in strong African American marriages included open communication, congruent values, and positive treatment of spouse. Finally, participants explained there is an "I" in marriage as they discussed the importance of autonomy within their marital relationships. Results are discussed in association with existing research and theory. © 2016 Family Process Institute.

  10. Sustainable Building Life Cycle Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ginzburg Alexander

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The current building life cycle management system in the Russian Federation is a family of discrete subsystems that exist independently for different building life cycle stages. In this situation building reliability and sustainable functioning are out of the question. The implementation of a united information model (BIM-model intended to describe building entire life cycle will allow to raise the sustainability, but this will happen only if goals and concerns of all participants of the project process are properly coordinated. An important figure of process sustainability is the organizational and technological reliability (OTR that describes the possibility of a system to reach a goal. In case of building life cycle design, the economical efficiency of a building can be considered as the goal. The required technical, ecological, organizational, and other parameters form a complex of constraints that determine the area of allowable values for building functioning. In its broad meaning, OTR may be understood as the probability of receiving an economical effect based on the value of organizational and economical reliability (OER.

  11. A Method to Estimate Energy Demand in Existing Buildings Based on the Danish Building and Dwellings Register (BBR)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Anker; Bertelsen, Niels Haldor; Wittchen, Kim Bjarne

    2013-01-01

    an energy label. The Danish Building Research Institute has described a method that can be used to estimate the energy demand in buildings specially dwellings. This is based on the information in the Danish Building and Dwelling Register (BBR) and information on building regulations at construction year......The Energy Performance Directive requires energy certifications for buildings. This is implemented in Denmark so that houses that are sold must have an energy performance label based on an evaluation from a visit to the building. The result is that only a small part of the existing houses has...... for the house. The result is an estimate for energy demand in each building with a variation. This makes it possible to make an automatic classification of all buildings. Then it is possible to find houses in need for thermal improvements. This method is tested for single family houses and flats. The paper...

  12. Family migration and relative earnings potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foged, Mette

    2016-01-01

    of husband centered migration. Couples are more likely to migrate if household earnings potential is disproportionally due to one partner, and families react equally strongly to a male and a female relative advantage in educational earnings potential. These results are driven by households with a strong......A unitarian model of family migration in which families may discount wives’ private gains is used to derive testable predictions regarding the type of couples that select into migrating. The empirical tests show that gender neutral family migration cannot be rejected against the alternative...

  13. Client Experiences of Counselling and Treatment Interventions: A Qualitative Study of Family Views of Family Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, David

    1996-01-01

    Argues that personal experience and social life are inherently meaningful and that qualitative research designs can contribute to theory-building in counseling and psychotherapy. To illustrate the use of qualitative research designs and methods of analysis, a study of family members' views of family therapy is described. (RJM)

  14. Where are family theories in family-based obesity treatment?: conceptualizing the study of families in pediatric weight management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skelton, JA; Buehler, C; Irby, MB; Grzywacz, JG

    2014-01-01

    Family-based approaches to pediatric obesity treatment are considered the ‘gold-standard,’ and are recommended for facilitating behavior change to improve child weight status and health. If family-based approaches are to be truly rooted in the family, clinicians and researchers must consider family process and function in designing effective interventions. To bring a better understanding of family complexities to family-based treatment, two relevant reviews were conducted and are presented: (1) a review of prominent and established theories of the family that may provide a more comprehensive and in-depth approach for addressing pediatric obesity; and (2) a systematic review of the literature to identify the use of prominent family theories in pediatric obesity research, which found little use of theories in intervention studies. Overlapping concepts across theories include: families are a system, with interdependence of units; the idea that families are goal-directed and seek balance; and the physical and social environment imposes demands on families. Family-focused theories provide valuable insight into the complexities of families. Increased use of these theories in both research and practice may identify key leverage points in family process and function to prevent the development of or more effectively treat obesity. The field of family studies provides an innovative approach to the difficult problem of pediatric obesity, building on the long-established approach of family-based treatment. PMID:22531090

  15. Building method for nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iba, Tsutomu.

    1993-01-01

    Outer shielding buildings and inner concretes are dismantled and removed. In this case, foundations are left as they are. Then, new outer shielding buildings and inner concretes are constructed on the old foundations by way of rubber a laminates. The outer shielding buildings and the inner concretes supported by the rubber laminates have an earthquake-proof structure and vibrations upon occurrence of earthquakes can be moderated by the rubber laminates. Therefore, it is not required to make the outer shielding buildings so strong, and the weight of them can be reduced. Accordingly, the weight of the buildings is reduced compared with the buildings before dismantling, so that they can be sufficiently supported by the old foundations. This enables to build a nuclear power plant without ensuring new construction sites. (I.N.)

  16. The Building Wealth and Health Network: methods and baseline characteristics from a randomized controlled trial for families with young children participating in temporary assistance for needy families (TANF

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Sun

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Families with children under age six participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF must participate in work-related activities for 20 h per week. However, due to financial hardship, poor health, and exposure to violence and adversity, families may experience great difficulty in reaching self-sufficiency. The purpose of this report is to describe study design and baseline findings of a trauma-informed financial empowerment and peer support intervention meant to mitigate these hardships. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial of a 28-week intervention called Building Wealth and Health Network to improve financial security and maternal and child health among caregivers participating in TANF. Participants, recruited from County Assistance offices in Philadelphia, PA, were randomized into two intervention groups (partial and full and one control group. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline to assess career readiness, economic hardship, health and wellbeing, exposure to adversity and violence, and interaction with criminal justice systems. Results Baseline characteristics demonstrate that among 103 participants, there were no significant differences by group. Mean age of participants was 25 years, and youngest child was 30 months. The majority of participants were women (94.2 %, never married (83.5 %, unemployed (94.2 %, and without a bank account (66.0 %. Many reported economic hardship (32.0 % very low household food secure, 65.0 % housing insecure, and 31.1 % severe energy insecure, and depression (57.3 %. Exposure to adversity was prevalent, where 38.8 % reported four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences including abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. In terms of community violence, 64.7 % saw a seriously wounded person after an incident of violence, and 27.2 % had seen someone killed. Finally, 14.6 % spent time in an adult correctional institution, and 48

  17. Family Communication: Strategies for Building Effective Partnerships and Working Relationships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamash, Emily R.; Martin, Alyson M.

    2014-01-01

    This article offers a variety of strategies for pre-service and beginning teachers to utilize in order to create positive and effective relationships with families that are built on clear communication and trust. It is crucial for new and veteran teachers to understand the importance of successful communication with parents and families of…

  18. Family Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Child Anxiety Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Jeffrey J.; Piacentini, John C.; Southam-Gerow, Michael; Chu, Brian C.; Sigman, Marian

    2006-01-01

    Objective: This study compared family-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT: the Building Confidence Program) with traditional child-focused CBT with minimal family involvement for children with anxiety disorders. Method: Forty clinically anxious youth (6-13 years old) were randomly assigned to a family- or child-focused cognitive-behavioral…

  19. Building energy demand aggregation and simulation tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gianniou, Panagiota; Heller, Alfred; Rode, Carsten

    2015-01-01

    to neighbourhoods and cities. Buildings occupy a key place in the development of smart cities as they represent an important potential to integrate smart energy solutions. Building energy consumption affects significantly the performance of the entire energy network. Therefore, a realistic estimation...... of the aggregated building energy use will not only ensure security of supply but also enhance the stabilization of national energy balances. In this study, the aggregation of building energy demand was investigated for a real case in Sønderborg, Denmark. Sixteen single-family houses -mainly built in the 1960s......- were examined, all connected to the regional district heating network. The aggregation of building energy demands was carried out according to typologies, being represented by archetype buildings. These houses were modelled with dynamic energy simulation software and with a simplified simulation tool...

  20. Rhinitis, Asthma and Respiratory Infections among Adults in Relation to the Home Environment in Multi-Family Buildings in Sweden

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Juan; Engvall, Karin; Smedje, Greta; Norbäck, Dan

    2014-01-01

    Risk factors for rhinitis, asthma and respiratory infections in the home environment were studied by a questionnaire survey. Totally 5775 occupants (≥18 years old) from a stratified random sample of multi-family buildings in Sweden participated (46%). 51.0% had rhinitis in the last 3 months (current rhinitis); 11.5% doctor diagnosed asthma; 46.4% respiratory infections in the last 3 months and 11.9% antibiotic medication for respiratory infections in the last 12 months. Associations between home environment and health were analyzed by multiple logistic regression, controlling for gender, age and smoking and mutual adjustment. Buildings constructed during 1960–1975 were risk factors for day time breathlessness (OR = 1.53, 95%CI 1.03–2.29). And those constructed during 1976–1985 had more current rhinitis (OR = 1.43, 95%CI 1.12–1.84) and respiratory infections (OR = 1.46, 95%CI 1.21–1.78). Cities with higher population density had more current rhinitis (p = 0.008) and respiratory infections (pBuilding dampness was a risk factor for wheeze (OR = 1.42, 95%CI 1.08–1.86) and day time breathlessness (OR = 1.57, 95%CI 1.09–2.27). Building dampness was a risk factor for health among those below 66 years old. Odor at home was a risk factor for doctor diagnosed asthma (OR = 1.49, 95%CI 1.08–2.06) and current asthma (OR = 1.52, 95%CI 1.03–2.24). Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) was a risk factor for current asthma (OR = 1.53, 95%CI 1.09–2.16). Window pane condensation was a risk factor for antibiotic medication for respiratory infections (OR = 1.41, 95%CI 1.10–1.82). In conclusion, rhinitis, asthma and respiratory infections were related to a number of factors in the home environment. Certain building years (1961–1985), building dampness, window pane condensation and odor in the dwelling may be risk factors. PMID:25136984

  1. Developing a strong safety culture - a safety management challenge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Low, M.; Gipson, G. P.; Williams, M.

    1995-01-01

    The approach is presented adapted by Nuclear Electric to build a strong safety culture through the development of its safety management system. Two features regarded as critical to a strong safety culture are: provision of effective communications to promote an awareness and ownership of safety among craft, and commitment to continuous improvement with a genuine willingness to learn from own experiences and those from others. (N.T.) 5 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  2. Dental family stress and coping patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nevin, R S; Sampson, V M

    1986-10-01

    This exploratory study of 28 married male dentists and their families was designed to gain an understanding about the stressors that dentists and their spouses experience, the life events and family strains they incur, the behavioral coping patterns they utilize, and their psychosocial characteristics. The study found that although stable dental families did encounter a significant number of stressors arising from both the dental practice and the family, they maintained their sense of balance through strong family coping skills and family resources. The effect of the dentist's office-related stress was directly felt in the family, especially by the spouse. Strong coping patterns resulted when dentists and spouses maintained a balance of time and responsibility, satisfaction in work and family activity, regular communication, sharing of decision making, good physical health, and the inclusion of an active exercise program within multiple demands on their time.

  3. Reducing School Mobility: A Randomized Trial of a Relationship-Building Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiel, Jeremy E.; Haskins, Anna R.; López Turley, Ruth N.

    2013-01-01

    Student turnover has many negative consequences for students and schools, and the high mobility rates of disadvantaged students may exacerbate inequality. Scholars have advised schools to reduce mobility by building and improving relationships with and among families, but such efforts are rarely tested rigorously. A cluster-randomized field experiment in 52 predominantly Hispanic elementary schools in San Antonio, TX, and Phoenix, AZ, tested whether student mobility in early elementary school was reduced through Families and Schools Together (FAST), an intervention that builds social capital among families, children, and schools. FAST failed to reduce mobility overall but substantially reduced the mobility of Black students, who were especially likely to change schools. Improved relationships among families help explain this finding. PMID:25346541

  4. The concentrations of phthalates in settled dust in Bulgarian homes in relation to building characteristic and cleaning habits in the family

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kolarik, Barbara; Bornehag, Carl-Gustaf; Naydenov, Kiril Georgiev

    2008-01-01

    . Dust samples from the child's bedroom were collected in 177 homes and analysed for the content of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP) and DEHP. Information on building characteristics and family...... spectra, and wood flooring. However, in a sub-group of homes with no use of polish, the concentration of DEHP was higher in homes with inspector-observed balatum compared with wood flooring but the difference was not significant may be due to a too small sample size....

  5. Strengthening family coping resources: the feasibility of a multifamily group intervention for families exposed to trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiser, Laurel J; Donohue, April; Hodgkinson, Stacy; Medoff, Deborah; Black, Maureen M

    2010-12-01

    Families exposed to urban poverty face a disproportionate risk of exposure to repeated trauma. Repeated exposures can lead to severe and chronic reactions in multiple family members with effects that ripple throughout the family system. Interventions for distressed families residing in traumatic contexts, such as low-income, urban settings are desperately needed. This report presents preliminary data in support of Strengthening Family Coping Resources, a trauma-focused, multifamily, skill-building intervention. Strengthening Family Coping Resources is designed for families living in traumatic contexts with the goal of reducing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related disorders in children and caregivers. Results from open trials suggest Strengthening Family Coping Resources is a feasible intervention with positive effects on children's symptoms of trauma-related distress.

  6. Social inclusion and wellbeing of families of children with special needs transnational study report

    OpenAIRE

    Colomeischi, Aurora Adina; Fillella Gui, Gemma; Veiga Branco, Augusta; Alimović, Sonja; Baranauskiene, Ingrida; Gol-Guven, Mine

    2016-01-01

    BUILDING BRIDGES: PROMOTING SOCIAL INCLUSION AND WELLBEING FOR FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS – PSI-WELL The project entitled Building Bridges: Promoting Social Inclusion and Wellbeing for Families of Children with Special Needs (PSI_WELL) proposes an innovative approach aimed to facilitate social inclusion and wellbeing for families confronting with disabled children through adult education for parents. The project is addressing to the specific needs of families parenting childre...

  7. Computational and the real energy performance of a single-family residential building in Poland – an attempt to compare: a case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kowalski Piotr

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents energy use for heating and ventilation (one of the energy performance components determined in three ways. A case of a single family building located near Wroclaw in Poland is analyzed. The first and the second variant are both computational and the third presents actual measured energy consumption. Computational variants are based on the Polish methodology for the EPC (the Energy Performance Certificate. This methodology is based on ‘the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU’. Energy use for heating and ventilation is calculated using monthly method presented in EN ISO 13790. In the first computational option standard input data (parameters such as indoor and outdoor air temperature etc. are taken from standards and regulations are implemented. In the second variant this input data are partially taken from measurements. The results of energy use from both computational variants are compared to the actual measured energy consumption. On the basis of this comparison the influence of three factors: solar radiation heat gains, building air tightness and the SCOP of the heat pump on energy use calculations are analyzed. Conclusions aim to point the differences between them and the actual energy consumption.

  8. The timing of family commitments in the early work career : Work-family trajectories of young adults in Flanders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koelet, S.; de Valk, H.A.G.; Glorieux, L.; Laurijssen, L.; Willaert, D.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: This article examines the diverse ways in which young adults develop both their professional career and family life in the years immediately after they complete their education. Building a career and starting a family often occur simultaneously in this stage of life. By studying the

  9. The timing of family commitments in the early work career: Work-family trajectories of young adults in Flanders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koelet, S.; de Valk, H.A.G.; Glorieux, I.; Laurijssen, I.; Willaert, D.

    2015-01-01

    OBJECTIVE This article examines the diverse ways in which young adults develop both their professional career and family life in the years immediately after they complete their education. Building a career and starting a family often occur simultaneously in this stage of life. By studying the

  10. Long-term effects of the strong African American families program on youths' alcohol use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brody, Gene H; Chen, Yi-Fu; Kogan, Steven M; Murry, Velma McBride; Brown, Anita C

    2010-04-01

    This report extends earlier accounts by addressing the effects of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program across 65 months. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Rural African American youths randomly assigned to participate in SAAF would demonstrate lower rates of alcohol use than would control youths more than 5 years later, and (b) SAAF's effects on deterring the onset of alcohol use in early adolescence would carry forward to mediate the program's long-term effects. African American youths in rural Georgia (mean age at pretest = 10.8 years) were assigned randomly to the SAAF group (n = 369) or to a control group (n = 298). Past-month alcohol use was assessed at pretest and at 9, 18, 29, 53, and 65 months after pretest. SAAF participants increased their alcohol use at a slower rate than did adolescents in the control condition across the follow-up assessments. At the 65-month assessment, SAAF participants reported having drunk alcohol half as often as did youths in the control group. Consistent with the second hypothesis, SAAF's effects on deterring initiation carried forward to account for its effects on alcohol use across time. Training in protective parenting processes and self-regulatory skills during preadolescence may contribute to a self-sustaining trajectory of disinterest in and avoidance of alcohol use during adolescence when peers begin to model and sanction it. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

  11. Family-centred residential care : the new reality?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Geurts, Esther M. W.; Boddy, Janet; Noom, Marc J.; Knorth, Erik J.

    This paper considers therapeutic approaches to residential care with specific attention to the question of family involvement. It builds on a body of literature indicating the potential of residential care as a positive intervention for young people, and examines the contention that even when family

  12. Quasinormal Modes and Strong Cosmic Censorship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardoso, Vitor; Costa, João L.; Destounis, Kyriakos; Hintz, Peter; Jansen, Aron

    2018-01-01

    The fate of Cauchy horizons, such as those found inside charged black holes, is intrinsically connected to the decay of small perturbations exterior to the event horizon. As such, the validity of the strong cosmic censorship (SCC) conjecture is tied to how effectively the exterior damps fluctuations. Here, we study massless scalar fields in the exterior of Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black holes. Their decay rates are governed by quasinormal modes of the black hole. We identify three families of modes in these spacetimes: one directly linked to the photon sphere, well described by standard WKB-type tools; another family whose existence and time scale is closely related to the de Sitter horizon; finally, a third family which dominates for near-extremally charged black holes and which is also present in asymptotically flat spacetimes. The last two families of modes seem to have gone unnoticed in the literature. We give a detailed description of linear scalar perturbations of such black holes, and conjecture that SCC is violated in the near extremal regime.

  13. Fostering Family-Teacher Partnerships: Principles in Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knight-McKenna, Mary; Hollingsworth, Heidi L.

    2016-01-01

    Twenty-first century educators of young children need skills and dispositions for building partnerships with the families of all their students. Educators worldwide frequently teach children from families whose backgrounds, including socioeconomic status and home language, are different from their own. This article introduces 12 principles for…

  14. A comparison of heterosexual and LGBTQ cancer survivors' outlooks on relationships, family building, possible infertility, and patient-doctor fertility risk communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    M Russell, Andrea; Galvin, Kathleen M; Harper, Maya M; Clayman, Marla L

    2016-10-01

    Little research about cancer-related infertility has examined the experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) cancer survivors. This research seeks to understand how LGBTQ survivors are similar to or different from heterosexual survivors with respect to cancer treatments' effects on relationships, plans for parenthood, and fertility preservation decision making. Semi-structured telephone interviews conducted with adolescent or young adult (AYA) cancer survivors (n = 56) were coded for themes. Interviews consisted of questions about pre- and post-diagnosis thoughts about relationships, parenthood, possible infertility, and how information about fertility risks was received. While LGBTQ (n = 22) and heterosexual (n = 34) survivors reported similar challenges when dating post-diagnosis, heterosexual survivors were more likely to report fertility concerns as affecting romantic relationships (p LGBTQ survivors seemed more open to raising non-biological children or not becoming a parent than heterosexual survivors. LGBTQ survivors generally reported being satisfied with or indifferent to the information that they were given regarding fertility loss, despite reporting receiving similar amounts of information as compared to heterosexual patients (p LGBTQ patients' views on relationships, parenthood, and family building seemed to result in less distress when faced with infertility. However, interventions facilitating information exchange about dating, fertility risks, and family building options may be valuable to LGBTQ and heterosexual cancer survivors. LGBTQ cancer survivors may display more adaptive coping with respect to relationships and fertility loss. Oncology professionals may want to proactively introduce positive coping strategies to reduce distress among AYA cancer survivors at risk for infertility.

  15. Flavour Democracy in Strong Unification

    CERN Document Server

    Abel, S A; Abel, Steven; King, Steven

    1998-01-01

    We show that the fermion mass spectrum may naturally be understood in terms of flavour democratic fixed points in supersymmetric theories which have a large domain of attraction in the presence of "strong unification". Our approach provides an alternative to the approximate Yukawa texture zeroes of the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism. We discuss a particular model based on a broken gauged $SU(3)_L\\times SU(3)_R$ family symmetry which illustrates our approach.

  16. How Should Clinicians Counsel a Woman with a Strong Family History of Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease about Her Pregnancy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mapes, Marianna V; O'Brien, Barbara M; King, Louise P

    2017-07-01

    Counseling patients regarding the benefits, harms, and dilemmas of genetic testing is one of the greatest ethical challenges facing reproductive medicine today. With or without test results, clinicians grapple with how to communicate potential genetic risks as patients weigh their reproductive options. Here, we consider a case of a woman with a strong family history of early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). She is early in her pregnancy and unsure about learning her own genetic status. We address the ethical ramifications of each of her options, which include genetic testing, genetic counseling, and termination versus continuation of the pregnancy. Our analysis foregrounds clinicians' role in helping to ensure autonomous decision making as the patient reflects on these clinical options in light of her goals and values. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

  17. Strongly not relatives Kähler manifolds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zedda Michela

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we study Kähler manifolds that are strongly not relative to any projective Kähler manifold, i.e. those Kähler manifolds that do not share a Kähler submanifold with any projective Kähler manifold even when their metric is rescaled by the multiplication by a positive constant. We prove two results which highlight some relations between this property and the existence of a full Kähler immersion into the infinite dimensional complex projective space. As application we get that the 1-parameter families of Bergman-Hartogs and Fock-Bargmann-Hartogs domains are strongly not relative to projective Kähler manifolds.

  18. Energy Performance of Buildings - The European Approach to Sustainability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heiselberg, Per

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents the European approach to improve sustainability in the building sector, which has a very high potential for considerable reduction of energy consumption in the coming years. By approving the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive the European Union has taken a strong...... leadership role in promoting energy efficiency in buildings in Europe, that will be the most powerful instrument developed to date for the building sector in Europe....

  19. Familial lipoprotein lipase deficiency

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... lack an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase. Without this enzyme, the body cannot break down fat from digested food. Fat particles called chylomicrons build up in the blood. Risk factors include a family history of lipoprotein lipase deficiency. The condition is usually ...

  20. Family self-tailoring: Applying a systems approach to improving family healthy living behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Shirley M; Jones, Lenette; Alemi, Farrokh

    2016-01-01

    The adoption and maintenance of healthy living behaviors by individuals and families is a major challenge. We describe a new model of health behavior change, SystemCHANGE (SC), which focuses on the redesign of family daily routines using system improvement methods. In the SC intervention, families are taught a set of skills to engage in a series of small, family self-designed experiments to test ideas to change their daily routines. The family system-oriented changes brought about by these experiments build healthy living behaviors into family daily routines so that these new behaviors happen as a matter of course, despite wavering motivation, willpower, or personal effort on the part of individuals. Case stories of the use of SC to improve family healthy living behaviors are provided. Results of several pilot tests of SC indicate its potential effectiveness to change health living behaviors across numerous populations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Annual energy analysis of concrete containing phase change materials for building envelopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thiele, Alexander M.; Jamet, Astrid; Sant, Gaurav; Pilon, Laurent

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Adding PCM to concrete walls can significantly reduce the cooling needs of buildings. • Climate, season, and wall orientation strongly affect energy and cost savings. • The PCM melting temperature should be near the desired indoor temperature. • Benefits are maximum for outdoor temperature oscillating around set indoor temperature. • Adding PCM had little effect on heating energy needs and associated cost savings. - Abstract: This paper examines the annual energy and cost savings potential of adding microencapsulated phase change material to the exterior concrete walls of an average-sized single family home in California climate zones 3 (San Francisco, CA) and 9 (Los Angeles, CA). The annual energy and cost savings were larger for South- and West-facing walls than for other walls. They were also the largest when the phase change temperature was near the desired indoor temperature. The addition of microencapsulated phase change material to the building walls reduced the cooling load in summer substantially more than the heating load in winter. This was attributed to the cold winter temperatures resulting in nearly unidirectional heat flux on many days. The annual cooling load reduction in an average-sized single family home in San Francisco and in Los Angeles ranged from 85% to 100% and from 53% to 82%, respectively, for phase change material volume fraction ranging from 0.1 to 0.3. The corresponding annual electricity cost savings ranged from $36 to $42 in San Francisco and from $94 to $143 in Los Angeles. From an energy standpoint, the best climate for using building materials containing uniformly distributed microencapsulated phase change material would have outdoor temperature oscillations centered around the desired indoor temperature for the entire year

  2. Analyzing Design Heating Loads in Superinsulated Buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arena, Lois [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

    2015-06-16

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America research team Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) worked with the EcoVillage cohousing community in Ithaca, New York, on the Third Residential EcoVillage Experience neighborhood. This communityscale project consists of 40 housing units—15 apartments and 25 single-family residences. Units range in size from 450 ft2 to 1,664 ft2 and cost from $80,000 for a studio apartment to $235,000 for a three- or four-bedroom single-family home. For the research component of this project, CARB analyzed current heating system sizing methods for superinsulated homes in cold climates to determine if changes in building load calculation methodology should be recommended. Actual heating energy use was monitored and compared to results from the Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s Manual J8 (MJ8) and the Passive House Planning Package software. Results from that research indicate that MJ8 significantly oversizes heating systems for superinsulated homes and that thermal inertia and internal gains should be considered for more accurate load calculations.

  3. Building Resilient Families: Issues around Child Abuse Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahsan, Nilofer

    2007-01-01

    Often families with young children do not know where to turn for help and support. Early care and education programs are natural places to reach out to parents and help them strengthen their parenting skills and social interactions. When warning flags are observed, such as inappropriate discipline, frustration, and anger, they are avenues for…

  4. 'Talk, talk, cry, laugh': learning, healing and building an Aboriginal workforce to address family violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lauw, Marlene L; Spangaro, Jo; Herring, Sigrid; McNamara, Lorna D

    2013-02-01

    Sexual abuse and family violence are widespread and under-reported phenomena for which Aboriginal victims face even greater barriers to asking for and receiving assistance than do others in the community. There is a need for strategies to address abuse without disempowering and alienating Aboriginal people. A program developed by the New South Wales Health Education Centre Against Violence is addressing this issue at the same time as contributing towards a strengthened Aboriginal health workforce. The training program which is a 1-year qualification course has grown from a 52% rate of graduation in its first 6 years to 92%. Three practices in the classroom have contributed to this success. These are: (i) recognition of the emotional impact of the training and its links to participants own histories; (ii) providing space to address participants negative prior educational experiences; and (iii) further developing content on the recent sociopolitical history of Aboriginal people. These practices have strengthened this successful course, which is building a skilled workforce to provide accessible, culturally sensitive services for Aboriginal people experiencing abuse.

  5. The education of family caregivers as an ethical issue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pennacchini, M; Tartaglini, D

    2014-01-01

    Family caregiving represents the first and predominant source of care for 75% to 80% of people with chronic illness in industrialized countries. They have a fundamental role in assisting, providing care, and support to their relatives throughout all the history of the illness. Despite the significant value of informal caregiving, studies consistently report unmet needs among informal caregivers, particularly with regard to obtaining the information and education necessary to care for an older adult experiencing a chronic health condition. Health care professionals talk to patients and their relatives about their disease and about how to manage them daily, forgetting to consider the healthy component that still accompanies their disease though to differing degrees. In the twentieth century some philosophers highlighted that health is still very frequently a hidden asset, an asset that human beings forget not only to possess, but mostly to guard. This paper argues that the family can be an entity responsible not only for the treatment and care of a sick person, but also to building the health of this and the other members Family caregivers can build families capable of "building health" even when caring for a chronically ill. Therefore the education of family caregivers is an important ethical issue. Health care providers should be supportive of family caregivers and help them acquire knowledge and skills in order to maximize quality care. In addition, it is very important that family caregivers: 1. acquire the ability to direct the family's attitude to the enhancement of the health of a sick person, 2. lead the family and not just the sick person to have an adequate and proper life style in order to manage both his/her pathology and his/her health; 3. contribute to improve the quality of life both of the patient and of the family considered as a "unit of care"

  6. Building blocks for successful patient and family advisory boards: collaboration, communication, and commitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taloney, Linda; Flores, Gabriela

    2013-01-01

    The mission of our hospital states: "Patients and their families are treated with compassion in a family-centered care environment that recognizes their physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual needs." Family-centered care is an approach to health care that shapes policies, programs, facility design, and day-to-day interactions among patients and their families, physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. Health care professionals across all disciplines and in all care environments have the opportunity to advance the practice of patient- and family-centered care. They do so by welcoming patients and their families as partners in care-acknowledging patient and family expertise and strengths, encouraging their input, and acknowledging the value of their observations and perceptions. There is a growing recognition of the importance of patient and family care experiences as a key part of quality care. Through this partnership, patients and their families are viewed as valuable sources of information that can impact the quality of the care they receive. Their perspective on the care they receive can be used to shape effective solutions and target practice improvements in the care delivery experience. As an organization, we have been focused on implementing patient- and family-centered care for many years. We are unique in that we have parents of patients on the hospital staff and regularly seek their input, along with that of our Family Advisory Boards (English and Spanish speaking) and Teen Advisory Board. You have to ask yourself the question, "Are you ready to incorporate patient- and family-centered care into your practice?"

  7. Building research capacity to inform practical policymaking | IDRC ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2017-08-17

    Aug 17, 2017 ... IDRC is committed to supporting cutting-edge research led by developing country experts to create lasting change. Building strong partnerships with regional researchers and organizations through research support and capacity building is integral to the success of this approach. The African Economic ...

  8. Short leukocyte telomere length is associated with obesity in American Indians: the Strong Heart Family study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shufeng; Yeh, Fawn; Lin, Jue; Matsuguchi, Tet; Blackburn, Elizabeth; Lee, Elisa T; Howard, Barbara V; Zhao, Jinying

    2014-05-01

    Shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has been associated with a wide range of age-related disorders including cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. Obesity is an important risk factor for CVD and diabetes. The association of LTL with obesity is not well understood. This study for the first time examines the association of LTL with obesity indices including body mass index, waist circumference, percent body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist-to-height ratio in 3,256 American Indians (14-93 years old, 60% women) participating in the Strong Heart Family Study. Association of LTL with each adiposity index was examined using multivariate generalized linear mixed model, adjusting for chronological age, sex, study center, education, lifestyle (smoking, alcohol consumption, and total energy intake), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, hypertension and diabetes. Results show that obese participants had significantly shorter LTL than non-obese individuals (age-adjusted P=0.0002). Multivariate analyses demonstrate that LTL was significantly and inversely associated with all of the studied obesity parameters. Our results may shed light on the potential role of biological aging in pathogenesis of obesity and its comorbidities.

  9. Building Canada: Phase One

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon

    2004-04-15

    The 'Building Canada' program modelled after the 'Building America' program, aims at increasing energy efficiency and affordability, primarily for single family homes. The program takes a holistic and whole house view, employing a systems approach and is committed to continuous improvement through testing, evaluation, retesting and novel construction practices. The program's objective is to re-engineer house designs so that builders can take advantage of advanced products and achieve maximum efficiency. Building Canada aims to achieve its objectives through partnership with the housing industry, focusing on increasing energy efficiency while reducing construction time, using and wasting fewer materials, forestalling call backs, and reducing overall costs. The Building Canada procedures encompass marketing, research of builder's operations, re-engineering mechanical systems, framing components and techniques, moisture control and thermal performance, construction, resolution of problems in re-engineered homes, and discussion of results in demonstration homes. The program as a whole is built on the feasibility study of a Building Canada program carried out in Nova Scotia and Ontario. Some of the results of this pilot study summarized in this report indicate that the Building Canada is not suitable for use by small builders. Benefits are most likely to be realized by only by builders constructing more than 100 homes annually.

  10. Work, family, and gender: elements for a theory of work-family balance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantera, Leonor M; Cubells, Ma Eugenia; Martínez, Luz Ma; Blanch, Josep M

    2009-11-01

    Over last century, work was not only a means of economic survival, but also a very strong factor of psychological structuring and of organization of personal, family, and everyday life. The new world of work provides new challenges to the balance of work and family life. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 453 people with the aim of analyzing the relation between variables such as family burdens and domestic responsibilities, and the appraisal of work and family, values involved in work-family balance. The results of this study show that, in the present economic and cultural context, assuming family burdens and domestic responsibilities increases the positive appraisal of work and family, both in men and women. This has theoretical and practical implications concerning the challenge of work-family balance.

  11. Types of work-family interface: well-being correlates of negative and positive spillover between work and family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinnunen, Ulla; Feldt, Taru; Geurts, Sabine; Pulkkinen, Lea

    2006-04-01

    The aim of the present study was to test the structure of the work-family interface measure, which was intended to take into account both the positive and negative spillover between work and family demands in both directions. In addition, the links among the types of work-family spillover and the subjects' general and domain-specific well-being were examined. The sample (n = 202) consisted of Finnish employees, aged 42, who had a spouse/partner. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a four-factor model, including negative work-to-family spillover, negative family-to-work spillover, positive work-to-family spillover, and positive family-to-work spillover, was superior compared to the other factor models examined. Path analysis showed, as hypothesized, that the negative work-to-family spillover was most strongly related to low well-being at work (job exhaustion) and next strongly to low general well-being (psychological distress), whereas the negative family-to-work spillover was associated with low well-being in the domain of family (marital dissatisfaction). Positive work-to-family spillover was positively related both to well-being at work and general well-being. Inconsistent with our expectations, positive family-to-work spillover was not directly related to any of the well-being indicators examined.

  12. New roof for an old building. PV system on a historical single-family home; Altes Haus kraftvoll eingedeckt. PV-Anlage auf historischem Einfamilienhaus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon.

    2009-03-15

    For hundreds of years, slated roofs and walls were the characteristic feature of the Thuringian-Franconian boundary region, where the ''Schieferstrasse'' - the road of historical houses with slated roofs and walls - is a major tourist attraction. Today, owners of buildings are interested in technologies orientated towards the future. After restoration of a single-family home at Lehestenbuilt in 1650, modern solar modules installed on the roof and combined with traditionally-looking aluminium roof tiles by Prefa make an aesthetically pleasing picture. (orig.)

  13. Radon in large buildings: The development of a protocol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, D.L.; Dudney, C.S.; Gammage, R.B.

    1993-01-01

    Over the past several years, considerable research has been devoted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and others to develop radon sampling protocols for single family residences and schools. However, very little research has been performed on measuring radon in the work place. To evaluate possible sampling protocols, 833 buildings throughout the United States were selected for extensive radon testing. The buildings tested (warehouses, production plants and office buildings) were representative of commercial buildings across the country both in design, size and use. Based on the results, preliminary radon sampling protocols for the work place have been developed

  14. Discussions about Racial and Ethnic Differences in Internationally Adoptive Families: Links with Family Engagement, Warmth, & Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Kayla N; Rueter, Martha A; Lee, Richard M

    Discussions about racial and ethnic differences may allow international, transracial adoptive families to construct multiracial and/or multiethnic family identities. However, little is known about the ways family communication influences how discussions about racial and ethnic differences occur. This study examined associations between observed family communication constructs, including engagement, warmth, and control, and how adoptive families discuss racial and ethnic differences using a sample of families with adolescent-aged children adopted internationally from South Korea ( N = 111 families, 222 adolescents). Using data collected during mid-adolescence and again during late adolescence, higher levels of maternal control and positive adolescent engagement were independently associated with a greater likelihood that family members acknowledged the importance of racial and ethnic differences and constructed a multiracial and/or multiethnic family identity. Adolescent engagement was also related to a greater likelihood that family members disagreed about the importance of racial and ethnic differences, and did not build a cohesive identity about differences.

  15. DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR OF CHILDREN FROM DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES

    OpenAIRE

    Sandra Bateva

    2014-01-01

    The subject of my research in the paper are the children from dysfunctional families, primarily their delinquent behavior, education and moral, actually, who takes care of them and who undertakes the family roles and whether this care is sufficient for building these personalities.This research approaches towards the study of the delinquent behavior of children from dysfunctional families. It examines to what extent the educational level of parents, the material condition, the health conditio...

  16. Possibilities and Limitations of Thermally Activated Building Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Behrendt, Benjamin

    The strong political market drive towards energy savings in the building sector calls for efficient solutions. Using so called low temperature heating and high temperature cooling systems such as for instance thermally activated building systems (TABS) has a significant impact on the required...... will be mostly needed to operate the building within acceptable boundaries. It will also allow the user to see if dehumidification will be needed for undisturbed operation of TABS. With the combination of both tools it is possible to provide a holistic evaluation of a building proposal at a very early design...

  17. Family Strengths and Adaptation to Army Life: A Focus of Variations in Family Values and Expectations Across Racial/Ethnic Groups and Rank.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-01-22

    American in-laws: Challenge for transcultural community building. Military Family, 4(3), 3-6. Levinger, G. (1965). Marital cohesiveness and...Basic Books. Rueveni, U. (1979). Networking families in crisis . New York: Human Sciences Press. Satir, V. (1972). Peoplemaking. Palo Alto, CA: Science

  18. Building Community through Arts Experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Alice

    1994-01-01

    Asserts that society is fragmented and there is a need for strong support networks. Describes a cooperative community building program in North Carolina involving East Carolina University's art education program, Greenville (NC) public schools, and the McDonalds corporation. (CFR)

  19. The development of structural complexity in the child's concept of family: the effect of cognitive stage, sex, and intactness of family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wedemeyer, N V; Bickhard, M H; Cooper, R G

    1989-12-01

    Twenty-eight boys and 28 girls at each of the Piagetian preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational cognitive stages were given an interview focusing on their concepts of family. Half of each group were from intact families, and half were from divorced families. Interviews were scored for two structural aspects of the concept of family: conceptual level, and use of dimensions that structure the concept. The complexity of children's concepts was strongly related to cognitive stage and, to a lesser degree, to sex. Frequency of use of concept dimensions was strongly affected by general developmental level, though not specifically cognitive stage, and by intactness of family, but to a lesser degree by sex. Specific information is provided on the effect of these factors on perceptions of family composition, parental roles, and breadth of family activities.

  20. Sick-building symptoms in office workers in northeastern France: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teculescu, D B; Sauleau, E A; Massin, N; Bohadana, A B; Buhler, O; Benamghar, L; Mur, J M

    1998-07-01

    To verify that sick building symptoms are present in north-eastern France office workers; to try to identify new confounding factors. The design was that of a cross-sectional study with control group. We studied with the same methods the personnel of an air-conditioned building (n=425), and of a naturally ventilated building (n=351). Air temperature and humidity, bacterial and fungal densities were measured by the same technical staff in the two buildings. A standard questionnaire on irritative and respiratory symptoms, personal and family history, and lifestyle was completed by the participants. In univariate analysis, exposure to air-conditioning was associated with an increased prevalence of symptoms (odds ratios-OR-between 1.54 and 2.84). A significant increase in sickness absence was also found among subjects working in air-conditioned offices. As a series of factors were suspected to interfere with these associations, logistic regression was applied. This method confirmed exposure to be an independent determinant of 7 symptoms, and also identified two determinants not previously described: a family history of respiratory diseases and "do-it-yourself' activities. we found the sick building symptoms to be present in a group of French office workers exposed to air-conditioning. We confirmed the influence of a number of confounding factors and described two further confounders - do-it-yourself activities at home and a history of familial respiratory disease.

  1. Architecting Learning Continuities for Families Across Informal Science Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perin, Suzanne Marie

    By first recognizing the valuable social and scientific practices taking place within families as they learn science together across multiple, everyday settings, this dissertation addresses questions of how to design and scaffold activities that build and expand on those practices to foster a deep understanding of science, and how the aesthetic experience of learning science builds connections across educational settings. Families were invited to visit a natural history museum, an aquarium, and a place or activity of the family's choice that they associated with science learning. Some families were asked to use a set of activities during their study visits based on the practices of science (National Research Council, 2012), which were delivered via smartphone app or on paper cards. I use design-based research, video data analysis and interaction analysis to examine how families build connections between informal science learning settings. Chapter 2 outlines the research-based design process of creating activities for families that fostered connections across multiple learning settings, regardless of the topical content of those settings. Implications of this study point to means for linking everyday family social practices such as questioning, observing, and disagreeing to the practices of science through activities that are not site-specific. The next paper delves into aesthetic experience of science learning, and I use video interaction analysis and linguistic analysis to show how notions of beauty and pleasure (and their opposites) are perfused throughout learning activity. Designing for aesthetic experience overtly -- building on the sensations of enjoyment and pleasure in the learning experience -- can motivate those who might feel alienated by the common conception of science as merely a dispassionate assembly of facts, discrete procedures or inaccessible theory. The third paper, a case study of a family who learns about salmon in each of the sites they visit

  2. Family Ties and Civic Virtues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ljunge, Jan Martin

    I establish a positive relationship between family ties and civic virtues, as captured by disapproval of tax and benefit cheating, corruption, and a range of other dimensions of exploiting others for personal gain. I find that family ties are a complement to social capital, using within country...... evidence from 83 nations and data on second generation immigrants in 29 countries with ancestry in 85 nations. Strong families cultivate universalist values and produce more civic and altruistic individuals. The results provide a constructive role for families in promoting family values that support...

  3. DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR OF CHILDREN FROM DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Bateva

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The subject of my research in the paper are the children from dysfunctional families, primarily their delinquent behavior, education and moral, actually, who takes care of them and who undertakes the family roles and whether this care is sufficient for building these personalities.This research approaches towards the study of the delinquent behavior of children from dysfunctional families. It examines to what extent the educational level of parents, the material condition, the health condition, the leisure time, the average monthly income of the family, the available permanent goods, the educational resources, the social communications within the very family, all affect the delinquent behavior of children from dysfunctional families

  4. Energy usage and technical potential for energy saving measures in the Swedish residential building stock

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mata, Érika; Sasic Kalagasidis, Angela; Johnsson, Filip

    2013-01-01

    This paper provides an analysis of the current energy usage (net energy and final energy by fuels) and associated carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions of the Swedish residential building stock, which includes single-family dwellings and multi-family dwellings. Twelve energy saving measures (ESMs) are assessed using a bottom–up modeling methodology, in which the Swedish residential stock is represented by a sample of 1400 buildings (based on data from the year 2005). Application of the ESMs studied gives a maximum technical reduction potential in energy demand of 53%, corresponding to a 63% reduction in CO 2 emissions. Although application of the investigated ESMs would reduce CO 2 emissions, the measures that reduce electricity consumption for lighting and appliances (LA) will increase CO 2 emissions, since the saved electricity production is less CO 2 -intensive than the fuel mix used for the increased space heating required to make up for the loss in indirect heating obtained from LA. - Highlights: ► Analysis of year 2005energy use and CO2 emissions of Swedish residential buildings. ► Includes all single-family dwellings and multi-family dwellings. ► Bottom–up modeling of building stock represented by 1400 buildings. ► Technical effects of 12 energy saving measures are assessed. ► Energy demand can be reduced by53% and associated CO 2 emissions by 63%

  5. POVERTY, ORGANIZED C RIME, VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AS OBST ACLES FOR BUILDING UP A STRONG CIVIL SO CIETY IN MACEDONIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandar KITANOVSKI

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Absence of strong democratic state based on popular support, transparent institutions, responsible elites that promote cooperation and strive towards achieving consensus, results in the inability of the government to launch economic growth, such as crime gangs, and organized crime structures. Position of women, is also described partially by statistics and partially by the personal remarks of author. General conclusion over the situation of women in Macedonia in particular to that with Albanian ones is that radical transformation of their position, role and a function is required. In other words, position of women have to be altered from the role passive and non active member of society who only exists through a function of wife and a mother within confines of the traditional patriarchal family into the working asset, economically independent of a man.

  6. Strong Start Wraparound: Addressing the Complex Needs of Mothers in Early Recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teel, M. Kay

    2014-01-01

    The Strong Start Study tested an innovative, High-Fidelity Wraparound intervention with families in early recovery from substance use. The Strong Start Wraparound model addressed the complex needs of pregnant and parenting women who were in early recovery to increase the protective factors of parental resilience, social connections, concrete…

  7. Building a strong European alliance for personality disorder research and intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehlum, Lars; Bateman, Anthony; Dalewijk, Henk Jan; Doering, Stephan; Kaera, Andres; Moran, Paul Anthony; Renneberg, Babette; Ribaudi, Joaquim Soler; Simonsen, Sebastian; Wilberg, Theresa; Bohus, Martin

    2018-01-01

    People with personality disorders frequently face stigma, ignorance and pessimism regarding the treatability of their disorders. This is despite substantial progress that has been made in developing a number of effective evidence based psychotherapeutic treatments. However, expertise in how to systematically deliver these treatments in a sustainable way throughout Europe is largely lacking. To bridge the gap between evidence based treatments and their implementation in health services, the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders is currently building a new alliance of experts to promote personality disorder scholarship, and to support the development of clinical expertise and systematic treatment implementation throughout Europe. The aim of this paper is to describe how the Society is currently using its interdisciplinary and international roster of experts to address the specific treatment and research needs of the European personality disorder field, particularly to countries in which expertise in the field is less developed.

  8. Sault Tribe Building Efficiency Energy Audits

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holt, Jeffrey W.

    2013-09-26

    The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is working to reduce energy consumption and expense in Tribally-owned governmental buildings. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will conduct energy audits of nine Tribally-owned governmental buildings in three counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to provide a basis for evaluating and selecting the technical and economic viability of energy efficiency improvement options. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will follow established Tribal procurement policies and procedures to secure the services of a qualified provider to conduct energy audits of nine designated buildings. The contracted provider will be required to provide a progress schedule to the Tribe prior to commencing the project and submit an updated schedule with their monthly billings. Findings and analysis reports will be required for buildings as completed, and a complete Energy Audit Summary Report will be required to be submitted with the provider?s final billing. Conducting energy audits of the nine governmental buildings will disclose building inefficiencies to prioritize and address, resulting in reduced energy consumption and expense. These savings will allow Tribal resources to be reallocated to direct services, which will benefit Tribal members and families.

  9. Heat protection in summer for wooden residential buildings - Measurements on 'Minergie' single-family homes; Sommerlicher Waermeschutz bei Wohngebaeuden in Holzbauweise - Messungen in acht MINERGIE Einfamilienhaeusern - Entwurf Schlussbericht

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menard, M.; Nutt, M. [Lemon Consult GmbH, Zuerich (Switzerland); Keller, P. [Hochschule Luzern, Technik und Architektur, Horw (Switzerland)

    2008-07-01

    This draft final report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) presents the results obtained from measurements made in eight single-family homes built to the Swiss 'Minergie' standard. The project served to validate partly simplified simulations concerning the summertime thermal behaviour of low energy consumption buildings built of wood. The eight various 'Minergie' houses are described, as is the measurement concept chosen. The results obtained and the conclusions drawn are presented in detail and discussed, as is the implementation of measures derived from the project. Heat storage effects in the various building components are discussed. The results of the measurements are compared with the theoretical values obtained from calculations. Recommendations are presented. The report is augmented with a comprehensive appendix which includes the detailed measurement results for the buildings examined.

  10. Toward Building a Typology for the Evaluation of Services in Family Support Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manalo, Victor; Meezan, William

    2000-01-01

    Articulates how the family support movement emerged in the last 20 years, and describes the philosophical premises, principles, and practices that currently guide it. Considers the inability of current family support program typologies to guide outcome evaluations, and introduces a typology that deconstructs family support programs into their…

  11. Phase-modified CTQW unable to distinguish strongly regular graphs efficiently

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahasinghe, A; Wijerathna, J K; Izaac, J A; Wang, J B

    2015-01-01

    Various quantum walk-based algorithms have been developed, aiming to distinguish non-isomorphic graphs with polynomial scaling, within both the discrete-time quantum walk (DTQW) and continuous-time quantum walk (CTQW) frameworks. Whilst both the single-particle DTQW and CTQW have failed to distinguish non-isomorphic strongly regular graph families (prompting the move to multi-particle graph isomorphism (GI) algorithms), the single-particle DTQW has been successfully modified by the introduction of a phase factor to distinguish a wide range of graphs in polynomial time. In this paper, we prove that an analogous phase modification to the single particle CTQW does not have the same distinguishing power as its discrete-time counterpart, in particular it cannot distinguish strongly regular graphs with the same family parameters with the same efficiency. (paper)

  12. Demonstration Platform for near-zero energy buildings - small houses; Demonstrationsplattform foer naeranollenergibyggnader - smaahus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ruud, Svein; Fahlen, Per; Axell, Monica; Kovacs, Peter; Ylmen, Peter; Staahl, Fredrik

    2011-07-01

    On behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency, SP has investigated and recommended how one could form a platform for demonstration of single family houses as nearly zero energy houses. SP suggests that TMF, the national trade and employers' association of the wood processing and furniture industry in Sweden, should administrate this platform. The reason being that members of TMF produce almost 80% of all single family houses in Sweden. TMF also has the capacity to launch a demonstration platform in a reasonable short time. SP has also compiled a set on technical criteria regarding properties related to energy use that should be met by demonstration projects within the platform. One presumption has been that a house that meets the criteria in the south of Sweden also should meet the criteria in the north of Sweden. The reason being to promote an industrialized and cost effective building process. Another ambition has been not to disfavor smaller single family houses. The main criteria are on very energy efficient building envelopes and very efficient building services systems. The criteria are therefore more detailed than the current Swedish building regulations

  13. Towards a Tectonic Sustainable Building Practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bech-Danielsen, Claus

    and environmental problems? The objective of the project is to analyse and develop the tectonic practice based on case studies, in relation to: • Cultural anchoring and identity creation • Building culture and creative processes • Sustainability, lifecycle and resource management The research project is divided...... into a main project and various subprojects, respectively, two levels that mutually feed each other.The main project, which constitutes the general level, seeks to identify a coherent strategy towards a new tectonically sustainable building culture.The subprojects look at partial issues and go into specific......Can a tectonic building practice be strengthened through new creation processes, where resources are used more purposefully, deliberately and systematically? Which new measures are necessary if we are to develop a strong tectonic building practice with due consideration for increasing climate...

  14. Lessons learned from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake: Building damages and behavior of seismically isolated buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morita, Keiko; Takayama, Mineo

    2017-10-01

    Powerful earthquakes stuck Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures in Kyushu, Japan. It began with the Magnitude 6.5 foreshock at 21:26 JST 14 April, followed by the Magnitude 7.3 mainshock at 1:25 JST 16 April, 2016. The sequence earthquakes also involved more than 1700 perceptible earthquakes as of 13 June. The entire sequence was named the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake by the Japan Meteorological Agency. Thousands of buildings and many roads were damaged, and landslides occurred. The Japanese building standard law is revised in 1981. Structural damages were concentrated on buildings constructed prior to 1981. The area of Mashiki and Southern Aso were most badly affected, especially wooden houses extremely damaged. In Japan, Prof. Hideyuki Tada (title at the time) undertook research on laminated rubber bearings in 1978, and put it into practical use in 1981. The single family house at Yachiyodai, Chiba Prefecture is completed in 1983, it's the first seismically isolated building which is installed laminated rubber bearings in Japan. Afterward, this system is gradually adopted to mainly office buildings, like a research laboratory, a hospital, a computer center and other offices. In the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 1995 Kobe earthquake and 2011 Tohoku earthquake, seismically isolated buildings improve these good performances, and recently number of the buildings have increased, mainly high risk area of earthquakes. Many people believed that Kumamoto was a low risk area. But there were 24 seismically isolated buildings in Kumamoto Prefecture at the time. The seismically isolated buildings indicated excellent performances during the earthquakes. They protected people, buildings and other important facilities from damages caused by the earthquake. The purpose of this paper is to discuss lessons learned from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake and behavior of seismically isolated buildings in the earthquake.

  15. Blockholder structures and power mechanisms in family firms

    OpenAIRE

    Cacciotti, Gabriella; Ucbasaran, Deniz

    2018-01-01

    We extend the work of Fattoum-Guedri, Guedri, and Delmar (in press) by suggesting that the number of family blockholders moderates the relationship between the distribution of voting power between family and nonfamily blockholders and firm performance. Building on power and negotiation theories, we argue that the participation of multiple generations of family members in the firm’s ownership leads to greater diversity of perspectives that generates potential conflict over the distribution of ...

  16. An Australian hospital's training program and referral pathway within a multi-disciplinary health-justice partnership addressing family violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forsdike, Kirsty; Humphreys, Cathy; Diemer, Kristin; Ross, Stuart; Gyorki, Linda; Maher, Helena; Vye, Penelope; Llewelyn, Fleur; Hegarty, Kelsey

    2018-06-01

    An innovative health-justice partnership was established to deliver legal assistance to women experiencing family violence who attended an Australian hospital. This paper reports on a multifaceted response to build capacity and willingness of health professionals to identify signs of family violence and engage with referral pathways to on-site legal assistance. A Realistic Evaluation analysed health professionals' knowledge and attitudes towards identification, response and referral for family violence before and after training; and use of referral pathways. Of 123 health professionals participating in training, 67 completed baseline and follow-up surveys. Training improved health professionals' self-reported knowledge of, and confidence in, responding to family violence and understanding of lawyers' roles in hospitals. Belief that patients should be referred to on-site legal services increased. Training did not correspond to actual increased referrals to legal assistance. The program built capacity and willingness of health professionals to identify signs of, and respond to, family violence. Increase in referral rates to legal assistance was not shown. Potential improvements include better data capture and greater availability of legal services. Implications for public health: Strong hospital system supports and reliable recording of family violence referrals need to be in place before introducing such partnerships to other hospitals. © 2017 The Authors.

  17. Metamotifs - a generative model for building families of nucleotide position weight matrices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Down Thomas A

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Development of high-throughput methods for measuring DNA interactions of transcription factors together with computational advances in short motif inference algorithms is expanding our understanding of transcription factor binding site motifs. The consequential growth of sequence motif data sets makes it important to systematically group and categorise regulatory motifs. It has been shown that there are familial tendencies in DNA sequence motifs that are predictive of the family of factors that binds them. Further development of methods that detect and describe familial motif trends has the potential to help in measuring the similarity of novel computational motif predictions to previously known data and sensitively detecting regulatory motifs similar to previously known ones from novel sequence. Results We propose a probabilistic model for position weight matrix (PWM sequence motif families. The model, which we call the 'metamotif' describes recurring familial patterns in a set of motifs. The metamotif framework models variation within a family of sequence motifs. It allows for simultaneous estimation of a series of independent metamotifs from input position weight matrix (PWM motif data and does not assume that all input motif columns contribute to a familial pattern. We describe an algorithm for inferring metamotifs from weight matrix data. We then demonstrate the use of the model in two practical tasks: in the Bayesian NestedMICA model inference algorithm as a PWM prior to enhance motif inference sensitivity, and in a motif classification task where motifs are labelled according to their interacting DNA binding domain. Conclusions We show that metamotifs can be used as PWM priors in the NestedMICA motif inference algorithm to dramatically increase the sensitivity to infer motifs. Metamotifs were also successfully applied to a motif classification problem where sequence motif features were used to predict the family of

  18. Parenting in Planned Lesbian Families

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bos, Henny

    2004-01-01

    This thesis reports on a study on lesbian families in which the children were born to the lesbian relationship (planned lesbian families). How strong is the desire of lesbian mothers to have a child, and what are their motivations? How do lesbian mothers experience parenthood? What do they strive

  19. Cancer Communication and Family Caregiver Quality of Life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elaine Wittenberg

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Family caregivers have enormous communication responsibilities tied to caregiving, such as sharing the patient’s medical history with providers, relaying diagnosis and prognosis to other family members, and making decisions about care with the patient. While caregiver stress and burden has been widely documented in the caregiving literature, little is known about how communication burden, real or perceived communication challenges, impacts caregiver quality of life. In family caregiving, the City of Hope (COH Quality of Life model proposes that the caregiving experience is reciprocal to the patient experience, impacting physical, social, psychological, and spiritual quality of life. We used data from a pilot study testing a communication coaching call intervention with family caregivers of lung cancer patients to analyze caregiver reported communication burden and quality of life. We found variances in each quality of life domain, suggesting that caregiver interventions should range from self-care skill building for physical care to psycho-educational interventions that support caregiver coping and communication skill building. These findings demonstrate the importance of caregiver assessment and attention to communication burden in quality cancer care.

  20. Three thousand families: English Canada's colonizing vision and British family settlement, 1919-39.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancuso, Rebecca J

    2011-01-01

    After the First World War, Canada's immigration policy became more restrictive and immigration more controlled. For English Canadians, immigration of the "right type" of people—those from the British Isles—remained vital to strengthening the nation. This article examines the 3,000 Family Scheme, a joint British-Canadian settlement project in which British families, comprised of over 18,000 individuals, were relocated to homesteads as colonizers of Canada's remote areas. There, many endured isolation and hardship, and were largely blamed for their own plight. A nation-building project that failed, the 3,000 Family Scheme reveals the connections among several enduring national myths in the interwar years: the potential for agricultural expansion, British superiority, and the capabilities of a maturing Canadian state to control the settlement process.

  1. Building Communities of Care for Military Children and Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudler, Harold; Porter, Rebecca I.

    2013-01-01

    Military children don't exist in a vacuum; rather, they are embedded in and deeply influenced by their families, neighborhoods, schools, the military itself, and many other interacting systems. To minimize the risks that military children face and maximize their resilience, write Harold Kudler and Colonel Rebecca Porter, we must go beyond…

  2. Detail, Facture, and Colour in the Architecture of Polish Single-Family Houses after 1989

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sztafrowski, Marek

    2017-10-01

    The article presents single-family houses architecture transformations since 1989, with particularly close attention paid to the significance of detail, facture, and colour. The article presents the architecture as an art of designing and building facilities with both use and aesthetic value, an art of shaping space and building forms. Architectural work should correspond to the intended function, technique, economic and aesthetic requirements, thus shaping all elements of human immediate environment, both inside and outside of the building. Architecture of the building is perceived as form, structure, and function, as well as detail, facture, and colour. Facture and colour are created through materials used for external finishes. The solid of the building is noticed first while looking at the building, then the finishes detail such as colour, facture, and detail. Materials for external finishes are commonly selected for their aesthetic value equally with their technical characteristics. The detail was always a characteristic element of style. However, currently the fashion for details can be observed, the fashion for usage of materials for external finishes and inter-connected with that colour and facture. The architecture of Polish single-family houses underwent considerable metamorphosis after system change of 1989 - from destitute in form, devoid in detail and colour socmodernism, to architecture extremely varied in terms of form, utilised structures, materials, and detail. Hence, appearance of the phenomenon called fashion can be observed in the architecture, understood as constant changeability, seeking novelty, and creation based on opinion-forming centres. The architectural fashion consists of form, function, structure, building materials, detail, facture, and colour trends, e.g. after rejecting socmodernism, steep roofs characteristic for single-family houses trend started. After 1989, initially individual single-family house projects were created; however

  3. Construction of a Family Quality of Life Support Program for families of young and adults with intellectual disability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natxo MARTÍNEZ RUEDA

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper is grounded on current conceptions on Family Quality of Life (FQoL and family-centered intervention. It describes a part of the building process of a ‘Program for Supporting Family Quality of Life’, within the SAIOA-BBK frame a Gorabide’s information, guidance and support service for people with intellectual disability and their families. A major goal of this project is making proposals for professionals to fit the link between FQoL assessment and its improvement. The program was developed, constructed and tested through collaborative methods between professionals and university researchers, aiming to an increase of FQoL of families with sons or daughters among the youth and adulthood period. Program features, and how it was experimented in a pilot sample of families (n = 5 is presented.

  4. 75 FR 54117 - Building Energy Standards Program: Preliminary Determination Regarding Energy Efficiency...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-03

    ... five stories, steel-frame construction is more common, but the percentage of the construction market... noted a steel-frame building would be more representative of a high-rise construction (10 stories) and DOE could assume steel-frame for the high-rise multi-family building class. (NMHC, Public Meeting...

  5. Analysis of heat source selection for residential buildings in rural areas

    OpenAIRE

    Szul Tomasz

    2018-01-01

    The research aiming to check whether the output of currently installed boilers matches the use requirements together with estimation of their energy efficiency was carried out on a group of 84 single-family residential buildings located in rural areas. Heating and hot water energy needs were calculated for each building in order to determine the use requirements. This enabled verification whether the currently installed boilers match the actual use requirements in the buildings. Based on the ...

  6. Building Political Participation: The Role of Family Policy and Political Science Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parrott, Emily

    2017-01-01

    This mixed-methods study examined the long-term associations between two kinds of politics courses--required political science courses and required family policy courses--and the political participation, knowledge, skill, efficacy, and politically engaged identity of child and family studies alumni. Two special cases were examined: those who…

  7. Coalitions and family problem solving with preadolescents in referred, at-risk, and comparison families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vuchinich, S; Wood, B; Vuchinich, R

    1994-12-01

    This study tested the hypothesis that the mother-father coalition, parent-child coalitions, and parental warmth expressed toward the child are associated with family problem solving in families with a preadolescent child referred for treatment of behavior problems (n = 30), families with a child at-risk for conduct disorder (n = 68), and a sample of comparison families (n = 90). Referred and at-risk families displayed less effective problem solving. A regression analysis, which controlled for gender of the child, family structure, family income, marital satisfaction, and severity of child problems, showed that strong parental coalitions were linked to low levels of family problem solving in at-risk and referred families. Parent-child coalitions had little apparent impact while parental warmth was highly correlated with better family problem solving. The results may be interpreted as evidence for a tendency for parents in at-risk and referred families to "scapegoat" a preadolescent during family problem-solving sessions. This may undermine progress on family problem solutions and may complicate family-based prevention and treatment programs that use family problem-solving sessions.

  8. Endangerment of cultural heritage sites by strong rain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krauß, Thomas; Fischer, Peter

    2017-09-01

    Due to climate change extreme weather conditions become more and more frequent in the last years. Especially in Germany nearly every year a large flood event happens. Most of these events are caused by strong rain. There are at most two causes for these floodings: The first is locally strong rain in the area of damage, the second happens at damage sites located near confluxes and strong rain in the upper stream areas of the joining rivers. The amount of damage is often strongly correlated with unreasonable designation of new construction in such endangered regions. Our presented study is based on an earlier project together with a German insurance company. In this project we analyzed correlations of geographical settings with the insurance data of flood damages over ten years. The result of this study was a strong relation of the terrain with the amount and the probability of damages. Further investigations allow us to derive a system for estimating potential endangerment due to strong rain just from suitable digital terrain models (DTMs). In the presented study we apply this method to different types of cultural heritage (CH) sites in Germany and other parts of the world to detect which type of CH sites were build with potential endangerment of strong rain events in mind and which ones are prone to such events.

  9. Knowledge Transfer in Family Business Successions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boyd, Britta; Royer, Susanne; Pei, Rong

    Knowledge often is the fundament for strategic competitive advantage. Thus, it is highly relevant to understand better how knowledge is transferred from one generation to the next in family businesses. Building on the contingency model of family business succession (Royer, Simons, Boyd & Rafferty......, 2008) knowledge transfer in different cultures is investigated in this paper. From a resource-oriented perspective two family businesses with a similar industry background from China and Europe are compared regarding education processes and knowledge transfer in the context of family firm succession...... taking into account the respective transaction atmosphere. For the European family business from the Danish-German border region twelve successions were investigated in a former study: Access to experiential knowledge was found to be a driver of competitive advantage with a shift towards the relevance...

  10. Determining stocks and flows of structural wood products in single family homes in the United States between 1950 and 2010

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sianchuk, Robert A.; McFarlane, Paul N.; Ackom, Emmanuel

    2012-01-01

    The stocks and flows of six major structural wood products (SWPs)-lumber, plywood, oriented strand board [OSB], glue laminated timber, I-joists, and laminated veneer lumber (LVL)-in US single family homes were modeled from 1950 to 2010. The consumption of these products in US single family homes...... and their emissions as construction and demolition wastes were estimated. The net consumption of SWPs decreased from 119 kg/m2 constructed in 1986 to 82 kg/m2 in 2010. Softwood lumber was consistently the predominant SWP, but its usage intensity decreased from 95 kg/m2 in 1986 to 52 kg/ m2 in 2010. Since the 1980s......, modern SWPs, such as I-joists, LVL, and OSB, have replaced lumber and plywood products. The needs of the US single family housing industry have been met by a smaller mass of SWPs per unit area constructed. The mass of SWP present in construction wastes was influenced strongly by building cycles...

  11. Rules of Engagement: Building Brand Relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Friedman

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available As new social and shopping channels are developed, brands must understand why consumers want them, and why they matter. Alex Friedman shares four cornerstones to building strong customer loyalty through engagement both on and off these new channels.

  12. Mixed strategies for energy conservation and alternative energy utilization (solar) in buildings. Final report. Volume III. Appendixes. [10 appendices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1977-06-01

    This appendix summarizes building characteristics used to determine heating and cooling loads for each of the five building types in each of the four regions. For the selected five buildings, the following data are attached: new and existing construction characteristics; new and existing construction thermal resistance; floor plan and elevation; people load schedule; lighting load schedule; appliance load schedule; ventilation schedule; and hot water use schedule. For the five building types (single family, apartment buildings, commercial buildings, office buildings, and schools), data are compiled in 10 appendices. These are Building Characteristics; Alternate Energy Sources and Energy Conservation Techniques Description, Costs, Fuel Price Scenarios; Life Cycle Cost Model; Simulation Models; Solar Heating/Cooling System; Condensed Weather; Single and Multi-Family Dwelling Characteristics and Energy Conservation Techniques; Mixed Strategies for Energy Conservation and Alternative Energy Utilization in Buildings. An extensive bibliography is given in the final appendix. (MCW)

  13. Sharing Your Program with Families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dodge, Diane Trister

    1995-01-01

    Offers guidelines for childcare providers in working with parents to accomplish mutual goals. Focuses on building a relationship with families; articulating a clear philosophy; setting social, emotional, cognitive, and physical goals for the curriculum; using the environment to communicate the philosophy and goals of the curriculum; and…

  14. "Connected Presence" in Distributed Family Life

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Toke Haunstrup

    2009-01-01

    also analyses families’ use of the mobile phone in context of modern family life, emphasizing the importance of the temporal and spatial dispersion of family members in explaining the form and content of intra-familial mediated communication. Finally, the dual role of media technologies (including......Concurrently with the recent years’ explosive pervasion of information- and communication technologies, mediated communication has gained a strong position in the daily interaction between family members. Based on the results of qualitative interviews with families in Denmark, this article shows...... the mobile phone) in both integrating and dispersing families is discussed....

  15. The Question Of Balance Work - Family And Reconciliation Regime Work - Family At European Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aida Cimpeanu

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Under the conditions of the continuous change of the work patterns and of the alert liferhythm, there is a real challenge to keep a favourable equilibrium between work and family life. Oneof the value orientations manifested on a major scale on the whole European continent, is the humanorientation able to give substance to the European social politics, oriented to permanent improvementof his life quality by the increasing of the life level, the improvement of the work conditions, the workflexibility support qt the European level, national and organizational by the elaboration etimplementation of the politics of the work conciliation with family, or of the family/friendly politics,in order to keep an optimal equilibrium between family life as well as in the professional one.According to the European Commission, the reconciliation politics represent key responses to thelong term economic and demographic challenges. A better family life reconciliation is supported bythe objectives of the European strategy for the economical growth and of the workforce occupationfamily life represents the building stone of the modern familypolitics

  16. An energy efficient building for the Arctic climate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vladyková, Petra

    through the building envelope in the winter due to the pressure difference, strong winds and low water ratio in the outdoor air. The Arctic is also defined by different conditions such as building techniques and availability of the materials and energy supply. The passive house uses the basic idea......The Arctic is climatically very different from a temperate climate. In the Arctic regions, the ambient temperature reaches extreme values and it has a direct large impact on the heat loss through the building envelope and it creates problems with the foundation due to the permafrost. The solar...... influence the infiltration heat loss through the building envelope. The wind patterns have large influences on the local microclimate around the building and create the snowdrift and problems with thawing, icing and possible condensation in the building envelope. The humidity in the interior is driven out...

  17. Inside the Family Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bennedsen, Morten; Nielsen, Kasper; Pérez-González, Francisco

    2005-01-01

    This paper uses a unique dataset from Denmark to investigate (1) the role of family characteristics in corporate decision making, and (2) the consequences of these decisions on firm performance. We focus on the decision to appoint either a family or an external chief executive officer (CEO). We...... show that a departing CEO's family characteristics have a strong predictive power in explaining CEO succession decisions: family CEOs are more frequently selected the larger the size of the family, the higher the ratio of male children and when the departing CEOs had only had one spouse. We...... then analyze the impact of family successions on performance. We overcome endogeneity and omitted variables problems of previous papers in the literature by using the gender of a departing CEO's first-born child as an instrumental variable (IV) for family successions. This is a plausible IV as male first...

  18. School Access and Participation: Family Engagement Practices in the New Latino Diaspora

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowenhaupt, Rebecca

    2014-01-01

    This article describes how schools shape family engagement practices in the context of the New Latino Diaspora. Building on critical scholarship that has called for more culturally appropriate definitions of family engagement, this study seeks to develop a theoretical understanding of how school practices influence immigrant families' access to…

  19. Environmental sustainability assessment of family house alternatives and application of green technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moňoková, A.; Vilčeková, S.; Mečiarová, Ľ.; Krídlová Burdová, E.

    2017-10-01

    Transition to environmentally friendly technologies provides a comprehensive solution to problem of creating an economic value without destroying the nature. Buildings using green technologies lead to lower operating costs, healthier living and working environment and protect the environment more. The aim of this paper is to assess the environmental impact of two alternatives of family house designed as conventional building and building with green technologies. Evaluated family house are located in village Kokšov Bakša, which is situated 12 km south-east from city of Košice, a metropolis of eastern Slovakia. This analysis investigates the role of applied green technologies in single family houses for impact categories: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP) expressed as CO2eq, SO2eq and PO4 3- eq within “Cradle to Grave” boundary by using the LCA assessment method. The main contribution of the study is a proof that green technologies have significant part in the reduction of environmental impacts. Results show that alternative of family house designed as green one contributes to CO2eq, SO2eq and PO4 3- eq emissions by 81%, 73% and 35% less than alternative of conventional family house, respectively.

  20. Simulated thermal energy demand and actual energy consumption in refurbished and non-refurbished buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilie, C. A.; Visa, I.; Duta, A.

    2016-08-01

    The EU legal frame imposes the Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) status to any new public building starting with January 1st, 2019 and for any other new building starting with 2021. Basically, nZEB represents a Low Energy Building (LEB) that covers more than half of the energy demand by using renewable energy systems installed on or close to it. Thus, two steps have to be followed in developing nZEB: (1) reaching the LEB status through state- of-the art architectural and construction solutions (for the new buildings) or through refurbishing for the already existent buildings, followed by (2) implementing renewables; in Romania, over 65% of the energy demand in a building is directly linked to heating, domestic hot water (DHW), and - in certain areas - for cooling. Thus, effort should be directed to reduce the thermal energy demand to be further covered by using clean and affordable systems: solar- thermal systems, heat pumps, biomass, etc. or their hybrid combinations. Obviously this demand is influenced by the onsite climatic profile and by the building performance. An almost worst case scenario is approached in the paper, considering a community implemented in a mountain area, with cold and long winters and mild summers (Odorheiul Secuiesc city, Harghita county, Romania). Three representative types of buildings are analysed: multi-family households (in blocks of flats), single-family houses and administrative buildings. For the first two types, old and refurbished buildings were comparatively discussed.

  1. Strategic Behavior in Certifying Green Buildings: An Inquiry of the Non-building Performance Value.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang Hsieh, Lin-Han; Noonan, Douglas

    2017-08-01

    This study determines the magnitude of the market signaling effect arising from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for green buildings and explores the mechanisms behind the signaling effect. Previous studies have shown that signaling or marketability plays an important role in the pursuit for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and equivalent green-building certification. By analyzing all new construction projects receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from 2000 to 2012 in the US, this study estimates the relative importance of 'green' signaling. This broad perspective using project-level data enables an analysis of some drivers of signaling and the pursuit of marketing benefits. The roles of local competition and market conditions, as well as municipal regulations are examined, especially as they differ between types of building owners (e.g., for-profit firms, governments, nonprofits). The results indicate that the non-building performance value-value captured by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design signals above and beyond the specific building attributes that Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifies-dominates the attainment of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design scores around certification tier thresholds. Further, strong evidence of spatial clustering of this non-building performance value for some owner types indicates that for-profit owners may be more responsive to local competition than non-profit owners. Local legislative mandates predict greater signaling intensity by government-owned buildings, as expected, but for-profit-owned projects tend to signal less, even after controls for local conditions. The results highlight the importance of local conditions, including peer effects and regulations, in driving non-building performance values across a wide range of green buildings.

  2. Towards Integrated Marmara Strong Motion Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durukal, E.; Erdik, M.; Safak, E.; Ansal, A.; Ozel, O.; Alcik, H.; Mert, A.; Kafadar, N.; Korkmaz, A.; Kurtulus, A.

    2009-04-01

    Istanbul has a 65% chance of having a magnitude 7 or above earthquake within the next 30 years. As part of the preparations for the future earthquake, strong motion networks have been installed in and around Istanbul. The Marmara Strong Motion Network, operated by the Department of Earthquake Engineering of Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, encompasses permanent systems outlined below. It is envisaged that the networks will be run by a single entity responsible for technical management and maintanence, as well as for data management, archiving and dissemination through dedicated web-based interfaces. • Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response and Early Warning System - IERREWS (one hundred 18-bit accelerometers for rapid response; ten 24-bit accelerometers for early warning) • IGDAŞ Gas Shutoff Network (100 accelerometers to be installed in 2010 and integrated with IERREWS) • Structural Monitoring Arrays - Fatih Sultan Mehmet Suspension Bridge (1200m-long suspension bridge across the Bosphorus, five 3-component accelerometers + GPS sensors) - Hagia Sophia Array (1500-year-old historical edifice, 9 accelerometers) - Süleymaniye Mosque Array (450-year-old historical edifice,9 accelerometers) - Fatih Mosque Array (237-year-old historical edifice, 9 accelerometers) - Kanyon Building Array (high-rise office building, 5 accelerometers) - Isbank Tower Array (high-rise office building, 5 accelerometers) - ENRON Array (power generation facility, 4 acelerometers) - Mihrimah Sultan Mosque Array (450-year-old historical edifice,9 accelerometers + tiltmeters, to be installed in 2009) - Sultanahmet Mosque Array, (390-year-old historical edifice, 9 accelerometers + tiltmeters, to be installed in 2009) • Special Arrays - Atakoy Vertical Array (four 3-component accelerometers at 25, 50, 75, and 150 m depths) - Marmara Tube Tunnel (1400 m long submerged tunnel, 128 ch. accelerometric data, 24 ch. strain data, to be installed in 2010) - Air-Force Academy

  3. The Synergetic Effect of Cash Transfers for Families, Child Sensitive Social Protection Programs, and Capacity Building for Effective Social Protection on Children’s Nutritional Status in Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andre M. N. Renzaho

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the synergetic effect of child sensitive social protection programs, augmented by a capacity building for social protection and embedded within existing government’s targeted resource transfers for families on child nutritional status. Design: A repeat cross-sectional quasi-experimental design with measures taken pre- (October–December 2009 and post- (December 2014–February 2015 intervention in the intervention and comparison district. The comparison district received standard social welfare services in the form of targeted resource transfers (TRTs for eligible families. The intervention district received the TRTs plus a child cash payment, augmented by a capacity building for effective social protection outcomes. Propensity scores were used in difference-in-differences models to compare the changes over time between the intervention and control groups. Results: Propensity score matched/weighted models produced better results than the unmatched analyses, and hence we report findings from the radius matching. The intervention resulted in a 5.16 (95% CI: 9.55, 0.77, 7.35 (95% CI: 11.62, 3.08 and 2.84 (95% CI: 5.58, 0.10 percentage point reduction in the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting among children under the age, respectively. The intervention impact was greater in boys than girls for stunting and wasting; and greater in girls than boys for underweight. The intervention also resulted in a 6.66 (95% CI: 2.13, 3.18, 11.40 (95% CI: 16.66, 6.13, and 4.0 (95% CI: 6.43, 1.78 percentage point reduction in the prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting among older children (≥24 months. No impact was observed among younger children (<24 months. Conclusions: Targeted resource transfers for families, augmented with a child sensitive social protection program and capacity building for social protection can address effectively child malnutrition. To increase

  4. Ambivalence about Children in the Family Building Process in Sweden

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernhardt, Eva

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Sweden provides strong support for childbearing and parenthood, including generously subsidized medical, maternal, and child care, paid parental leave, and child allowances. In this context, attitudes towards parenthood are likely to have a particularly strong impact on the decision about whether and when to have children. We examine the links between first births and holding attitudes about children, not just of positive and negative attitudes, but also of ambivalence, namely those who both value children but also value the things that compete with parenthood for young adults’ time and other resources. Our analysis shows, measuring attitudes before the transition to parenthood, that ambivalence about childbearing delays the transition to parenthood, but not nearly as much as holding purely negative attitudes. Further, reporting an ambivalent experience from the first child had no significant effect on further childbearing, which testifies to the strong two-child norm in Sweden.

  5. Processes of Communication Family Divorced in Decision-Making the Boy to Build Independence

    OpenAIRE

    Ferani, Ansa; Budi Lestari, SU, Dr. Dra. Sri

    2016-01-01

    Families have many of the functions, one of them is The Child Socialization Role which teaches children to be sociable and adapt to its environment. The achievement of independence to someone especially boys is one of the success indicators of parents who run the family functions as The Child Socialization Role. But this process will experience the difference when the family through divorce. Parental divorce giving effect directly to children through numbers, the phenomenon, and stereotype in...

  6. Knowledge transfer in family business successions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boyd, Britta; Royer, Susanne; Pei, Rong

    2015-01-01

    are compared with each other and conclusions for both cases are drawn. Implications for theory and practice as well as avenues for future research are sketched. Originality/value – The focus of the current study is to gain more insight into long-lived family businesses by comparing two cases over a period......Purpose – Knowledge often is the fundament for strategic competitive advantage. Thus, it is highly relevant to understand better how knowledge is transferred from one generation to the next in family businesses. The purpose of this paper is to link the competitive advantage realisation in family...... businesses to the success of transferring strategically valuable knowledge in different business environments to the next generation. Design/methodology/approach – Building on the contingency model of family business succession (Royer et al., 2008) knowledge transfer in family businesses from different...

  7. A Multidimensional Approach to Succession in Family Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boyd, Britta; Fediuk, Tomasz A.; Botero, Isabel C.

    In family firms succession is often defined as the transition of leadership and ownership between a family member and the next generation. Traditionally research on succession in family firms has focused on the family member as they enter the leadership role (i.e., how family firms successfully...... transition to the next generation). From our point of view this is a one-dimensional perspective of succession with a focus on the family or the non-family member that will take over the leadership role. However, we found evidence in Danish family business research that such an approach is restrictive...... in a way that concern for the family is not the only consideration for organizational development in the succession process. Building on conflict management literature, we examine the succession process from a multi-dimensional approach where concern for the family is one dimension, and a second dimension...

  8. Optimization of Design and Planing VHS Building Using Chronolux

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beta Paramita

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Gedebage integrated vocational high school (SMK is a school which accommodates the concept of technopolis. The school has four programs: building engineering, family welfare education (PKK/food service, mechanical engineering, and tourism - which produce skilled and ready-to-work graduates. This article aims to recommend the sun exposure toward the building of the school, which is related to site planning and design strategies based on the duration of solar radiation on vegetation, and building facades as well as the distance between buildings through the use of Chronolux plug-in on Sketch-up Software. From the measurement, it is found that vegetation can reduce sky view factors (SVF from 76.4 to 38.87%. For the building façade, it is able to reduce sun exposure from 4 hours 51 minutes to 3 hours 19 minutes with SVF from 47.26 to 38.11%. Meanwhile, the building distance of 9 m receives sun exposure from 9:00 am to 3.42 pm.

  9. Family Assets and Liabilities in the Innovation Process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bennedsen, Morten; Foss, Nicolai Juul

    2015-01-01

    Innovation in family firms is often driven by family assets, valuable resources that are particularly prevalent in family firms. For example, they have particularly strong networks that can be deployed in an innovation context. These family assets can over time atrophy and stifle rather than...... stimulate innovation performance. However, family firms can fight this process by institutionalizing innovation within the family and the firm by means of family and corporate governance and through incentivizing key individuals in the innovation process....

  10. Unto the third generation: evidence for strong familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists among first-year medical and psychology students in a nationwide Austrian cohort census.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Ulrich S; Berger, Nina; Arendasy, Martin E; Greitemeyer, Tobias; Himmelbauer, Monika; Hutzler, Florian; Kraft, Hans-Georg; Oettl, Karl; Papousek, Ilona; Vitouch, Oliver; Voracek, Martin

    2017-05-03

    Medical students present higher numbers of physician relatives than expectable from the total population prevalence of physicians. Evidence for such a familial aggregation effect of physicians has emerged in investigations from the Anglo-American, Scandinavian, and German-speaking areas. In particular, past data from Austria suggest a familial aggregation of the medical, as well as of the psychological and psychotherapeutic, professions among medical and psychology undergraduates alike. Here, we extend prior related studies by examining (1) the extent to which familial aggregation effects apply to the whole nation-wide student census of all relevant (eight) public universities in Austria; (2) whether effects are comparable for medical and psychology students; (3) and whether these effects generalize to relatives of three interrelated health professions (medicine, psychology, and psychotherapy). We investigated the familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists, based on an entire cohort census of first-year medical and psychology students (n = 881 and 920) in Austria with generalized linear mixed models. For both disciplines, we found strong familial aggregation of physicians, psychologists, and psychotherapists. As compared with previous results, directionally opposite time trends within disciplines emerged: familial aggregation of physicians among medical students has decreased, whilst familial aggregation of psychologists among psychology students has increased. Further, there were sex-of-relative effects (i.e., more male than female physician relatives), but no substantial sex-of-student effects (i.e., male and female students overall reported similar numbers of relatives for all three professions of interest). In addition, there were age-benefit effects, i.e., students with a relative in the medical or the psychotherapeutic profession were younger than students without, thus suggesting earlier career decisions. The familial

  11. Indoor-Outdoor Air Leakage of Apartments and Commercial Buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Price, P.N.; Shehabi, A.; Chan, R.W.; Gadgil, A.J.

    2006-06-01

    We compiled and analyzed available data concerning indoor-outdoor air leakage rates and building leakiness parameters for commercial buildings and apartments. We analyzed the data, and reviewed the related literature, to determine the current state of knowledge of the statistical distribution of air exchange rates and related parameters for California buildings, and to identify significant gaps in the current knowledge and data. Very few data were found from California buildings, so we compiled data from other states and some other countries. Even when data from other developed countries were included, data were sparse and few conclusive statements were possible. Little systematic variation in building leakage with construction type, building activity type, height, size, or location within the u.s. was observed. Commercial buildings and apartments seem to be about twice as leaky as single-family houses, per unit of building envelope area. Although further work collecting and analyzing leakage data might be useful, we suggest that a more important issue may be the transport of pollutants between units in apartments and mixed-use buildings, an under-studied phenomenon that may expose occupants to high levels of pollutants such as tobacco smoke or dry cleaning fumes.

  12. Building-related risk factors and work-related lower respiratory symptoms in 80 office buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mendell, M.J.; Naco, G.M.; Wilcox, T.G.; Sieber, W.K.

    2002-01-01

    We assessed building-related risk factors for lower respiratory symptoms in office workers. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in 1993 collected data during indoor environmental health investigations of workplaces. We used multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess relationships between lower respiratory symptoms in office workers and risk factors plausibly related to microbiologic contamination. Among 2,435 occupants in 80 office buildings, frequent, work-related multiple lower respiratory symptoms were strongly associated, in multivariate models, with two risk factors for microbiologic contamination: poor pan drainage under cooling coils and debris in outside air intake. Associations tended to be stronger among those with a history of physician-diagnosed asthma. These findings suggest that adverse lower respiratory health effects from indoor work environments, although unusual, may occur in relation to poorly designed or maintained ventilation systems, particularly among previously diagnosed asthmatics. These findings require confirmation in more representative buildings.

  13. Building-related risk factors and work-related lower respiratory symptoms in 80 office buildings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendell, M.J.; Naco, G.M.; Wilcox, T.G.; Sieber, W.K.

    2002-01-01

    We assessed building-related risk factors for lower respiratory symptoms in office workers. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in 1993 collected data during indoor environmental health investigations of workplaces. We used multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess relationships between lower respiratory symptoms in office workers and risk factors plausibly related to microbiologic contamination. Among 2,435 occupants in 80 office buildings, frequent, work-related multiple lower respiratory symptoms were strongly associated, in multivariate models, with two risk factors for microbiologic contamination: poor pan drainage under cooling coils and debris in outside air intake. Associations tended to be stronger among those with a history of physician-diagnosed asthma. These findings suggest that adverse lower respiratory health effects from indoor work environments, although unusual, may occur in relation to poorly designed or maintained ventilation systems, particularly among previously diagnosed asthmatics. These findings require confirmation in more representative buildings

  14. Preindustrial versus postindustrial Architecture and Building Techniques

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestergaard, Inge

    2014-01-01

    house built around 1700 and the other a frontrunner suburban family house built year 2010. The aim is to show how preindustrial architecture can inspire sustainable thinking in postindustrial architectural design, how we can learn from the experience and how the nowadays social, economic......The paper will identify the sustainable parameters related to the change in society, building technique and comfort demands illustrated through 2 Danish building types, which are very different in time, but similar in function. The one representing evolution and experience based countryside farm...... out how living conditions, landscape and topology, how climate and the possibility to use local materials for construction and how actual building technology influences the design, the economy, the comfort and the energy use. Analysis involves architectural, technical and comfort matters...

  15. Family meals and the well-being of adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utter, Jennifer; Denny, Simon; Robinson, Elizabeth; Fleming, Theresa; Ameratunga, Shanthi; Grant, Sue

    2013-11-01

    The current study describes the relationships between family meals and family connectedness, parental monitoring and parent-child communication and determines if frequent family meals are associated with better mental well-being and fewer risk-taking behaviours among adolescents. Data were collected as part of Youth'07, a nationally representative survey of the health and well-being of secondary school students in New Zealand (n = 9107). Frequent family meals were positively associated with better indicators of family relationships (P family meals were significantly associated with higher well-being scores (P family connectedness, parental monitoring and parental communication. Our findings suggest that family meals may provide a unique opportunity for building stronger families and young people. Creating environments where frequent family meals are normative, valued and feasible for families may result in benefits for young people that extend beyond good nutrition. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

  16. Capacity building for HIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Gulis PhD

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available

    <strong>Background>: To integrate health impact assessment (HIA into existing decision-making processes requires not only methods and procedures but also well-trained experts, aware policy makers and appropriate institutions. Capacity building is the assistance which is provided to entities, which have a need to develop a certain skill or competence, or for general upgrading of performance ability. If a new technique is planned to be introduced there is a need for capacity building with no respect to levels (local, regional, national, international or sectors (health, environment, finance, social care, education, etc.. As such, HIA is a new technique for most of the new Member States and accession countries of the European Union.

    <strong>Methods>: To equip individuals with the understanding and skills needed to launch a HIA or be aware of the availability of this methodology and to access information, knowledge and training, we focused on the organization of workshops in participating countries. The workshops served also as pilot events to test a “curriculum” for HIA; a set of basic topics and presentations had been developed to be tested during workshops. In spite of classical in-class workshops we aimed to organize e-learning events as a way to over come the “busyness” problem of decision makers.

    <strong>Results>: Throughout March – October 2006 we organized and ran 7 workshops in Denmark, Turkey, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovak Republic and Hungary. Participants came from the public health sector (141, non-public health decision makers (113 and public health students (100. A concise curriculum was developed and tested during these workshops. Participants developed a basic understanding of HIA, skills to develop and use their own screening tools as well as scoping.Within the workshop in Denmark we tested an online, real-time Internet based training method; participants highly welcomed this

  17. Familias Unidas: a family-centered ecodevelopmental intervention to reduce risk for problem behavior among Hispanic adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coatsworth, J Douglas; Pantin, Hilda; Szapocznik, Jose

    2002-06-01

    This paper describes the theoretical and empirical foundations of Familias Unidas, a multilevel, family-centered intervention designed to prevent problem behavior in Hispanic adolescents. The main theoretical tenets for the intervention model; an ecological-developmental perspective, the centrality of ethnic and cultural themes, application of empowerment principles, and a family focus are reviewed. The literature on the risk and protective factors that provided the justification for the intervention's targeted mediators and the core clinical applications that are intended to alter them are discussed. Familias Unidas engages Hispanic immigrant parents into an empowerment process in which they first build a strong parent-support network and then use the network to increase knowledge of culturally relevant parenting, strengthen parenting skills, and then apply these new skills in a series of activities designed to reduce risks frequently found in poor, urban environments. The available evidence supporting the efficacy of Familias Unidas is summarized, as are future goals and a current, second-generation application of the intervention.

  18. Late-Life Divorce: Its Impact on Family Rituals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pett, Marjorie A.; And Others

    1992-01-01

    Examined perceived changes in specific family celebrations, traditions, important life cycle events, and day-to-day family contact that occurred for 115 adult children whose parents had divorced after long-term marriage. Found strong positive correlation between perceived disruptiveness of parental divorce and changes in family rituals,…

  19. Influence of Participation, Facilitator Styles, and Metacognitive Reflection on Knowledge Building in Online University Courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cacciamani, Stefano; Cesareni, Donatella; Martini, Francesca; Ferrini, Tiziana; Fujita, Nobuko

    2012-01-01

    Understanding how to foster knowledge building in online and blended learning environments is a key for computer-supported collaborative learning research. Knowledge building is a deeply constructivist pedagogy and kind of inquiry learning focused on theory building. A strong indicator of engagement in knowledge building activity is the…

  20. Building Strong Geoscience Departments: Case Studies and Findings from Six Years of Programming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iverson, E. A.; Lee, S.; Ormand, C. J.; Feiss, P. G.; Macdonald, H.; Manduca, C. A.; Richardson, R. M.

    2011-12-01

    Begun in 2005, the Building Strong Geoscience Departments project sought to help geoscience departments respond to changes in geosciences research, academic pressures, and the changing face of the geosciences workforce by working as a team, planning strategically, and learning from the experiences of other geoscience departments. Key strategies included becoming more central to their institution's mission and goals; articulating the department's learning goals for students; designing coordinated curricula, co-curricular activities, and assessments to meet these goals; and recruiting students effectively. A series of topical workshops identified effective practices in use in the U.S. and Canada. These practices were documented on the project website and disseminated through a national workshop for teams of faculty, through activities at the AGU Heads and Chairs workshops, and in a visiting workshop program bringing leaders to campuses. The program has now involved over 450 participants from 185 departments. To understand the impact of the program, we engaged in ongoing discussion with five departments of various sizes and institutional types, and facing a variety of immediate challenges. In aggregate they made use of the full spectrum of project offerings. These departments all reported that the project brought an important new perspective to their ability to work as a department: they have a better understanding of how their departments' issues relate to the national scene, have more strategies for making the case for the entire department to college administrators, and are better poised to make use of campus resources including the external review process. These results were consistent with findings from end-of-workshop surveys. Further they developed the ability to work together as a team to address departmental challenges through collective problem solving. As a result of their workshop participation, two of the departments who considered their department to be

  1. Establishing a Methodology to Examine the Effects of War-Zone PTSD on the Family: The Family Foundations Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasterling, Jennifer J.; Taft, Casey T.; Proctor, Susan P.; MacDonald, Helen Z.; Lawrence, Amy; Kalill, Kathleen; Kaiser, Anica P.; Lee, Lewina O.; King, Daniel W.; King, Lynda A.; Fairbank, John A.

    2015-01-01

    Military deployment may adversely affect not only returning veterans, but their families, as well. As a result, researchers have increasingly focused on identifying risk and protective factors for successful family adaptation to war-zone deployment, re-integration of the returning veteran, and the longer-term psychosocial consequences of deployment experienced by some veterans and families. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among returning veterans may pose particular challenges to military and military veteran families; however, questions remain regarding the impact of the course of veteran PTSD and other potential moderating factors on family adaptation to military deployment. The Family Foundations Study builds upon an established longitudinal cohort of Army soldiers (i.e., the Neurocognition Deployment Health Study) to help address remaining knowledge gaps. This report describes the conceptual framework and key gaps in knowledge that guided the study design, methodological challenges and special considerations in conducting military family research, and how these gaps, challenges, and special considerations are addressed by the study. PMID:26077194

  2. Relational autonomy or undue pressure? Family's role in medical decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Anita

    2008-03-01

    The intertwining ideas of self-determination and well-being have received tremendous support in western bioethics. They have been used to reject medical paternalism and to justify patients' rights to give informed consent (or refusal) and execute advanced directives. It is frequently argued that everyone is thoroughly unique, and as patients are most knowledgeable of and invested in their own interests, they should be the ones to make voluntary decisions regarding their care. Two results of the strong focus on autonomy are the rejection of the image of patients as passive care recipients and the suspicion against paternalistic influence anyone may have on patients' decision-making process. Although the initial focus in western bioethics was on minimizing professional coercion, there has been a steady concern of family's involvement in adult patients' medical decision-making. Many worry that family members may have divergent values and priorities from those of the patients, such that their involvement could counter patients' autonomy. Those who are heavily involved in competent patients' decision-making are often met with suspicion. Patients who defer to their families are sometimes presumed to be acting out of undue pressure. This essay argues for a re-examination of the notions of autonomy and undue pressure in the contexts of patienthood and relational identity. In particular, it examines the characteristics of families and their role in adult patients' decision-making. Building on the feminist conception of the relational self and examining the context of contemporary institutional medicine, this paper argues that family involvement and consideration of family interests can be integral in promoting patients' overall agency. It argues that, in the absence of abuse and neglect, respect for autonomy and agency requires clinicians to abide by patients' expressed wishes.

  3. Parental stress, family quality of life, and family-teacher partnerships: Families of children with autism spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Yun-Ju; Higgins, Kyle; Pierce, Tom; Whitby, Peggy J Schaefer; Tandy, Richard D

    2017-11-01

    Reducing parental stress and improving family quality of Life (FQOL) are continuing concerns for families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Family-teacher partnerships have been identified as a positive factor to help parents reduce their stress and improve their FQOL. However, the interrelations among parental stress, FQOL, and family-teacher partnerships need to be further examined so as to identify the possible paths to help parents reduce their stress and improve their FQOL. The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelations among these three variables. A total of 236 parents of school children with ASD completed questionnaires, which included three measures: (a) the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale, (b) the Parental Stress Scale, and (c) the Beach Center Family-Professional Partnerships Scale. The structural equation modeling was used to analyze the interrelations among these three variables. Perceived parental stress had a direct effect on parental satisfaction concerning FQOL and vice versa. Perceived family-teacher partnerships had a direct effect on FQOL, but did not have a direct effect on parental stress. However, family-teacher partnerships had an indirect effect on parental stress through FQOL. Reducing parental stress could improve FQOL for families of children with ASD and vice versa. Strong family-teacher partnerships could help parents of children with ASD improve their FQOL and indirectly reduce their stress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Associations of work-family conflicts with food habits and physical activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roos, Eva; Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, Sirpa; Lallukka, Tea; Lahelma, Eero

    2007-03-01

    This study examines the relationship between family-work conflicts with food habits and physical activity, and whether the relationship is dependent on family structure and work-related factors. Cross-sectional postal surveys were carried out in 2001 and 2002 among employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland, aged 40-60 years (n = 5346, response rate 66%; for women 70% and for men 60%). Dependent variables in logistic regression analyses were nationally recommended food habits and physical activity. Independent variables were work-family conflicts and family-work conflicts. Covariates included age, marital status, number of children, occupational class, working hours, time travelling to work, and physical and mental work load. Women reporting strong work-family conflicts were more likely to follow recommended food habits (odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals 1.49 (1.19-1.86)), but this relationship weakened when adjusting for work-related factors (OR 1.20 (0.93-1.55)). Women and men with strong family-work conflicts were less likely to report recommended food habits after adjusting for family structure and work-related factors (women OR 0.75 (0.61-0.92), men OR 0.57 (0.34-0.96)). Women and men with strong work-family conflicts were less likely to follow the recommended amount of physical activity (women OR 0.76 (0.60-0.96), men OR 0.54 (0.34-0.87)). Additionally, women with strong family-work conflicts were less likely to follow the recommended amount of physical activity (OR 0.77 (0.63-0.94)). Adjusting for family and work-related factors did not affect these associations. Conflicts between paid work and family life are likely to constitute barriers for a physically active lifestyle and possibly also for healthy food habits. Improving the balance between work and family may provide a route for promoting health-related behaviours.

  5. Preparing FCS Professionals for a Multilingual Society: Building Community through the Experiences of Multilingual Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, Janine; Duncan, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    As demographics in the United States shift, family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals must be prepared to foster healthy communities that embrace multilingual families. Because hegemonic language ideologies challenge multilingual families, FCS professionals need to know how to inclusively reframe communities to honor multilingual families.…

  6. [Family therapy of encopresis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spitczok von Brisinski, Ingo; Lüttger, Fred

    2007-01-01

    Encopresis is a taboo symptom, which is connected with great suffering from mental pressure not only for the children concerned, but also their relatives. Family related approaches are indispensable to understand encopresis, because as a result of high symptom persistence and psychological comorbidity in many cases a purely behavior-therapeutic, symptom focused approach is not sufficient, and further psychotherapeutic interventions are necessary. There is a strong temporal correlation between family interaction and frequency of soiling and changes of interaction influence changes in soiling more than the other way round. In a literature review different family relationship patterns and approaches of family therapy are represented regarding encopresis. Meaningful differences for family therapy are represented regarding primary/secondary encopresis, encopresis with/without comorbid psychiatric disorder as well as encopresis with/without dysfunctional family interaction. Distinctions are made between symptom focused, not-symptom focused and combined family therapeutic approaches, which are illustrated with case examples of outpatient and inpatient treatment. Symptom focused family therapy like e.g. externalizing of the soiling is helpful also if no dysfunctional family interaction patterns are present, because all family members can contribute to treatment success according to their own resources.

  7. Facilitating learning and action for food sovereignty on family and community levels

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vaarst, Mette

    2014-01-01

    This paper focuses on strengthening local communities in West Uganda, where an approach focusing on building up social capital and sharing responsibilities for own development within and between families. We see it as an approach to reach food sovereignty because it takes its roots within...... in reaching food sovereignty, - Building social capital in local communities is a key to control over food, - Context-specific learning and knowledge in combination with an organizational and institutional capacity in local CBOs or NGOs all are paramount for strengthening food sovereignty on a local level...... the family itself, where the responsibility for both family food and cash crops exists and is not always shared equally. When families start working together and use the resources in a group of both men and women, elders and youth, a local community becomes stronger and can match the capacities within...

  8. Single-Family Houses That Meet The Future Energy Demands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rose, Jørgen; Svendsen, Svend

    2002-01-01

    ). Before any further tightening of the regulations are introduced, however, it is necessary to illustrate the consequences of such actions with regard to finance, building technology, indoor climate and comfort. Therefore a series of investigations and experimental projects are being launched, in order...... to examine these consequences thoroughly. The department is presently contributing to this end by participating in quite a few investigative projects, where single-family houses are designed to meet the proposed future energy demands. This paper describes the results obtained from one such project where...... the department, in co-operation with a major building entrepreneur, has developed a single-family house that shows that there are no evident problems in meeting the future energy demands....

  9. The impact of building orientation and discount rates on a Portuguese reference building refurbishment decision

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brandão de Vasconcelos, Ana; Cabaço, António; Pinheiro, Manuel Duarte; Manso, Armando

    2016-01-01

    Refurbishment, as part of the construction industry, has a strong global impact, not only from the viewpoint of economies but also from social and energy-efficiency perspectives. A thermal refurbishment process, in particular, involves numerous decisions and choices; the decision-makers being ultimately confronted with two major questions: which criterion should be adopted in the choice of the refurbishment construction solutions and which refurbishment construction solutions should be chosen? In this paper, a criterion based on technical and economic points of view is proposed, aiming to identify the cost-optimal package of energy efficient solutions from among a set of possible refurbishment measures, within the life cycle of buildings. Sensitivity analyses are also performed so that the results may help the decision-maker choose the appropriate refurbishment solutions to be adopted when different discount rates and building orientations are taken into consideration. A total of seven scenarios, for a macroeconomic perspective, and nine, for a financial perspective, are performed. The costoptimal methodology adopted, following the Directive 2010/31/EU (2010) recommendations, is applied to a Portuguese reference building. The analysis carried out allows obtaining low global life cycle costs solutions and points towards nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) concept. The results are important for drawing national political instruments on buildings energy efficiency. - Highlights: •Building refurbishment decision based on technical and economic points of view. •35.000 Packages of thermal rehabilitation solutions considered. •Building orientation and discount rate impact on the cost-optimal package of solutions. •Portuguese reference building case base.

  10. Sustainable capacity building among immigrant communities: the raising sexually healthy children program in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narushima, Miya; Wong, Josephine Pui-Hing; Li, Anda; Sutdhibhasilp, Noulmook

    2014-03-01

    The Raising Sexually Healthy Children (RSHC) program is a peer-to-peer leadership training program for immigrant parents in Toronto, Canada. It was established in 1998 with the goal of promoting family sex education and parent-child communication. This evaluative study examined the developmental processes and outcomes of the RSHC program to identify the strengths, challenges and insights that can be used to improve the program. It employed a multi-case study approach to compare the RSHC programs delivered in the Chinese, Portuguese and Tamil communities. Data collection methods included focus groups, individual interviews and document analysis. The cross-case analysis identified both common and unique capacity building processes and outcomes in the three communities. In this paper, we report factors that have enhanced and hindered sustainable capacity building at the individual, group/organizational and community levels, and the strategies used by these communities to address challenges common to immigrant families. We will discuss the ecological and synergetic, but time-consuming processes of capacity building, which contributed to the sustainability of RSHC as an empowering health promotion program for immigrant communities. We conclude the paper by noting the implications of using a capacity building approach to promote family health in ethno-racial-linguistic minority communities.

  11. Shear-wave velocity compilation for Northridge strong-motion recording sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borcherdt, Roger D.; Fumal, Thomas E.

    2002-01-01

    Borehole and other geotechnical information collected at the strong-motion recording sites of the Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994 provide an important new basis for the characterization of local site conditions. These geotechnical data, when combined with analysis of strong-motion recordings, provide an empirical basis to evaluate site coefficients used in current versions of US building codes. Shear-wave-velocity estimates to a depth of 30 meters are derived for 176 strong-motion recording sites. The estimates are based on borehole shear-velocity logs, physical property logs, correlations with physical properties and digital geologic maps. Surface-wave velocity measurements and standard penetration data are compiled as additional constraints. These data as compiled from a variety of databases are presented via GIS maps and corresponding tables to facilitate use by other investigators.

  12. Developing product families based on architectures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harlou, Ulf

    2006-01-01

    family master plan (PFMP). The PFMP aims at modelling product families and especially variety of product families. The results of this thesis build on research literature and experiences from the industrial partners. Extensive verifications of the theory contributions, models and tools have been carried......The subject of this PhD thesis is development of product families based on architectures. Companies are introducing more and more product variants to fulfil the market demands. These new variants add complexity to many of the processes and systems in the companies. Reuse of standard designs (i.......e. design entities) and re-use of the way new products are developed can simplify the processes and systems. Case studies show that reuse can lead to reduction of cost and time-to-market of new products. One of the means for managing reuse of standard designs within product families are architectures...

  13. Diabetes-specific genetic effects on obesity traits in American Indian populations: the Strong Heart Family Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Howard Barbara V

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Body fat mass distribution and deposition are determined by multiple environmental and genetic factors. Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and type 2 diabetes. We previously identified evidence for genotype-by-diabetes interaction on obesity traits in Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS participants. To localize these genetic effects, we conducted genome-wide linkage scans of obesity traits in individuals with and without type 2 diabetes, and in the combined sample while modeling interaction with diabetes using maximum likelihood methods (SOLAR 2.1.4. Methods SHFS recruited American Indians from Arizona, North and South Dakota, and Oklahoma. Anthropometric measures and diabetes status were obtained during a clinic visit. Marker allele frequencies were derived using maximum likelihood methods estimated from all individuals and multipoint identity by descent sharing was estimated using Loki. We used variance component linkage analysis to localize quantitative trait loci (QTLs influencing obesity traits. We tested for evidence of additive and QTL-specific genotype-by-diabetes interactions using the regions identified in the diabetes-stratified analyses. Results Among 245 diabetic and 704 non-diabetic American Indian individuals, we detected significant additive gene-by-diabetes interaction for weight and BMI (P P Conclusion These results suggest distinct genetic effects on body mass in individuals with diabetes compared to those without diabetes, and a possible role for one or more genes on chromosome 1 in the pathogenesis of obesity.

  14. Making STEM “Family Friendly”: The Impact of Perceiving Science Careers as Family-Compatible

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erica S. Weisgram

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Two studies extended the communal goal congruity perspective to examine perceived incongruity between science careers and family caregiving goals. Study 1 examined beliefs about science careers among young adolescents, older adolescents, and young adults. Science careers were perceived as unlikely to afford family goals, and this belief emerged more strongly with age cohort. Study 1 also documented that the perception that science affords family goals predicts interest in pursuing science. Study 2 then employed an experimental methodology to investigate the impact of framing a science career as integrated with family life or not. For family-oriented women, the family-friendly framing of science produced greater personal favorability toward pursuing a science career. In addition, perceived fulfilment of the scientist described predicted personal favorability toward a science career path. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and for policy.

  15. Vulnerability of housing buildings in Bucharest, Romania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bostenaru, M.

    2009-04-01

    stylistically the "national style" flourished), - the time 1920-1940 for the type with reinforced concrete skeleton for gravitational loads only (in which the "interwar style" or Romanian Modernism flourished), - the time immediately after 1940 (when a strong earthquake struck Bucharest), somehow 1940-1947, when the former structural type was continued, but with some improvements, for which a type with reinforced concrete diagonals was considered, - the time 1947-1977, before the strong earthquake from 1977, when cast-in-situ reinforced concrete structural wall buildings were spread. Two types are considered, one which displayed low earthquake vulnerability and one which displayed high earthquake vulnerability, - the time 1977-1989, after the strong earthquake from 1977 and before the fall on the communist regime, when taking as a reason the strong earthquake the regime started to implement another type of buildings, which structurally often were still reinforced concrete structural wall type, but prefabricated, - the time after 1989, when for more flexibility moment resisting frame was built, and also some of the unfinished moment resisting frame buildings were completed. To have such a complete description of all the building type in a country is not common for the World Housing Encyclopedia, and having them for Romania was due to a particular effort of the author. At the same time the database allows finding similar types in other parts of the world. Broadly speaking, each report included two sections, the first one more extended, on the vulnerability of buildings and the second on the seismic retrofit. The reports contain completed check lists, descriptions of the structural system, photographs and drawings. The accent in this presentation will be on the identification of seismic deficiencies and earthquake resilient features, and the connected typical damages, which all describe the vulnerability.

  16. (LIRNEasia) : Building Capacity in ICT Policy

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Learning Initiatives for Network Economies in Asia (LIRNEasia) : Building Capacity in ICT Policy. It is now generally accepted that affordable, effective telecommunication services play an integral role in development. Although there has been strong growth in connectivity in Asia, those who have benefited most are the urban ...

  17. Family Obligations in Micronesian Cultures: Implications for Educators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ratliffe, Katherine T.

    2010-01-01

    Micronesian people, a new group of immigrants to the USA, have a strong system of responsibilities to family members that guides their priorities and actions. When family obligations clash with school priorities, conflicts can occur. I interviewed 26 adults to learn about the relationships and responsibilities of family members to each other in…

  18. Inviting Families to Celebrate in the Writing Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Anna H.; Axelrod, Ysaaca

    2014-01-01

    Although it is evident that advocacy for strong school and family relationships exists, many teachers and schools struggle to find ways to engage families in their classrooms. At the same time, research on families from diverse cultural and linguistic groups points to differences in perceptions of what it means to be involved, support…

  19. Arab Families and Youth : a Century of War, Migration and ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    This project builds on two earlier phases of support to the Arab Families Working Group (AFWG) under projects 101270 and 102198. The grant will support some 15 rigorous studies in Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine and their diasporas on two key topics: the impact of war, violence, displacement and migration on families; ...

  20. Combined incomplete LU and strongly implicit procedure preconditioning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meese, E.A. [Univ. of Trondheim (Norway)

    1996-12-31

    For the solution of large sparse linear systems of equations, the Krylov-subspace methods have gained great merit. Their efficiency are, however, largely dependent upon preconditioning of the equation-system. A family of matrix factorisations often used for preconditioning, is obtained from a truncated Gaussian elimination, ILU(p). Less common, supposedly due to it`s restriction to certain sparsity patterns, is factorisations generated by the strongly implicit procedure (SIP). The ideas from ILU(p) and SIP are used in this paper to construct a generalized strongly implicit procedure, applicable to matrices with any sparsity pattern. The new algorithm has been run on some test equations, and efficiency improvements over ILU(p) was found.

  1. A systematic engineering tool chain approach for self-organizing building automation systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mc Gibney, A.; Rea, S.; Lehmann, M.; Thior, S.; Lesecq, S.; Hendriks, M.; Guyon-Gardeux, C.; Mai, Linh Tuan; Pacull, F.; Ploennigs, J.; Basten, T.; Pesch, D.

    2013-01-01

    There is a strong push towards smart buildings that aim to achieve comfort, safety and energy efficiency, through building automation systems (BAS) that incorporate multiple subsystems such as heating and air-conditioning, lighting, access control etc. The design, commissioning and operation of BAS

  2. [Family, Suicide and Mourning].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garciandía Imaz, José Antonio

    2013-01-01

    Death is an event that always breaks into family life in a surprising way. Of all the deaths, suicide is the one which more strongly questions the functionality of a family and increases the risk of difficulties in the mourning process. Families in which a suicide has occurred are exposed to a greater possibility of disintegration, disorganization and pathological expressions in their members. To present a reduced and circumscribed narrative revision, restricted to examine the relationship between suicide and the mourning process in the family. The suicide of a loved one is an event that may contribute to pathological grief and mental dysfunctions in surviving relatives. Death in the family is a natural phenomenon. However, death by suicide is one of the phenomena that can generate more alterations in the structure and organization of the family, due to the difficulty related to the mourning process. Copyright © 2013 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

  3. Building Management Information Systems to Coordinate Citywide Afterschool Programs: A Toolkit for Cities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kingsley, Chris

    2012-01-01

    The National League of Cities (NLC), through its Institute for Youth, Education and Families, produced this report to help city leaders, senior municipal staff and their local partners answer those questions as they work to strengthen and coordinate services for youth and families, particularly for those cities building comprehensive afterschool…

  4. Male-Partnered Bisexual Women's Perceptions of Disclosing Sexual Orientation to Family Across the Transition to Parenthood: Intensifying Heteronormativity or Queering Family?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Abbie E; Allen, Katherine R; Ellawala, Themal; Ross, Lori E

    2018-01-01

    Drawing from queer and communication privacy management frameworks, this study examines the narratives of 22 bisexual, male-partnered women who were interviewed during the perinatal period and one year postnatally about their disclosures of sexual identity to family of origin. Most women rarely discussed their sexual identity with family; participants who had disclosed described such disclosures as provoking discomfort. Some women stated that their parental status seemed to invalidate the need to talk about their sexual history or identity with family, due its declining salience and increased concerns about judgment. This study reveals how partnership and parenthood statuses contribute to the intensification of heteronormative pressures in relation to family. Therapists should attend to the role of heteronormative values regarding partnering, family-building, and parenting. © 2017 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

  5. Family Smoking, Exposure to Secondhand Smoke at Home and Family Unhappiness in Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Jiu Chen

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Tobacco use adversely affects many aspects of well-being and is disliked by non-smokers. However, its association with family happiness is unknown. We investigated the associations of family unhappiness with smoking in family members and secondhand smoke (SHS exposure at home in Hong Kong children. In a school-based survey in 2012–2013, 1238 primary school students (mean age 8.5 years, standard deviation 0.9; 42.6% boys reported family smoking, SHS exposure at home and whether their families had any unpleasant experience caused by smoking or SHS in the past 30 days (tobacco-related unpleasant experience, and rated the overall level of happiness in their families (family unhappiness. Multivariable logistic regression was used to study the associations of tobacco-related unpleasant experience and family unhappiness with family smoking and SHS exposure at home. Tobacco-related unpleasant experience and family unhappiness were reported by 27.5% and 16.5% of students. Unpleasant experience was more strongly associated with family smoking than SHS exposure at home. Family unhappiness was associated with both family smoking (odds ratio 2.37; 95% confidence interval 1.51–3.71 and SHS exposure at home (1.82; 1.39–2.40. These results suggest a previously neglected possible impact of tobacco use on family happiness.

  6. Incumbent Decisions about Succession Transitions in Family Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boyd, Britta; Botero, Isabel C.; Fediuk, Tomasz A.

    2014-01-01

    in (i.e., intra-family succession, out of family succession, or no succession). Building on the theory of planned behavior and the socioemotional wealth framework (SEW), this manuscript presents a conceptual framework to understand the factors that influence succession transitions and the role...... that contextual factors can play in this decision-making process. We present theory driven propositions and discuss the implications for understanding and evaluation of the succession process....

  7. Nonlinear damping based semi-active building isolation system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Carmen; Zhu, Yunpeng; Lang, Zi-Qiang; Billings, Stephen A.; Kohiyama, Masayuki; Wakayama, Shizuka

    2018-06-01

    Many buildings in Japan currently have a base-isolation system with a low stiffness that is designed to shift the natural frequency of the building below the frequencies of the ground motion due to earthquakes. However, the ground motion observed during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake contained strong long-period waves that lasted for a record length of 3 min. To provide a novel and better solution against the long-period waves while maintaining the performance of the standard isolation range, the exploitation of the characteristics of nonlinear damping is proposed in this paper. This is motivated by previous studies of the authors, which have demonstrated that nonlinear damping can achieve desired performance over both low and high frequency regions and the optimal nonlinear damping force can be realized by closed loop controlled semi-active dampers. Simulation results have shown strong vibration isolation performance on a building model with identified parameters and have indicated that nonlinear damping can achieve low acceleration transmissibilities round the structural natural frequency as well as the higher ground motion frequencies that have been frequently observed during most earthquakes in Japan. In addition, physical building model based laboratory experiments are also conducted, The results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed nonlinear damping technologies over both traditional linear damping and more advanced Linear-Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) feedback control which have been used in practice to address building isolation system design and implementation problems. In comparison with the tuned-mass damper and other active control methods, the proposed solution offers a more pragmatic, low-cost, robust and effective alternative that can be readily installed into the base-isolation system of most buildings.

  8. Leisure Today--Family Cohesion Through Leisure and Recreation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, S. Harold, Ed.; And Others

    1984-01-01

    Family relationships can be strengthened through recreation and leisure activities. Articles dealing with leisure research, values, computers, recreation in rural areas, and youth sports are offered for those interested in facilitating the development of strong families. (DF)

  9. Impediments to Media Communication of Social Change in Family ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJRH Managing Editor

    media's and consumers' aspirations. (Afr J Reprod Health 2013; 17[3]: ... Keywords: Family Planning, Journalists, Behaviour Change Communication. Introduction ... method approaches, community involvement, as well as building media ...

  10. Familial risks of glomerulonephritis - a nationwide family study in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akrawi, Delshad Saleh; Li, Xinjun; Sundquist, Jan; Fjellstedt, Erik; Sundquist, Kristina; Zöller, Bengt

    2016-08-01

    Familial risks of glomerulonephritis (acute, chronic and unspecified glomerulonephritis) have not been studied. This study aims to determine the familial risks of glomerulonephritis. Individuals born from1932 onwards diagnosed with glomerulonephritis (acute [n = 7011], chronic [n = 10,242] and unspecified glomerulonephritis [n = 5762]) were included. The familial risk (Standardized incidence ratio = SIR) was calculated for individuals whose parents/full-siblings were diagnosed with glomerulonephritis compared to those whose parents/full-siblings were not. The procedure was repeated for spouses. Familial concordant risk (same disease in proband and exposed relative) and discordant risk (different disease in proband and exposed relative) of glomerulonephritis were determined. Familial concordant risks (parents/full-sibling history) were: SIR = 3.57 (95% confidence interval, 2.77-4.53) for acute glomerulonephritis, SIR = 3.84 (3.37-4.36) for chronic glomerulonephritis and SIR = 3.75 (2.85-4.83) for unspecified glomerulonephritis. High familial risks were observed if two or more relatives were affected; the SIR was 209.83 (150.51-284.87) in individuals with at least one affected parent as well as one full-sibling. The spouse risk was only moderately increased (SIR = 1.53, 1.33-1.75). Family history of glomerulonephritis is a strong predictor for glomerulonephritis, and is a potentially useful tool in clinical risk assessment. Our data emphasize the contribution of familial factors to the glomerulonephritis burden in the community. Key Messages The familial risks (full-sibling/parent history) of glomerulonephritis (acute, chronic and unspecified glomerulonephritis) have not been determined previously. The familial risks of glomerulonephritis were increased among individuals with family history of acute, chronic or unspecified glomerulonephritis. The familial risks of glomerulonephritis were slightly increased among spouses indicating a

  11. Family planning and contraceptive practices among parturients in a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Family size predetermination and birthing according to schedule is a strong determinant of family stability as it allows proper resource allocation and management. Aims: To determine the family planning practices among parturients and determine the factors that can influence the uptake of contraceptives in the ...

  12. 2nd International Conference on Construction and Building Research

    CERN Document Server

    Fernández-Plazaola, Igor; Hidalgo-Delgado, Francisco; Martínez-Valenzuela, María; Medina-Ramón, Francisco; Oliver-Faubel, Inmaculada; Rodríguez-Abad, Isabel; Salandin, Andrea; Sánchez-Grandia, Rafael; Tort-Ausina, Isabel; Construction and Building Research

    2014-01-01

    Many areas of knowledge converge in the building industry and therefore research in this field necessarily involves an interdisciplinary approach. Effective research requires strong relations between a broad variety of scientific and technological domains and more conventional construction or craft processes, while also considering advanced management processes, where all the main actors permanently interact. This publication takes an interdisciplinary approach grouping various studies on the building industry chosen from among the works presented for the 2nd International Conference on Construction and Building Research. The papers examine aspects of materials and building systems; construction technology; energy and sustainability; construction management; heritage, refurbishment and conservation. The information contained within these pages may be of interest to researchers and practitioners in construction and building activities from the academic sphere, as well as public and private sectors.

  13. Rights and the Role of Family Engagement in Child Welfare: An International Treaties Perspective on Families' Rights, Parents' Rights, and Children's Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenzer, Gertrud; Gran, Brian

    2011-01-01

    According to international human rights treaties, what rights do family members, parents, and children have in family engagement in child welfare decision-making? A sociolegal analytical approach produces a typology of rights, then applies the typology to eight countries' approaches to family engagement to show that strong bundles of rights are…

  14. Understanding adults’ strong problem-solving skills based on PIAAC

    OpenAIRE

    Hämäläinen, Raija; De Wever, Bram; Nissinen, Kari; Cincinnato, Sebastiano

    2017-01-01

    Purpose Research has shown that the problem-solving skills of adults with a vocational education and training (VET) background in technology-rich environments (TREs) are often inadequate. However, some adults with a VET background do have sound problem-solving skills. The present study aims to provide insight into the socio-demographic, work-related and everyday life factors that are associated with a strong problem-solving performance. Design/methodology/approach The study builds...

  15. Intermittency in Hall-magnetohydrodynamics with a strong guide field

    OpenAIRE

    Imazio, P. Rodriguez; Martin, L. N.; Dmitruk, P.; Mininni, P. D.

    2013-01-01

    We present a detailed study of intermittency in the velocity and magnetic field fluctuations of compressible Hall-magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with an external guide field. To solve the equations numerically, a reduced model valid when a strong guide field is present is used. Different values for the ion skin depth are considered in the simulations. The resulting data are analyzed computing field increments in several directions perpendicular to the guide field, and building structure funct...

  16. Sex differences in factors contributing to family-to-work and work-to-family conflict in Japanese civil servants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujimura, Yuko; Sekine, Michikazu; Tatsuse, Takashi

    2014-01-01

    As the number of dual-earner couples in Japan has increased, work-life balance has become important. This study aimed to examine the factors that contribute to work-family conflict. The participants included 3,594 (2,332 men and 1,262 women) civil servants aged 20-59 working for local government on the west coast of Japan. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate whether work, family, or lifestyle characteristics were associated with work-family conflict. For men, family-to-work conflict was associated with being elderly, having low-grade employment, working long hours, raising children, and sleeping shorter hours. For women, being married and raising children were strong determinants of family-to-work conflict, and being middle-aged, working long hours, and sleeping shorter hours were also associated with this type of conflict. Regarding work-to-family conflict, working long hours was the strongest determinant of conflict in both sexes. In men, being elderly, living with family, eating dinner late, and sleeping shorter hours were also associated with work-to-family conflict. In women, having high-grade employment, being married, raising children, and eating dinner late were associated with work-to-family conflict. This study showed that working long hours was the primary determinant of work-to-family conflict in both sexes and that being married and raising children were strong factors of family-to-work conflict in women only. Sex differences may reflect divergence of the social and domestic roles of men and women in Japanese society. To improve the work-life balance, general and sex-specific health policies may be required.

  17. Integrated Strip Foundation Systems for Small Residential Buildings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Torben Valdbjørn

    2010-01-01

    A prefabricated lightweight element was designed for a strip foundation that was used on site as the bases of two small residential buildings, in this case single-family houses; one was built with a double-brick exterior wall separated by mineral fiber insulation and the other was built with a wood...

  18. An Action Research Study: Engaging Urban Families as Partners to Enhance Emergent Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thurley, Julie A.

    2017-01-01

    Although family engagement has long been associated with positive outcomes, it is not easy to establish, particularly in urban classrooms. Teachers whose ethnic and social-economic statuses differ from that of the typical urban family may be unaware of how to build and sustain those relationships. When teachers do attempt to involve families, it…

  19. Damping in building structures during earthquakes: test data and modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coats, D.W. Jr.

    1982-01-01

    A review and evaluation of the state-of-the-art of damping in building structures during earthquakes is presented. The primary emphasis is in the following areas: 1) the evaluation of commonly used mathematical techniques for incorporating damping effects in both simple and complex systems; 2) a compilation and interpretation of damping test data; and 3) an evaluation of structure testing methods, building instrumentation practices, and an investigation of rigid-body rotation effects on damping values from test data. A literature review provided the basis for evaluating mathematical techiques used to incorporate earthquake induced damping effects in simple and complex systems. A discussion on the effectiveness of damping, as a function of excitation type, is also included. Test data, from a wide range of sources, has been compiled and interpreted for buidings, nuclear power plant structures, piping, equipment, and isolated structural elements. Test methods used to determine damping and frequency parameters are discussed. In particular, the advantages and disadvantages associated with the normal mode and transfer function approaches are evaluated. Additionally, the effect of rigid-body rotations on damping values deduced from strong-motion building response records is investigated. A discussion of identification techniques typically used to determine building parameters (frequency and damping) from strong motion records is included. Finally, an analytical demonstration problem is presented to quantify the potential error in predicting fixed-base structural frequency and damping values from strong motion records, when rigid-body rotations are not properly accounted for

  20. Is the Family System in Romania Similar to those of Southern European Countries?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Castiglioni

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In his influential 1998 study, David S. Reher discusses historical differences between countries with strong and weak family ties. He focuses on the “Western World”, comparing Italy and the Iberian Peninsula with Scandinavia, the British Isles, the Low Countries, Germany and Austria, together with North America. In this paper, we explore whether Romania, in Eastern Europe, can be characterised as having a strong family system, given the increasingly important role family has played for individual well-being following the end of the socialist regime. We observe a number of similarities between Romania and Southern European countries in terms of behaviours associated with “strong family ties”, opinions on family care and mutual intergenerational support. Differences can be explained in light of Romania’s economic and housing crisis. Overall, it is likely that the importance of family ties in Romania increased after the end of the socialist regime.

  1. A Novel Variant of Narrow-Spectrum Antifungal Bacterial Lipopeptides That Strongly Inhibit Ganoderma boninense.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pramudito, Theodorus Eko; Agustina, Delia; Nguyen, Thi Kim Ngan; Suwanto, Antonius

    2018-03-01

    Bacterial antifungal cyclic lipopeptides (ACLs) have become a promising alternative to synthetic fungicide to control pathogenic fungi. Bacillus sp. is known to produce three families of ACL, namely iturin, surfactin, and fengycin. In this paper, we characterized the ACLs produced by B. methylotrophicus HC51 (referred as HC51) mainly regarding its composition and effectivity against fungal plant pathogen. HC51 culture was tested against various pathogenic fungi and the ACLs were extracted and analyzed using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. HC51 showed strong antifungal activity against the plant pathogens Ganoderma sp. and Fusarium sp. Cell-free methanol extract of HC51 contains iturin A and various variants of fengycin. C16 fengycin A was present in four fractions which indicates it as a major component of ACL from HC51. Five variants of fengycin were detected, four of which had been previously reported. We found a novel C17 fengycin F that is characterized by a substitution of L-ornithine into lysine. Considering that L-ornithine is an important building block of fengycin, this substitution suggests the possibility of an alternative pathway for fengycin biosynthesis.

  2. Shadowed by War: Building Community Capacity to Support Military Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huebner, Angela J.; Mancini, Jay A.; Bowen, Gary L.; Orthner, Dennis K.

    2009-01-01

    The context of military service has changed greatly since the events of 9/11. The forward deployment of service members to active war zones, which involves the issues of separation, time away from home, and eventual reunion, increases the vulnerability of their families to multiple, negative short-term and long-term effects. This article explores…

  3. Change-over natural and mechanical ventilation system energy consumption in single-family buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kostka, Maria; Szulgowska-Zgrzywa, Małgorzata

    2017-11-01

    The parameters of the outside air in Poland cause that in winter it is reasonable to use a mechanical ventilation equipped with a heat recovery exchanger. The time of spring, autumn, summer evenings and nights are often characterized by the parameters of the air, which allow for a natural ventilation and reduce the electricity consumption. The article presents the possibilities of energy consumption reduction for three energy standards of buildings located in Poland, ventilated by a change-over hybrid system. The analysis was prepared on the assumption that the air-to-water heat pump is the heat source for the buildings.

  4. Being the Family's Therapist: An Integrative Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmerman, James K.; La Sorsa, Valerie A.

    There is strong justification in the counseling literature for bridging individual and family perspectives. The Adolescent Depression and Suicide Program at Montefiore Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York) is a brief treatment, outpatient clinic designed to provide mental health services for suicidal adolescents and their families.…

  5. Pakistan: family planning expands in non-governmental organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1977-01-01

    The Family Planning Association of Pakistan has begun a program of integration of family planning activities with other voluntary welfare agencies. 1 of the more successful projects has been in cooperation with the Family Welfare Cooperative Society of Lahore. Volunteers have provided facilities to very low-income women to help supplement income. At 1st it was knitting, embroidery, and cloth manufacture, but over several years it developed into a complex of several buildings with a comprehensive vocational training center, a showroom, schools for the children of mothers in training, a secretarial school, and a hostel for homeless women there. There is a medical unit, a full-time doctor, and family planning services.

  6. Family support in cancer survivorship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhamad, Mazanah; Afshari, Mojgan; Kazilan, Fitrisehara

    2011-01-01

    This paper raises issues about the role of family members in providing support for breast cancer survivors. Data were collected from 400 breast cancer survivors in Peninsular Malaysia through a custom-designed questionnaire fielded at hospitals and support group meetings. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The analyses show that all family members could be supportive, especially in decision making and help with emotional issues. The spouse was the main support provider among the family members (others were children, parents, siblings and more distant relatives). The results also indicated that a significant percentage practiced collaborative decision-making. Breast cancer survivors needed their family members' support for information on survivorship strategies such as managing emotions, health, life style and dietary practice. The family members' supportive role may be linked to the Malaysian strong family relationship culture. For family members to contribute more adequately to cancer survivorship, it is suggested that appropriate educational intervention also be provided to them.

  7. Modeling and simulation of the energy use in an occupied residential building in cold climate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olofsson, Thomas; Mahlia, T.M.I.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► An overview of the energy-characteristics based on illustrations in graphical figures. ► Figures to support identification and validation energy refurbishment measures. ► Emphasizing energy efficiency measures in early stage of building design. -- Abstract: In order to reduce the energy use in the building sector there is a demand for tools that can identify significant building energy performance parameters. In the work introduced in this paper presents a methodology, based on a simulation module and graphical figures, for interactive investigations of the building energy performance. The building energy use simulation program is called TEKLA and is using EN832 with an improved procedure in calculating the heat loss through the floor and the solar heat gain. The graphical figures are simple and are illustrating the savings based on retrofit measures and climate conditions. The accuracy of the TEKLA simulation was investigated on a typical single-family building in Sweden for a period of time in a space heating demand of relatively cold and mild climate. The model was found applicable for relative investigations. Further, the methodology was applied on a typical single family reference building. The climate data from three locations in Sweden were collected and a set of relevant measures were studied. The investigated examples illustrate how decisions in the early stages of the building design process can have decisive importance on the final building energy performance.

  8. Energy use and environmental impact of new residential buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adalberth, Karin

    2000-01-01

    The objective of this thesis is to investigate the energy use and environmental impact of residential buildings. Seven authentic buildings built in the 1990s in Sweden are investigated. They are analysed according to energy use and environmental impact during their life cycle: manufacture of building materials, transport of building materials and components to the building site, erection to a building, occupancy, maintenance and renovation, and finally demolition and removal of debris. Results show that approx. 85 % of the total estimated energy use during the life cycle is used during the occupation phase. The energy used to manufacture building and installation materials constitutes approx. 15 % of the total energy use. 70-90 % of the total environmental impact arises during the occupation phase, while the manufacture of construction and installation materials constitutes 10-20 %. In conclusion, the energy use and environmental impact during the occupation phase make up a majority of the total. At the end of the thesis, a tool is presented which helps designers and clients predict the energy use during the occupation phase for a future multi-family building before any constructional or installation drawings are made. In this way, different thermal properties may be elaborated in order to receive an energy-efficient and environmentally adapted dwelling.

  9. Finding Funding: A Guide to Federal Sources for Asset-Building Initiatives. Finding Funding Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lind, Christianne; Relave, Nanette; Schmid, William; Terzaghi, Damon

    2009-01-01

    This guide outlines strategies for financing asset-building initiatives and provides information on 71 federal funding sources that can be used to support a range of activities and services. It includes well-known sources of funding for asset building, for example, the Assets for Independence Demonstration Program and the Family Self-Sufficiency…

  10. Classical and quantum models of strong cosmic censorship

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moncrief, V.E.

    1983-01-01

    The cosmic censorship conjecture states that naked singularities should not evolve from regular initial conditions in general relativity. In its strong form the conjecture asserts that space-times with Cauchy horizons must always be unstable and thus that the generic solution of Einstein's equations must be inextendible beyond its maximal Cauchy development. In this paper it is shown that one can construct an infinite-dimensional family of extendible cosmological solutions similar to Taub-NUT space-time; however, each of these solutions is unstable in precisely the way demanded by strong cosmic censorship. Finally it is shown that quantum fluctuations in the metric always provide (though in an unexpectedly subtle way) the ''generic perturbations'' which destroy the Cauchy horizons in these models. (author)

  11. Classical and quantum models of strong cosmic censorship

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moncrief, V.E. (Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (USA). Dept. of Physics)

    1983-04-01

    The cosmic censorship conjecture states that naked singularities should not evolve from regular initial conditions in general relativity. In its strong form the conjecture asserts that space-times with Cauchy horizons must always be unstable and thus that the generic solution of Einstein's equations must be inextendible beyond its maximal Cauchy development. In this paper it is shown that one can construct an infinite-dimensional family of extendible cosmological solutions similar to Taub-NUT space-time; however, each of these solutions is unstable in precisely the way demanded by strong cosmic censorship. Finally it is shown that quantum fluctuations in the metric always provide (though in an unexpectedly subtle way) the ''generic perturbations'' which destroy the Cauchy horizons in these models.

  12. Federal Employee Family-Building Act of 1987. Hearing on H.R. 2852 before the Subcommittee on Civil Service of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First Session.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Congress of the U. S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.

    A hearing was held to consider H.R. 2852, the Federal Employee Family-Building Act, a proposal that would require health insurance plans for federal employees to cover the costs of adoption and fertility treatments. Testimony concerned: (1) difficulties childless and infertile federal employees encountered in efforts to adopt and conceive…

  13. Making the Connection between Prayer, Faith, and Forgiveness in Roman Catholic Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batson, Mindi; Marks, Loren

    2008-01-01

    This study examines meanings and processes associated with religious practices of prayer, building faith, and forgiving through in-depth, qualitative interviews with six highly religious Roman Catholic families with children. Families were interviewed using a narrative approach that asked participants to share experiences and challenges related to…

  14. Investigation of wind behaviour around high-rise buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mat Isa, Norasikin; Fitriah Nasir, Nurul; Sadikin, Azmahani; Ariff Hairul Bahara, Jamil

    2017-09-01

    A study on the investigation of wind behaviour around the high-rise buildings is done through an experiment using a wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics. High-rise buildings refer to buildings or structures that have more than 12 floors. Wind is invisible to the naked eye; thus, it is hard to see and analyse its flow around and over buildings without the use of proper methods, such as the use of wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics software.The study was conducted on buildings located in Presint 4, Putrajaya, Malaysia which is the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, Ministry of Information Communications and Culture, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government and the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community by making scaled models of the buildings. The parameters in which this study is conducted on are, four different wind velocities used based on the seasonal monsoons, and wind direction. ANSYS Fluent workbench software is used to compute the simulations in order to achieve the objectives of this study. The data from the computational fluid dynamics are validated with the experiment done through the wind tunnel. From the results obtained through the use of the computation fluid dynamics, this study can identify the characteristics of wind around buildings, including boundary layer of the buildings, separation flow, wake region and etc. Then analyses is conducted on the occurance resulting from the wind that passes the buildings based on the velocity difference between before and after the wind passes the buildings.

  15. Evaluation of Moisture Buffer Effects by Performing Whole-Building Simulations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rode, Carsten; Mendes, Nathan; K., Grau

    2004-01-01

    The humidity of rooms and the moisture conditions of materials in the enclosure of buildings depend much on each other because of the moisture exchange that takes place over the interior surfaces. These moisture influences also depend strongly on the thermal conditions of indoor spaces...... and enclosure elements of buildings. In turn, the moisture and humidity conditions have significant impact on how buildings are operated. In hot, humid climates, it may be desirable to keep the ventilation rates low in order to avoid too high indoor humidity, while in cold climates, ventilation can be used...

  16. Colour preferences in nest-building zebra finches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muth, Felicity; Steele, Matthew; Healy, Susan D

    2013-10-01

    Some bird species are selective in the materials they choose for nest building, preferring, for example, materials of one colour to others. However, in many cases the cause of these preferences is not clear. One of those species is the zebra finch, which exhibits strong preferences for particular colours of nest material. In an attempt to determine why these birds strongly prefer one colour of material over another, we compared the preferences of paired male zebra finches for nest material colour with their preferences for food of the same colours. We found that birds did indeed prefer particular colours of nest material (in most cases blue) but that they did not generally prefer food of one colour over the other colours. It appears, then, that a preference for one colour or another of nest material is specific to the nest-building context. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: insert SI title. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Analysis of the Lifecycle Impacts and Potential for Avoided Impacts Associated with Single Family Homes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Learn how recovering construction and demolition materials from single-family homes and reusing them in building and road construction and other applications helps offset the environmental impacts associated with single-family homes.

  18. Intelligent seismic risk mitigation system on structure building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suryanita, R.; Maizir, H.; Yuniorto, E.; Jingga, H.

    2018-01-01

    Indonesia located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, is one of the highest-risk seismic zone in the world. The strong ground motion might cause catastrophic collapse of the building which leads to casualties and property damages. Therefore, it is imperative to properly design the structural response of building against seismic hazard. Seismic-resistant building design process requires structural analysis to be performed to obtain the necessary building responses. However, the structural analysis could be very difficult and time consuming. This study aims to predict the structural response includes displacement, velocity, and acceleration of multi-storey building with the fixed floor plan using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method based on the 2010 Indonesian seismic hazard map. By varying the building height, soil condition, and seismic location in 47 cities in Indonesia, 6345 data sets were obtained and fed into the ANN model for the learning process. The trained ANN can predict the displacement, velocity, and acceleration responses with up to 96% of predicted rate. The trained ANN architecture and weight factors were later used to build a simple tool in Visual Basic program which possesses the features for prediction of structural response as mentioned previously.

  19. An exploratory study of the outdoor recreation participation of families who have a child under sixteen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bob Du Lee; Alan Graefe; Robert Burns

    2007-01-01

    Family recreation has been recognized as an effective way to nurture family customs and promote healthy youth development. In particular, outdoor-based recreation that includes inherent challenges often offers opportunities for a family to grow together and promotes family cohesion and youth development. Building on earlier research, this study attempts to further...

  20. Marital and Family Satisfaction as a Function of Work-Family Demands and Community Resources: Individual- and Couple-Level Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hostetler, Andrew J.; Desrochers, Stephan; Kopko, Kimberly; Moen, Phyllis

    2012-01-01

    This study uses individual- and couple-level analyses to examine the influence of work-family demands and community resources on marital and family satisfaction within a sample of dual-earner parents with dependent children (N = 260 couples, 520 individuals). Total couple work hours were strongly negatively associated with marital satisfaction for…

  1. π-Extended Isoindigo-Based Derivative: A Promising Electron-Deficient Building Block for Polymer Semiconductors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Long; Zhao, Zhiyuan; Xiao, Mingchao; Yang, Jie; Xiao, Jian; Yi, Zhengran; Wang, Shuai; Liu, Yunqi

    2017-11-22

    The exploration of novel electron-deficient building blocks is a key task for developing high-performance polymer semiconductors in organic thin-film transistors. In view of the situation of the lack of strong electron-deficient building blocks, we designed two novel π-extended isoindigo-based electron-deficient building blocks, IVI and F 4 IVI. Owing to the strong electron-deficient nature and the extended π-conjugated system of the two acceptor units, their copolymers, PIVI2T and PF 4 IVI2T, containing 2,2'-bithiophene donor units, are endowed with deep-lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels and strong intermolecular interactions. In comparison to PIVI2T, the fluorinated PF 4 IVI2T exhibits stronger intra- and intermolecular interactions, lower HOMO/LUMO energy levels up to -5.74/-4.17 eV, and more ordered molecular packing with a smaller π-π stacking distance of up to 3.53 Å, resulting in an excellent ambipolar transporting behavior and a promising application in logic circuits for PF 4 IVI2T in ambient with hole and electron mobilities of up to 1.03 and 1.82 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , respectively. The results reveal that F 4 IVI is a promising and strong electron-deficient building unit to construct high-performance semiconducting polymers, which provides an insight into the structure-property relationships for the exploration and molecular engineering of excellent electron-deficient building blocks in the field of organic electronics.

  2. Moving family-centered care forward: Bereaved fathers’ perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Betty; Baird, Jennifer; Gudmundsdottir, Maria

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes the key behaviors of “excellent” pediatric healthcare providers – a term used by fathers of children with complex, life-threatening illness to describe providers who consistently and effectively engage in family-centered care for children and their families. Using interview data from a multi-site grounded theory study of 60 fathers with a deceased child, five behaviors were identified: getting to know the family as individuals, talking about non-healthcare related topics, connecting in a human-human relationship, including parents as team members, and applying specialized knowledge to help the family. These behaviors are consistent with the goals of family-centered care, but they are inconsistently practiced, resulting in less-than-optimal care for children and their families during periods of crisis and vulnerability. A renewed focus on relationship building and interactions with families is needed, as well as a re-evaluation of the training of pediatric healthcare providers. PMID:24244105

  3. Small Family, Smart Family? Family Size and the IQ Scores of Young Men. NBER Working Paper No. 13336

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Sandra E.; Devereux, Paul J.; Salvanes, Kjell G.

    2007-01-01

    How do families influence the ability of children? Cognitive skills have been shown to be a strong predictor of educational attainment and future labor market success; as a result, understanding the determinants of cognitive skills can lead to a better understanding of children's long run outcomes. This paper uses a large dataset on the male…

  4. Beyond preadoptive risk: The impact of adoptive family environment on adopted youth's psychosocial adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Juye; Brooks, Devon; Barth, Richard P; Kim, Hansung

    2010-07-01

    Adopted children often are exposed to preadoptive stressors--such as prenatal substance exposure, child maltreatment, and out-of-home placements--that increase their risks for psychosocial maladjustment. Psychosocial adjustment of adopted children emerges as the product of pre- and postadoptive factors. This study builds on previous research, which fails to simultaneously assess the influences of pre- and postadoptive factors, by examining the impact of adoptive family sense of coherence on adoptee's psychosocial adjustment beyond the effects of preadoptive risks. Using a sample of adoptive families (n = 385) taking part in the California Long Range Adoption Study, structural equation modeling analyses were performed. Results indicate a significant impact of family sense of coherence on adoptees' psychosocial adjustment and a considerably less significant role of preadoptive risks. The findings suggest the importance of assessing adoptive family's ability to respond to stress and of helping families to build and maintain their capacity to cope with stress despite the sometimes fractious pressures of adoption.

  5. Creating mold-free buildings: a key to avoiding health effects of indoor molds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small, Bruce M

    2003-08-01

    In view of the high costs of building diagnostics and repair subsequent to water damage--as well as the large medical diagnostic and healthcare costs associated with mold growth in buildings--commitment to a philosophy of proactive preventive maintenance for home, apartment, school, and commercial buildings could result in considerable cost savings and avoidance of major health problems among building occupants. The author identifies common causes of mold growth in buildings and summarizes key building design and construction principles essential for preventing mold contamination indoors. Physicians and healthcare workers must be made aware of conditions within buildings that can give rise to mold growth, and of resulting health problems. Timely advice provided to patients already sensitized by exposure to molds could save these individuals, and their families, from further exposures as a result of inadequate building maintenance or an inappropriate choice of replacement housing.

  6. NANOSTRUCTURED METAL OXIDE CATALYSTS VIA BUILDING BLOCK SYNTHESES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Craig E. Barnes

    2013-03-05

    A broadly applicable methodology has been developed to prepare new single site catalysts on silica supports. This methodology requires of three critical components: a rigid building block that will be the main structural and compositional component of the support matrix; a family of linking reagents that will be used to insert active metals into the matrix as well as cross link building blocks into a three dimensional matrix; and a clean coupling reaction that will connect building blocks and linking agents together in a controlled fashion. The final piece of conceptual strategy at the center of this methodology involves dosing the building block with known amounts of linking agents so that the targeted connectivity of a linking center to surrounding building blocks is obtained. Achieving targeted connectivities around catalytically active metals in these building block matrices is a critical element of the strategy by which single site catalysts are obtained. This methodology has been demonstrated with a model system involving only silicon and then with two metal-containing systems (titanium and vanadium). The effect that connectivity has on the reactivity of atomically dispersed titanium sites in silica building block matrices has been investigated in the selective oxidation of phenols to benezoquinones. 2-connected titanium sites are found to be five times as active (i.e. initial turnover frequencies) than 4-connected titanium sites (i.e. framework titanium sites).

  7. Attitude of the youth to the institute of family and family values

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artur A. Rean

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The paper draws attention to the large number of divorces in contemporary Russia. It is emphasized that much of them fall on the first years of marriage. However, most of the surveys conducted in recent years have shown that the family is one of the leading positions in the structure of adolescent value. On the basis of this juxtaposition, it is concluded that young people need to be specially trained for family life. Contemporary family and the school cannot cope with this task. We have carried out a large-scale empirical study in eight regions of different federal districts of Russia, the results of which are shown in the paper. Total sample amounted of more than 7,000 people. The sample included respondents from large and small cities in Russia, as well as from the villages of nuclear and one-parent families, families with 1-2 children and also large families. The research has shown that in the structure of life values the family still occupies the first position. It was also found that the vast majority of respondents emphasize the need to be specially trained for building a family. However, only one third of respondents believe that this can be done by conducting special courses on the family and family life in schools. For the majority of the respondents, their parent family is not a guide or a pattern. The greatest impact on the youth in the process of growing up is produced by mother. Fathers, occupying the second position, prove to be outsiders with a large gap. It was revealed that a generalized portrait of the mother and the father are completely positive, i.e. they do not contain any negative characteristics. The top ten most popular qualities to describe father and mother are the following: kind, reliable, caring, responsible, family-making, smart. Other qualities of the top ten highest priorities differ.

  8. Work and family decision-making framework: A motivational perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Chinchilla, Nuria; Moragas, Maruja; Kim, Sowon

    2012-01-01

    We introduce motivation theory as a way of understanding the decision-making process in the work and family context. We use core concepts from motivation theory - extrinsic, intrinsic and prosocial motivation - and link them to motivational learning to build our framework. We then propose a framework illustrating motivational factors that influence work-family decision-making and offer propositions focusing on the motivational consequences for individuals which will impact their future decisi...

  9. Family model of HIV care and treatment: a retrospective study in Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Nyanza Province, Kenya, had the highest HIV prevalence in the country at 14.9% in 2007, more than twice the national HIV prevalence of 7.1%. Only 16% of HIV-infected adults in the country accurately knew their HIV status. Targeted strategies to reach and test individuals are urgently needed to curb the HIV epidemic. The family unit is one important portal. Methods A family model of care was designed to build on the strengths of Kenyan families. Providers use a family information table (FIT) to guide index patients through the steps of identifying family members at HIV risk, address disclosure, facilitate family testing, and work to enrol HIV-positive members and to prevent new infections. Comprehensive family-centred clinical services are built around these steps. To assess the approach, a retrospective study of patients receiving HIV care between September 2007 and September 2009 at Lumumba Health Centre in Kisumu was conducted. A random sample of FITs was examined to assess family reach. Results Through the family model of care, for each index patient, approximately 2.5 family members at risk were identified and 1.6 family members were tested. The approach was instrumental in reaching children; 61% of family members identified and tested were children. The approach also led to identifying and enrolling a high proportion of HIV- positive partners among those tested: 71% and 89%, respectively. Conclusions The family model of care is a feasible approach to broaden HIV case detection and service reach. The approach can be adapted for the local context and should continue to utilize index patient linkages, FIT adaption, and innovative methods to package services for families in a manner that builds on family support and enhances patient care and prevention efforts. Further efforts are needed to increase family member engagement. PMID:22353553

  10. Strong Earthquake Motion Estimates for Three Sites on the U.C. Riverside Campus; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Archuleta, R.; Elgamal, A.; Heuze, F.; Lai, T.; Lavalle, D.; Lawrence, B.; Liu, P.C.; Matesic, L.; Park, S.; Riemar, M.; Steidl, J.; Vucetic, M.; Wagoner, J.; Yang, Z.

    2000-01-01

    The approach of the Campus Earthquake Program (CEP) is to combine the substantial expertise that exists within the UC system in geology, seismology, and geotechnical engineering, to estimate the earthquake strong motion exposure of UC facilities. These estimates draw upon recent advances in hazard assessment, seismic wave propagation modeling in rocks and soils, and dynamic soil testing. The UC campuses currently chosen for application of our integrated methodology are Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. The procedure starts with the identification of possible earthquake sources in the region and the determination of the most critical fault(s) related to earthquake exposure of the campus. Combined geological, geophysical, and geotechnical studies are then conducted to characterize each campus with specific focus on the location of particular target buildings of special interest to the campus administrators. We drill and geophysically log deep boreholes next to the target structure, to provide direct in-situ measurements of subsurface material properties, and to install uphole and downhole 3-component seismic sensors capable of recording both weak and strong motions. The boreholes provide access below the soil layers, to deeper materials that have relatively high seismic shear-wave velocities. Analyses of conjugate downhole and uphole records provide a basis for optimizing the representation of the low-strain response of the sites. Earthquake rupture scenarios of identified causative faults are combined with the earthquake records and with nonlinear soil models to provide site-specific estimates of strong motions at the selected target locations. The predicted ground motions are shared with the UC consultants, so that they can be used as input to the dynamic analysis of the buildings. Thus, for each campus targeted by the CEP project, the strong motion studies consist of two phases, Phase 1-initial source and site characterization, drilling, geophysical logging

  11. Building CX peanut-shaped disk galaxy profiles. The relative importance of the 3D families of periodic orbits bifurcating at the vertical 2:1 resonance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patsis, P. A.; Harsoula, M.

    2018-05-01

    Context. We present and discuss the orbital content of a rather unusual rotating barred galaxy model, in which the three-dimensional (3D) family, bifurcating from x1 at the 2:1 vertical resonance with the known "frown-smile" side-on morphology, is unstable. Aims: Our goal is to study the differences that occur in the phase space structure at the vertical 2:1 resonance region in this case, with respect to the known, well studied, standard case, in which the families with the frown-smile profiles are stable and support an X-shaped morphology. Methods: The potential used in the study originates in a frozen snapshot of an N-body simulation in which a fast bar has evolved. We follow the evolution of the vertical stability of the central family of periodic orbits as a function of the energy (Jacobi constant) and we investigate the phase space content by means of spaces of section. Results: The two bifurcating families at the vertical 2:1 resonance region of the new model change their stability with respect to that of most studied analytic potentials. The structure in the side-on view that is directly supported by the trapping of quasi-periodic orbits around 3D stable periodic orbits has now an infinity symbol (i.e. ∞-type) profile. However, the available sticky orbits can reinforce other types of side-on morphologies as well. Conclusions: In the new model, the dynamical mechanism of trapping quasi-periodic orbits around the 3D stable periodic orbits that build the peanut, supports the ∞-type profile. The same mechanism in the standard case supports the X shape with the frown-smile orbits. Nevertheless, in both cases (i.e. in the new and in the standard model) a combination of 3D quasi-periodic orbits around the stable x1 family with sticky orbits can support a profile reminiscent of the shape of the orbits of the 3D unstable family existing in each model.

  12. Family Reunions: Broadened Kinship, Celebrated Rurality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Menasche

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This articletakes family reunions held among peasants as a focus of study. During these events,keycultural categories come to light from which the analyzed group builds up ideas about kinship and also the relations that are implied in it. We observe that, in these cases, there are also indications of specific elements through which people express a valorization of rurality. To carry out this study, we collected data as part of an ethnographic research project conducted at a family reunion and in a rural community settled by German descendent immigrants, located in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil

  13. LIGO: The strong belief

    CERN Multimedia

    Antonella Del Rosso

    2016-01-01

    Twenty years of designing, building and testing a number of innovative technologies, with the strong belief that the endeavour would lead to a historic breakthrough. The Bulletin publishes an abstract of the Courier’s interview with Barry Barish, one of the founding fathers of LIGO.   The plots show the signals of gravitational waves detected by the twin LIGO observatories at Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. (Image: Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab) On 11 February, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo collaborations published a historic paper in which they showed a gravitational signal emitted by the merger of two black holes. These results come after 20 years of hard work by a large collaboration of scientists operating the two LIGO observatories in the US. Barry Barish, Linde Professor of Physics, Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology and former Director of the Global Design Effort for the Internat...

  14. Developing a response to family violence in primary health care: the New Zealand experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gear, Claire; Koziol-McLain, Jane; Wilson, Denise; Clark, Faye

    2016-08-20

    Despite primary health care being recognised as an ideal setting to effectively respond to those experiencing family violence, responses are not widely integrated as part of routine health care. A lack of evidence testing models and approaches for health sector integration, alongside challenges of transferability and sustainability, means the best approach in responding to family violence is still unknown. The Primary Health Care Family Violence Responsiveness Evaluation Tool was developed as a guide to implement a formal systems-led response to family violence within New Zealand primary health care settings. Given the difficulties integrating effective, sustainable responses to family violence, we share the experience of primary health care sites that embarked on developing a response to family violence, presenting the enablers, barriers and resources required to maintain, progress and sustain family violence response development. In this qualitative descriptive study data were collected from two sources. Firstly semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted during 24-month follow-up evaluation visits of primary health care sites to capture the enablers, barriers and resources required to maintain, progress and sustain a response to family violence. Secondly the outcomes of a group activity to identify response development barriers and implementation strategies were recorded during a network meeting of primary health care professionals interested in family violence prevention and intervention; findings were triangulated across the two data sources. Four sites, representing three PHOs and four general practices participated in the focus group interviews; 35 delegates from across New Zealand attended the network meeting representing a wider perspective on family violence response development within primary health care. Enablers and barriers to developing a family violence response were identified across four themes: 'Getting started', 'Building effective

  15. Perceived health and comfort in relation to energy use and building characteristics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roulet, C.-A.; Johner, N. [Ecole Polytechnique Federale, Lausanne (Switzerland); Foradini, F. [E4Tech S., Lausanne (Switzerland); Bluyssen, P.; Cox, C. [TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, Delft (Netherlands); Oliveira Fernandes, E. De [IDMEC-FUEP, Porto (Portugal); Mueller, B. [Technical University of Berlin, Berlin (Germany); Aizlewood, C. [Building Research Establishment, Watford (United Kingdom)

    2006-09-15

    Within the European research project Health Optimisation Protocol for Energy-efficient Building (HOPE), 96 apartment buildings and 64 office buildings (of which approximately 75% have been designed to be energy-efficient) were investigated. The building characteristics were assessed according to a checklist during a walk-through survey. Occupant questionnaires were used to determine satisfaction about comfort (thermal visual, acoustical and indoor air quality (IAQ)) and their health (Sick Building Syndrome and allergies). Building-averaged collected data are compared, looking for correlations between building characteristics on one hand, and perceived comfort and health on the other hand. Strong correlations are found between perceived IAQ, thermal, acoustic and lighting comfort, confirming results from other studies. Significant correlations between the perceived comfort and building related symptoms were also found, comfortable and healthier buildings being well distinct from uncomfortable ones. Differences of perceived comfort or health between low- and high-energy buildings show that it is possible to design buildings that are healthy, comfortable and energy efficient. (author)

  16. Heterotic model building: 16 special manifolds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Yang-Hui; Lee, Seung-Joo; Lukas, Andre; Sun, Chuang

    2014-01-01

    We study heterotic model building on 16 specific Calabi-Yau manifolds constructed as hypersurfaces in toric four-folds. These 16 manifolds are the only ones among the more than half a billion manifolds in the Kreuzer-Skarke list with a non-trivial first fundamental group. We classify the line bundle models on these manifolds, both for SU(5) and SO(10) GUTs, which lead to consistent supersymmetric string vacua and have three chiral families. A total of about 29000 models is found, most of them corresponding to SO(10) GUTs. These models constitute a starting point for detailed heterotic model building on Calabi-Yau manifolds in the Kreuzer-Skarke list. The data for these models can be downloaded http://www-thphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/projects/CalabiYau/toricdata/index.html.

  17. Dynamic Heat Production Modeling for Life Cycle Assessment of Insulation in Danish Residential Buildings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sohn, Joshua L.; Kalbar, Pradip; Birkved, Morten

    2017-01-01

    insulation in a Danish single-family detached home. This single family house, is based on averages of current Danish construction practices with building heat losses estimated using Be10. To simulate a changing district heating grid mix, heat supply fuel sources are modeled according to Danish energy mix...... for space heating without insulation over the lifespan of a building. When the energy sources for insulation production are similar to the energy mix that supplies heat, this logic is valid to very high level of insulation. However, in Denmark, as well as many other countries this assumption is becoming...... increasingly incorrect. Given the generally long service life of buildings, the significance of future energy mixes, which are expected/intended to have a smaller environmental impact, can be great. In this paper, a reference house is used to assess the life cycle environmental impacts of mineral wool...

  18. A Two-Study Examination of Work-Family Conflict, Production Deviance and Gender

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, Merideth; Carlson, Dawn; Hunter, Emily M.; Whitten, Dwayne

    2012-01-01

    Building on the spillover and crossover literatures of work-family conflict and the theoretical framework of Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989) we examine the effects of conflict on production deviance. Using a two-study constructive replication and extension design, we examine how partner work-to-family conflict contributes to job…

  19. Violence against children within the family

    OpenAIRE

    JACEK J. BŁESZYŃSKI; ANITA RODKIEWICZ-ROŻEK

    2017-01-01

    Th e article presents the problem of child abuse in the family. Shows the causes of violence in the family, but also treats children’s rights under the Convention on the Rights of the child, such as the right to an identity, right to expression, the right to live without violence, the right to social assistance, right to education. Th is article presents the family as the basic environment in which the child is born and brought up, because it has strong infl uence on the shaping of his person...

  20. Preindustrial versus postindustrial Architecture and Building Techniques

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestergaard, Inge

    2014-01-01

    How can preindustrial architecture inspire sustainable thinking in postindustrial architectural design? How can we learn from experience and how can social, economic and environmental conditions give perspectives and guide a knowledge based evolution of basic experience towards modern industriali......How can preindustrial architecture inspire sustainable thinking in postindustrial architectural design? How can we learn from experience and how can social, economic and environmental conditions give perspectives and guide a knowledge based evolution of basic experience towards modern...... industrialized building processes? Identification of sustainable parameters related to change in society, to building technique and to comfort are illustrated through two Danish building types, which are different in time, but similar in function. One representing evolution and experience based countryside...... fisherman’s house built around year 1700; and second a frontrunner suburban family house built year 2008. The analysis involves architectural, technical and comfort matters and will state the levels of design, social conditions, sustainable and energy efficient parameters. Results will show lessons learned...

  1. Exploring variance in residential electricity consumption: Household features and building properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartusch, Cajsa; Odlare, Monica; Wallin, Fredrik; Wester, Lars

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Statistical analysis of variance are of considerable value in identifying key indicators for policy update. ► Variance in residential electricity use is partly explained by household features. ► Variance in residential electricity use is partly explained by building properties. ► Household behavior has a profound impact on individual electricity use. -- Abstract: Improved means of controlling electricity consumption plays an important part in boosting energy efficiency in the Swedish power market. Developing policy instruments to that end requires more in-depth statistics on electricity use in the residential sector, among other things. The aim of the study has accordingly been to assess the extent of variance in annual electricity consumption in single-family homes as well as to estimate the impact of household features and building properties in this respect using independent samples t-tests and one-way as well as univariate independent samples analyses of variance. Statistically significant variances associated with geographic area, heating system, number of family members, family composition, year of construction, electric water heater and electric underfloor heating have been established. The overall result of the analyses is nevertheless that variance in residential electricity consumption cannot be fully explained by independent variables related to household and building characteristics alone. As for the methodological approach, the results further suggest that methods for statistical analysis of variance are of considerable value in indentifying key indicators for policy update and development.

  2. Building when the climate gets warmer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brunner, C. U.; Steinemann, U.; Nipkow, J.

    2007-01-01

    This final report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), takes a look at how the building process will have to take account of climate change with higher summer temperatures in Switzerland. The authors consider the situation as being in strong contrast to the past in Switzerland, when attention was devoted to energy demand in buildings during the winter. Today there is a new focus with the anticipation of increasingly frequent, extended hot spells in summer. The goal of this investigation is to analyse and present economic measures to assure a high level of summer comfort with a reduced demand for electricity under these changing conditions. Strategies with respect to construction, technology and operation are addressed. The current spread of technically questionable and inefficient room air conditioning units in residential and commercial buildings is considered as being strongly reminiscent of a dangerous, analogous case in the past, when small electric heaters became widespread. A largely untapped potential exists for increasing the efficiency of air conditioning and chiller technologies for both central systems and room units by the careful use of small temperature differences. Several new and unconventional solution paths are discussed, including high-efficiency room air conditioners, solar cooling equipment, balanced mechanical ventilation, phase-change materials, thermal storage, etc., all aimed at reducing electricity consumption. The expected additional electricity demand of around 1.9 TWh annually for ventilation and air conditioning is commented on.

  3. Multifractal in Volatility of Family Business Stocks Listed on Casablanca STOCK Exchange

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lahmiri, Salim

    In this paper, we check for existence of multifractal in volatility of Moroccan family business stock returns and in volatility of Casablanca market index returns based on multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) technique. Empirical results show strong evidence of multifractal characteristics in volatility series of both family business stocks and market index. In addition, it is found that small variations in volatility of family business stocks are persistent, whilst small variations in volatility of market index are anti-persistent. However, large variations in family business volatility and market index volatility are both anti-persistent. Furthermore, multifractal spectral analysis based results show strong evidence that volatility in Moroccan family business companies exhibits more multifractality than volatility in the main stock market. These results may provide insightful information for risk managers concerned with family business stocks.

  4. TEENAGE EDUCATION AND CHARACTER BUILDING – A REPORT OF THE APPLICATION OF HYPNOPARENTING METHOD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurjanah

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Recently many adolescents have not received adequate character education either in their families or school environments and probably even both; it is to say that the result shows delinquent behaviors occurred among adolescents. In regards to these environments, there are other aspects may influence such behaviors, and to name a few, we have technology in hand. Technology and the Internet give us access to sufficient information – due to its nature is accessible to many - both advantages and disadvantages. These two-sided effects, however, are possible to control and minimize if proposed actions are taken to achieve the maximum benefits for building strong characters in adolescents. This writing reports the predetermined actions that took place in a community group (Rukun Warga or RW in Cibereum, in the district of Cisarua, Bogor. It focuses on the members of Family Welfare Movement or Pemberdayaan dan Kesejahateraan Keluarga (PKK; the members are mothers with young children and adolescents of the community group. The program used in encouraging and raising awareness of the PKK members was a hypnoparenting method in their parenting style. At the end of the program, the PKK members could apply the skills learned throughout the program into their parenting practices.

  5. Strong correlations in few-fermion systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bergschneider, Andrea

    2017-07-26

    In this thesis, I report on the deterministic preparation and the observation of strongly correlated few-fermion systems in single and double-well potentials. In a first experiment, we studied a system of one impurity interacting with a number of majority atoms which we prepared in a single potential well in the one-dimensional limit. With increasing number of majority particles, we observed a decrease in the quasi-particle residue which is in agreement with expectations from the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe. In a second experiment, we prepared two fermions in a double-well potential which represents the fundamental building block of the Fermi-Hubbard model. By increasing the repulsion between the two fermions, we observed the crossover into the antiferromagnetic Mott-insulator regime. Furthermore, I describe a new imaging technique, which allows spin-resolved single-atom detection both in in-situ and in time-of-flight. We use this technique to investigate the emergence of momentum correlations of two repulsive fermions in the ground state of the double well. With the methods developed in this thesis, we have established a framework for quantum simulation of strongly correlated many-body systems in tunable potentials.

  6. The Relations of Family Members’ Unique and Shared Perspectives of Family Dysfunction to Dyad Adjustment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jager, Justin; Yuen, Cynthia X.; Bornstein, Marc H.; Putnick, Diane L.; Hendricks, Charlene

    2017-01-01

    Among a community sample of families (N = 128), this study examined how family members’ shared and unique perspectives of family dysfunction relate to dyad members’ shared views of dyad adjustment within adolescent-mother, adolescent-father, and mother-father dyads. Independent of a family’s family perspective (shared perspective of family dysfunction), the adolescent’s unique perspective was associated with lower security and higher conflict with both mother and father, the father’s unique perspective was associated with lower security and higher conflict with the adolescent as well as lower marital quality with mother, and the mother unique perspective was associated with lower marital quality with the father. Moreover, for adolescent-parent dyads, compared to the parent unique perspective, the adolescent unique perspective was more strongly associated with dyad adjustment. These findings indicate that both shared and unique views of the family system – the adolescent’s unique view in particular - independently relate to the health of family subsystems. They also suggest that research as well as therapeutic interventions that focus on just the shared view of the family may miss important elements of family dysfunction. PMID:24884682

  7. Intergenerational continuity in high conflict family environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothenberg, W. Andrew; Hussong, Andrea M.; Chassin, Laurie

    2016-01-01

    In the current study, we examined continuity in conflict across generations and explored potential mediators and moderators that could explain this continuity. We followed 246 targets from adolescence to adulthood and examined family conflict as reported by multiple reporters in targets' family of origin and current families. Results showed that conflict in the current family was strongly correlated with that of the family of origin in women but not in men. Continuity in family conflict across generations was mediated by patterns of elevated adolescent externalizing behavior in members of the second generation (G2). Additionally, analyses revealed an interaction between both G2 partners' externalizing behavior such that if one partner in the G2 family demonstrated high levels of externalizing behavior, elevated levels of family conflict resulted. Potential explanations and implications of these findings are considered. PMID:26018605

  8. Strongly asymmetric discrete Painlevé equations: The additive case

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grammaticos, B. [IMNC, Université Paris VII and XI, CNRS, UMR 8165, Bât. 440, 91406 Orsay (France); Ramani, A. [Centre de Physique Théorique, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau (France); Tamizhmani, K. M. [Department of Mathematics, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, 605014 Puducherry (India); Tamizhmani, T. [Avvaiyar Government College for Women, 609602 Karaikal (India); Satsuma, J. [Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-shi 252-5258 (Japan)

    2014-05-15

    We examine a class of discrete Painlevé equations which present a strong asymmetry. These equations can be written as a system of two equations, the right-hand-sides of which do not have the same functional form. We limit here our investigation to two canonical families of the Quispel-Roberts-Thompson (QRT) classification both of which lead to difference equations. Several new integrable discrete systems are identified.

  9. Analysis of Energy Demand for Low-Energy Multi-Dwelling Buildings of Different Configuration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giedrė Streckienė

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available To meet the goals established by Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings, the topics of energy efficiency in new and old buildings must be solved. Research and development of new energy solutions and technology are necessary for increasing energy performance of buildings. Three low-energy multi-dwelling buildings have been modelled and analyzed in the presented study. All multi-dwelling houses are made of similar single-family house cells. However, multi-dwelling buildings are of different geometry, flat number and height. DesignBuilder software was used for simulating and determining heating, cooling and electricity demand for buildings. Three different materials (silicate, ceramic and clay concrete blocks as bearing constructions of external walls have been analyzed. To decrease cooling demand for buildings, the possibility of mounting internal or external louvers has been considered. Primary energy savings for multi-dwelling buildings using passive solar measures have been determined.

  10. Early environmental exposures influence schizophrenia expression even in the presence of strong genetic predisposition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husted, Janice A; Ahmed, Rashid; Chow, Eva W C; Brzustowicz, Linda M; Bassett, Anne S

    2012-05-01

    There are few studies of environmental factors in familial forms of schizophrenia. We investigated whether childhood adversity or environmental factors were associated with schizophrenia in a familial sample where schizophrenia is associated with the NOSA1P gene. We found that a cumulative adversity index including childhood illness, family instability and cannabis use was significantly associated with narrow schizophrenia, independent of NOSA1P risk genotype, previously measured childhood trauma, covariates and familial clustering (adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval)=1.55 (1.01, 2.38)). The results provide further support that early environmental exposures influence schizophrenia expression even in the presence of strong genetic predisposition. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Heating and cooling energy demand and related emissions of the German residential building stock under climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olonscheck, Mady; Holsten, Anne; Kropp, Juergen P.

    2011-01-01

    The housing sector is a major consumer of energy. Studies on the future energy demand under climate change which also take into account future changes of the building stock, renovation measures and heating systems are still lacking. We provide the first analysis of the combined effect of these four influencing factors on the future energy demand for room conditioning of residential buildings and resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Germany until 2060. We show that the heating energy demand will decrease substantially in the future. This shift will mainly depend on the number of renovated buildings and climate change scenarios and only slightly on demographic changes. The future cooling energy demand will remain low in the future unless the amount of air conditioners strongly increases. As a strong change in the German energy mix is not expected, the future GHG emissions caused by heating will mainly depend on the energy demand for future heating. - Highlights: → The future heating energy demand of German residential buildings strongly decreases. → Extent of these changes mainly depends on the number of renovated buildings. → Demographic changes will only play a minor role. → Cooling energy demand will remain low in future but with large insecurities. → Germany's 2050 emission targets for the building stock are ambitious.

  12. Family-based processes associated with adolescent distress, substance use and risky sexual behavior in families affected by maternal HIV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lester, Patricia; Stein, Judith A; Bursch, Brenda; Rice, Eric; Green, Sara; Penniman, Typhanye; Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane

    2010-01-01

    The present study investigated how maternal HIV and mediating family processes are associated with adolescent distress, substance use, and risky sexual behavior. Mother-adolescent (ages 12-21) dyads (N = 264) were recruited from neighborhoods where the HIV-affected families resided (161 had mothers with HIV). Mediating family processes were youth aggressive conflict style, maternal bonding, maternal role reversal expectations, and overall family functioning. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that youth aggressive conflict resolution style was strongly associated with adolescent distress, substance use, and risky sexual behavior. In HIV-affected families, youth less frequently reported using an aggressive conflict resolution style and more frequently reported positive maternal bonds; their mothers reported less positive family functioning than control families. Finally, maternal distress indirectly affected adolescent distress and risk behavior via youth aggressive conflict resolution style.

  13. The confluence model: birth order as a within-family or between-family dynamic?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zajonc, R B; Sulloway, Frank J

    2007-09-01

    The confluence model explains birth-order differences in intellectual performance by quantifying the changing dynamics within the family. Wichman, Rodgers, and MacCallum (2006) claimed that these differences are a between-family phenomenon--and hence are not directly related to birth order itself. The study design and analyses presented by Wichman et al. nevertheless suffer from crucial shortcomings, including their use of unfocused tests, which cause statistically significant trends to be overlooked. In addition, Wichman et al. treated birth-order effects as a linear phenomenon thereby ignoring the confluence model's prediction that these two samples may manifest opposing results based on age. This article cites between- and within-family data that demonstrate systematic birth-order effects as predicted by the confluence model. The corpus of evidence invoked here offers strong support for the assumption of the confluence model that birth-order differences in intellectual performance are primarily a within-family phenomenon.

  14. Care home design for people with dementia: What do people with dementia and their family carers value?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Innes, Anthea; Kelly, Fiona; Dincarslan, Ozlem

    2011-07-01

    To report on the views of people with dementia who live in care homes and their family carers on aspects of design that are important to them, and discuss these in relation to developing physical care environments that respond to the wishes of people with dementia and their family carers. Six focus groups were held: two in Northern Ireland and four in Scotland. A total of 40 people participated in the focus groups. Twenty nine people were with dementia (24 female and five male), and 11 were family carers (10 female and one male). Carers discussed the features of a building they took into account when selecting a care home, and discussed this in relation to 'bricks and mortar versus people'. Key themes reported by people with dementia and their family carers included how the space in the environment is used, for example, what happens in the building and the presence or absence of certain design features. Outside space and wayfinding aids were identified as positive features of the home, along with a general lack of concern about ensuite provision. The results demonstrate the complexity of building design as it must provide living space acceptable to people with dementia living there and family members who visit, as well as provide a workable environment for staff. The findings highlight areas that should be considered by care home teams involved in the build of a new home or the redevelopment of an existing care home.

  15. Quotidian of accompanying family members in an environment of care: the emergence of hospital tribes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia da Silva Santos Passos

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE Understand the quotidian relationships of accompanying family members in an environment of care, which are close to the metaphor of a tribe in hospital environment. METHODQualitative study with data gathered from semi-structured interviews and observations with 16 family members accompanying hospitalized individuals with dependence on self-care. Data were submitted to thematic analysis, and analyzed through the metaphor of "tribe" proposed by comprehensive sociology. RESULTS Family members build up social clusters around caring, where we find traits typical of tribes: emotional ambience; solidarity based on links of sympathy and mutual assistance; an affectual nebula in the process of interaction; a logic of fusion in tactile relations; and communion/religiosity in the process of connecting in a collective identity. CONCLUSION In the presence of tragedy, families build social clusters similar to tribes having care as a totem.

  16. Family conflict, emotional security, and child development: translating research findings into a prevention program for community families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cummings, E Mark; Schatz, Julie N

    2012-03-01

    The social problem posed by family conflict to the physical and psychological health and well-being of children, parents, and underlying family relationships is a cause for concern. Inter-parental and parent-child conflict are linked with children's behavioral, emotional, social, academic, and health problems, with children's risk particularly elevated in distressed marriages. Supported by the promise of brief psycho-educational programs (e.g., Halford et al. in Journal of Family Psychology 22:497-505, 2008; Sanders in Journal of Family Psychology 22:506-517, 2008), the present paper presents the development and evaluation of a prevention program for community families with children, concerned with family-wide conflict and relationships, and building on Emotional Security Theory (Davies and Cummings in Psychological Bulletin 116:387-411, 1994). This program uniquely focuses on translating research and theory in this area into brief, engaging programs for community families to improve conflict and emotional security for the sake of the children. Evaluation is based on multi-domain and multi-method assessments of family-wide and child outcomes in the context of a randomized control design. A series of studies are briefly described in the programmatic development of a prevention program for conflict and emotional security for community families, culminating in a program for family-wide conflict and emotional security for families with adolescents. With regard to this ongoing program, evidence is presented at the post-test for improvements in family-wide functioning, consideration of the relative benefits for different groups within the community, and preliminary support for the theoretical bases for program outcomes.

  17. Demand controlled ventilation for multi-family dwellings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Dorthe Kragsig

    for centrally balanced DCV systems with heat recovery. A design expected to fulfill this requirement was investigated in detail with regard to its electricity consumption by evaluating a control strategy that resets the static pressure set point at part load. The results showed that this control strategy can......The present thesis “Demand controlled ventilation for multi-family dwellings” constitutes the summary of a three year project period during which demand specification and system design of demand controlled ventilation for residential buildings were studied. Most standards and buildings codes...... can be reduced compared to a system with constant air flow. A literature study on indoor pollutants in homes, their sources and their impact on humans formed the basis for the demand specification. Emission of pollutants in residential buildings roughly fall into constantly emitted background sources...

  18. Cambodian Family-School Partnership: Toward an Evolving Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Tan Keo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the current debate around family-school partnerships. Traditional family-school partnership theories do not account for the intended voices of Cambodian families. This article draws from existing research on Southeast Asian families more generally in order to develop a research-based, data-driven family-school partnership conceptual framework for Cambodian American families. It is believed that a pro-ethnic, voice-centric family-school partnership fosters an inclusive, supportive learning environment for Cambodian children. The logic undergirding that belief assumes that this partnership is likelyto increase cultural awareness between critical home-school partners. At the very least, the proposed concept model serves as a theoretical building block upon which an empirical research study can be built. That study is encouraged to explore the implications of establishing a family-school partnership that reflects the sense and sensibilities of Cambodian families, particularly those stemming from lower income backgrounds. Implicit in the review is the premium placed on challenging Eurocentric, middle-class partnership paradigms to account for the authentic voices of ethnic minorities, and the utility of disaggregating data for Southeast Asians, given the array of cultural and linguistic differences spanningthe Asian American community.

  19. Cambodian Family-School Partnership: Toward an Evolving Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Tan Keo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the current debate around family-school partnerships. Traditional family-school partnership theories do not account for the intended voices of Cambodian families. This article draws from existing research on Southeast Asian families more generally in order to develop a research-based, data-driven family-school partnership conceptual framework for Cambodian American families. It is believed that a pro-ethnic, voice-centric family-school partnership fosters an inclusive, supportive learning environment for Cambodian children. The logic undergirding that belief assumes that this partnership is likely to increase cultural awareness between critical home-school partners. At the very least, the proposed concept model serves as a theoretical building block upon which an empirical research study can be built. That study is encouraged to explore the implications of establishing a family-school partnership that reflects the sense and sensibilities of Cambodian families, particularly those stemming from lower income backgrounds. Implicit in the review is the premium placed on challenging Eurocentric, middle-class partnership paradigms to account for the authentic voices of ethnic minorities, and the utility of disaggregating data for Southeast Asians, given the array of cultural and linguistic differences spanning the Asian American community.

  20. Building Strong Geoscience Programs: Perspectives From Three New Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flood, T. P.; Munk, L.; Anderson, S. W.

    2005-12-01

    During the past decade, at least sixteen geoscience departments in the U.S. that offer a B.S. degree or higher have been eliminated or dispersed. During that same time, three new geoscience departments with degree-granting programs have been developed. Each program has unique student demographics, affiliation (i.e. public institution versus private liberal arts college), geoscience curricula and reasons for initiation. Some of the common themes for each program include; 1) strong devotion to providing field experiences, 2) commitment to student-faculty collaborative research, 3) maintaining traditional geology program elements in the core curriculum and 4) placing students into high quality graduate programs and geoscience careers. Although the metrics for each school vary, each program can claim success in the area of maintaining solid enrollments. This metric is critical because programs are successful only if they have enough students, either in the major and/or general education courses, to convince administrators that continued support of faculty, including space and funding is warranted. Some perspectives gained through the establishment of these new programs may also be applicable to established programs. The success and personality of a program can be greatly affected by the personality of a single faculty member. Therefore, it may not be in the best interest of a program to distribute programmatic work equally among all faculty. For example, critical responsibilities such as teaching core and introductory courses should be the responsibility of faculty who are fully committed to these pursuits. However, if these responsibilities reduce scholarly output, well-articulated arguments should be developed in order to promote program quality and sustainability rather than individual productivity. Field and undergraduate research experiences should be valued as much as high-quality classroom and laboratory instruction. To gain the support of the administration

  1. Families Matter! Presexual Risk Prevention Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lasswell, Sarah M.; Riley, Drewallyn B.; Poulsen, Melissa N.

    2013-01-01

    Parent-based HIV prevention programming may play an important role in reaching youths early to help establish lifelong patterns of safe and healthy sexual behaviors. Families Matter! is a 5-session, evidence-based behavioral intervention designed for primary caregivers of children aged 9 to 12 years to promote positive parenting and effective parent–child communication about sexuality and sexual risk reduction. The program’s 5-step capacity-building model was implemented with local government, community, and faith-based partners in 8 sub-Saharan African countries with good intervention fidelity and high levels of participant retention. Families Matter! may be useful in other resource-constrained settings. PMID:24028229

  2. Days La Familia community drug and alcohol prevention program: Family-centered model for working with inner-city Hispanic families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, L P; Lucero, E

    1996-03-01

    Substance abuse among Hispanics is on the increase despite national efforts toward reducing it. Researchers and service providers have recognized the specific need for better prevention models that address the issues of poor Hispanics. La Familia is a community-based ATOD prevention program that targets Hispanic families with high-risk youth from 6 to 11 years old, and attempts to reduce identified risk factors while building on culturally relevant protective factors. During the 2 years, the program has enrolled 219 youth and their families utilizing existing community networks and aggressive outreach. The program resulted in a 92% retention rate and over 80% attendance per session. As a result of the program, families became more willing to discuss ATOD issues openly and made positive steps toward empowerment.

  3. Family interests and medical decisions for children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baines, Paul

    2017-10-01

    Medical decisions for children are usually justified by the claim that they are in a child's best interests. More recently, following criticisms of the best interests standard, some advocate that the family's interests should influence medical decisions for children, although what is meant by family interests is often not made clear. I argue that at least two senses of family interests may be discerned. There is a 'weak' sense (as the amalgamated interests of family members) of family interests and a 'strong' sense (that the family itself has interests over and above the interests of individuals). I contend that there are problems with both approaches in making medical decisions for children but that the weak sense is more plausible. Despite this, I argue that claims for family interests are not helpful in making medical decisions for children. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Generating and exploring good building layouts

    KAUST Repository

    Bao, Fan

    2013-07-16

    Good building layouts are required to conform to regulatory guidelines, while meeting certain quality measures. While different methods can sample the space of such good layouts, there exists little support for a user to understand and systematically explore the samples. Starting from a discrete set of good layouts, we analytically characterize the local shape space of good layouts around each initial layout, compactly encode these spaces, and link them to support transitions across the different local spaces. We represent such transitions in the form of a portal graph. The user can then use the portal graph, along with the family of local shape spaces, to globally and locally explore the space of good building layouts. We use our framework on a variety of different test scenarios to showcase an intuitive design, navigation, and exploration interface. Copyright © ACM. Copyright © ACM 2013.

  5. Relationship Building One Step at a Time: Case Studies of Successful Faculty-Librarian Partnerships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz, José O.; Mandernach, Meris A.

    2017-01-01

    Building strong relationships between academic librarians and teaching faculty is paramount for promoting services and resources. While librarians face challenges ranging from new technologies to heightened expectations and fiscal difficulties, the key work remains in solid relationship building. Drawing on the experience of a group of subject…

  6. Get Families on Board to Navigate Mental Health Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minke, Kathleen M.; Vickers, Harleen S.

    2015-01-01

    Effective family-school collaboration is essential for promoting students' success at school, but collaborative relationships must be proactively developed and intentionally nurtured. These relationships are particularly critical when children are struggling behaviorally or emotionally. Strategies for building effective relationships are…

  7. The Association of Arsenic Exposure and Arsenic Metabolism with the Metabolic Syndrome and its Individual Components: Prospective Evidence from the Strong Heart Family Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spratlen, Miranda J; Grau-Perez, Maria; Best, Lyle G; Yracheta, Joseph; Lazo, Mariana; Vaidya, Dhananjay; Balakrishnan, Poojitha; Gamble, Mary V; Francesconi, Kevin A; Goessler, Walter; Cole, Shelley A; Umans, Jason G; Howard, Barbara V; Navas-Acien, Ana

    2018-03-15

    Inorganic arsenic exposure is ubiquitous and both exposure and inter-individual differences in its metabolism have been associated with cardiometabolic risk. The association between arsenic exposure and arsenic metabolism with metabolic syndrome and its individual components, however, is relatively unknown. We used poisson regression with robust variance to evaluate the association between baseline arsenic exposure (urine arsenic levels) and metabolism (relative percentage of arsenic species over their sum) with incident metabolic syndrome and its individual components (elevated waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, reduced HDL, hypertension, elevated fasting plasma glucose) in 1,047 participants from the Strong Heart Family Study, a prospective family-based cohort in American Indian communities (baseline visits in 1998-1999 and 2001-2003, follow-up visits in 2001-2003 and 2006-2009). 32% of participants developed metabolic syndrome over follow-up. An IQR increase in arsenic exposure was associated with 1.19 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.41) greater risk for elevated fasting plasma glucose but not with other individual components or overall metabolic syndrome. Arsenic metabolism, specifically lower MMA% and higher DMA% was associated with higher risk of overall metabolic syndrome and elevated waist circumference, but not with any other component. These findings support there is a contrasting and independent association between arsenic exposure and arsenic metabolism with metabolic outcomes which may contribute to overall diabetes risk.

  8. Collaborative filtering on a family of biological targets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erhan, Dumitru; L'heureux, Pierre-Jean; Yue, Shi Yi; Bengio, Yoshua

    2006-01-01

    Building a QSAR model of a new biological target for which few screening data are available is a statistical challenge. However, the new target may be part of a bigger family, for which we have more screening data. Collaborative filtering or, more generally, multi-task learning, is a machine learning approach that improves the generalization performance of an algorithm by using information from related tasks as an inductive bias. We use collaborative filtering techniques for building predictive models that link multiple targets to multiple examples. The more commonalities between the targets, the better the multi-target model that can be built. We show an example of a multi-target neural network that can use family information to produce a predictive model of an undersampled target. We evaluate JRank, a kernel-based method designed for collaborative filtering. We show their performance on compound prioritization for an HTS campaign and the underlying shared representation between targets. JRank outperformed the neural network both in the single- and multi-target models.

  9. Who benefits from family support? Work schedule and family differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Kristen S; Sinclair, Robert R; Mohr, Cynthia D

    2016-01-01

    Prior research has demonstrated the benefits of family-supportive organization perceptions (FSOP) for reducing stress, increasing satisfaction, and increasing worker commitment; however, less research has studied health outcomes or possible differences in the effects of FSOP based on worker characteristics. The present study examined relationships between FSOP and health outcomes, as well as how those relationships may depend on work schedule and family differences. Using a sample of 330 acute care nurses, the findings indicated that FSOP predicted several health and well-being outcomes obtained 9 months later. Further, the relationships between FSOP and the outcome variables depended on some work schedule and family differences. In terms of family differences, FSOP was most strongly related to life satisfaction for those who cared for dependent adults. The relationship between FSOP and health outcomes of depression, musculoskeletal pain, and physical health symptoms were generally significant for workers with dependent children, but not significant for workers with no children. Regarding schedule differences, the relationship between FSOP and life satisfaction was significant for those on nonstandard (evening/night) shifts but not significant for standard day shift workers; however, there were no differences in FSOP relationships by number of hours worked per week. The findings demonstrate that FSOP may benefit some employees more than others. Such differences need to be incorporated into both future work-family theory development and into efforts to document the effectiveness of family-supportive policies, programs, and practices. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Seismic response analysis of a 13-story steel moment-framed building in Alhambra, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodgers, Janise E.; Sanli, Ahmet K.; Çelebi, Mehmet

    2004-01-01

    The seismic performance of steel moment-framed buildings has been of particular interest since brittle fractures were discovered at the beam-column connections of some frames following the M6.7 1994 Northridge earthquake. This report presents an investigation of the seismic behavior of an instrumented 13-story steel moment frame building located in the greater Los Angeles area of California. An extensive strong motion dataset, ambient vibration data, engineering drawings and earthquake damage reports are available for this building. The data are described and subsequently analyzed. The results of the analyses show that the building response is more complex than would be expected from its highly symmetrical geometry. The building's response is characterized by low damping in the fundamental mode, larger peak accelerations in the intermediate stories than at the roof, extended periods of vibration after the cessation of strong input shaking, beating in the response, and significant torsion during strong shaking at the top of the concrete piers which extend from the basement to the second floor. The analyses of the data and all damage detection methods employed except one method based on system identification indicate that the response of the structure was elastic in all recorded earthquakes. These findings are in general agreement with the results of intrusive inspections (meaning fireproofing and architectural finishes were removed) conducted on approximately 5 percent of the moment connections following the Northridge earthquake, which found no earthquake damage.

  11. Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanner, Litsa Renee; Haddock, Shelley A.; Zimmerman, Toni Schindler; Lund, Lori K.

    2003-01-01

    Examines themes about couples and families portrayed in 26 Disney animated classics and recent movies. Four overarching themes were identified: family relationships are a strong priority; families are diverse, but the diversity is often simplified; fathers are elevated, while mothers are marginalized; and couple relationships are created by…

  12. Kinship, family and social network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available There is considerable overlap between Le Play's mid-eighteenth-century household model map and the regional TFR map of central-southern Europe in the 1980s. The author examines the overall structure of relationships involved in Le Play's typology and observes that both the stem-family and the unstable family area in the Southern Europe are marked by a small, close-knit network of strong ties, with kinship predominance. Vice versa, the social support hinges upon a network of kin in the stem-family area, upon an alliance among different kindred units in the unstable Mediterranean area. All this leads to formulating a hypothesis of a tri-partite model for Western European relationship models. How can we explain the relationship between family predominance as anthropological embedding and family collapse as demographic reaction? The author reconsiders this question in the light of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory and Elder's 'principle of accentuation': different, regionally rooted, family and kinship patterns "react" in contact with an appropriate reagent, such as the macro-process of modernisation, generating different patterns of today's demographic behaviour.

  13. Relationships between parents’ academic backgrounds and incomes and building students’ healthy eating habits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoque, Kazi Fardinul; A/P Thanabalan, Revethy

    2018-01-01

    Background Building healthy eating habit is essential for all people. School and family are the prime institutions to instill this habit during early age. This study is aimed at understanding the impact of family such as parents’ educations and incomes on building students’ healthy eating habits. Methods A survey on building students’ eating habits was conducted among primary school students of grade 4 (11 years) and 5 (12 years) from Kulim district, Malaysia. Data from 318 respondents were analysed. Descriptive statistics were used to find the present scenario of their knowledge, attitude and practices towards their eating habits while one-way ANOVA and independent sample t-test were used to find the differences between their practices based on students’ gender, parents’ educations and incomes. Results The study finds that the students have a good knowledge of types of healthy food but yet their preferences are towards the unhealthy food. Though the students’ gender and parents’ educations are not found significantly related to students’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards healthy eating habits, parents’ incomes have significant influence on promoting the healthy eating habit. Discussion Findings of this study can be useful to guide parents in healthy food choices and suggest them to be models to their children in building healthy eating habits. PMID:29736328

  14. Relationships between parents' academic backgrounds and incomes and building students' healthy eating habits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoque, Kazi Enamul; Hoque, Kazi Fardinul; A/P Thanabalan, Revethy

    2018-01-01

    Building healthy eating habit is essential for all people. School and family are the prime institutions to instill this habit during early age. This study is aimed at understanding the impact of family such as parents' educations and incomes on building students' healthy eating habits. A survey on building students' eating habits was conducted among primary school students of grade 4 (11 years) and 5 (12 years) from Kulim district, Malaysia. Data from 318 respondents were analysed. Descriptive statistics were used to find the present scenario of their knowledge, attitude and practices towards their eating habits while one-way ANOVA and independent sample t -test were used to find the differences between their practices based on students' gender, parents' educations and incomes. The study finds that the students have a good knowledge of types of healthy food but yet their preferences are towards the unhealthy food. Though the students' gender and parents' educations are not found significantly related to students' knowledge, attitude and practices towards healthy eating habits, parents' incomes have significant influence on promoting the healthy eating habit. Findings of this study can be useful to guide parents in healthy food choices and suggest them to be models to their children in building healthy eating habits.

  15. Strong orientational coordinates and orientational order parameters for symmetric objects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haji-Akbari, Amir; Glotzer, Sharon C

    2015-01-01

    Recent advancements in the synthesis of anisotropic macromolecules and nanoparticles have spurred an immense interest in theoretical and computational studies of self-assembly. The cornerstone of such studies is the role of shape in self-assembly and in inducing complex order. The problem of identifying different types of order that can emerge in such systems can, however, be challenging. Here, we revisit the problem of quantifying orientational order in systems of building blocks with non-trivial rotational symmetries. We first propose a systematic way of constructing orientational coordinates for such symmetric building blocks. We call the arising tensorial coordinates strong orientational coordinates (SOCs) as they fully and exclusively specify the orientation of a symmetric object. We then use SOCs to describe and quantify local and global orientational order, and spatiotemporal orientational correlations in systems of symmetric building blocks. The SOCs and the orientational order parameters developed in this work are not only useful in performing and analyzing computer simulations of symmetric molecules or particles, but can also be utilized for the efficient storage of rotational information in long trajectories of evolving many-body systems. (paper)

  16. Strong Convergence of Hybrid Algorithm for Asymptotically Nonexpansive Mappings in Hilbert Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juguo Su

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The hybrid algorithms for constructing fixed points of nonlinear mappings have been studied extensively in recent years. The advantage of this methods is that one can prove strong convergence theorems while the traditional iteration methods just have weak convergence. In this paper, we propose two types of hybrid algorithm to find a common fixed point of a finite family of asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in Hilbert spaces. One is cyclic Mann's iteration scheme, and the other is cyclic Halpern's iteration scheme. We prove the strong convergence theorems for both iteration schemes.

  17. Overview of the NEES-Soft Experimental Program for Seismic Risk Reduction of Soft-Story Woodframe Buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    John W. van de Lindt; Pouria Bahmani; Steven E. Pryor; Gary Mochizuki; Mikhail Gershfeld; Weichiang Pang; Ershad Ziaei; Elaina N. Jennings; Michael D. Symans; Xiaoyun Shao; Jingjing Tian; Doug Rammer

    2014-01-01

    The existence of thousands of soft-story woodframe buildings in California has been recognized as a disaster preparedness problem resulting in mitigation efforts throughout the state. The considerable presence of these large multi-family buildings in San Francisco prompted the city to mandate their retrofitting over the next seven years. The NEES-Soft project, whose...

  18. Certification of building thermographers: experiences after three courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauppinen, Timo; Hekkanen, Martti; Paloniitty, Sauli; Krankka, Juha

    2006-04-01

    The certification procedure of building thermographers was started in 2003, even though thermography has been used in Finland in building survey since late 70's. There has been about a 25 years' unorganized and more or less wild period, without any generally accepted rules for interpretation, as well as how to order thermography services, how to report the results, how to do the practical work in the buildings etc. The service was provided by consultants with varied backgrounds. More operators have come into the market and building developers and contractors have begun to use thermography for quality control in new building and in renovation planning. In the year 2004 various organizations in building trade launched a pilot project to certificate building thermographers. The structure and the topics of the course were introduced in Thermosense 2005. By the end of the year 2005 the third course was completed. From the beginning of the procedure to the end of the third course about 40 persons have received a certificate. During the certification process, two guidelines have been published, as part of RT (Building Information) - files: instructions for ordering, for practical field work and for reporting of thermography survey in buildings. The guidelines also contain basics for interpretation. The interpretation is consistent with the other existing directions (building codes etc). At the turn of 2005 - 2006 a new book of building thermography was published. There is still lack of comprehensive as well as unambiguous rules for interpretation. In the paper we will present experiences on the courses, the main problems posed to the participants and findings during the last two - three years' field work. We will also introduce briefly the structure and content of the guidelines and an example how to use thermography as a tool of quality control in new building. The case studies are new one-family houses in a housing fair and exhibition area in the city of Oulu.

  19. Method for a component-based economic optimisation in design of whole building renovation versus demolishing and rebuilding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morelli, Martin; Harrestrup, Maria; Svendsen, Svend

    2014-01-01

    Aim: This paper presents a two-fold evaluation method determining whether to renovate an existing building or to demolish it and thereafter erect a new building. Scope: The method determines a combination of energy saving measures that have been optimised in regards to the future cost for energy. Subsequently, the method evaluates the cost of undertaking the retrofit measures as compared to the cost of demolishing the existing building and thereafter erecting a new one. Several economically beneficial combinations of energy saving measures can be determined. All of them are a trade-off between investing in retrofit measures and buying renewable energy. The overall cost of the renovation considers the market value of the property, the investment in the renovation, the operational and maintenance costs. A multi-family building is used as an example to clearly illustrate the application of the method from macroeconomic and private financial perspectives. Conclusion: The example shows that the investment cost and future market value of the building are the dominant factors in deciding whether to renovate an existing building or to demolish it and thereafter erect a new building. Additionally, it is concluded in the example that multi-family buildings erected in the period 1850–1930 should be renovated. - highlights: • Development of a method for evaluation of renovation projects. • Determination of an economic optimal combination of various energy saving measures. • The method compared the renovation cost to those for demolishing and building new. • Decision was highly influence by the investment cost and buildings market value. • The results indicate that buildings should be renovated and not demolished

  20. Longitudinal Influence of Paternal Distress on Children’s Representations of Fathers, Family Cohesion, and Family Conflict

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adamsons, Kari L.; Robinson, JoAnn L.; Sabatelli, Ronald M.

    2014-01-01

    A parent’s distress is known to color children’s experiences of their families. Studies, however, have rarely focused on the levels of distress experienced by fathers, and in particular, as they affect the emotional experiences of their children. We examine the impact that fathers’ experience of distress throughout their children’s early years has on children’s emerging narrative representations of father-child relationships and of family conflict and cohesion. In this longitudinal investigation, fathers of young children reported their distress on two occasions in relation to self, the marital relationship, and the family climate. Fathers also concurrently reported on their children’s temperament, specifically negative emotionality. Children responded to story stem beginnings about challenging situations in the family and their narratives were scored for dysregulated negative-disciplinary and positive parental behaviors of fathers, family conflict themes, and family harmony themes. It was hypothesized that children of more distressed fathers would represent greater dysregulated fathering and higher levels of family conflict, and lower levels of positive fathering and family harmony than children of less distressed fathers. Further, the study examined whether this effect was mediated through the fathers’ reports of their children’s negative emotionality. Results partially supported the hypothesized direct and indirect effects. Children’s narratives of negative-disciplinary fathering and family conflict were more common in boys when fathers reported greater distress, and temperament ratings fully mediated this effect. However, their narratives of positive fathering and family harmony were not significantly affected. That positive family features were preserved in children’s narratives even in the face of greater father distress suggests that families may be able to build resilience to internalized distress through these positive narrative

  1. Building effective working relationships across culturally and ethnically diverse communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosley, Cheryl A; Gensheimer, Linda; Yang, Mai

    2003-01-01

    Amherst H. Wilder Foundation's Social Adjustment Program for Southeast Asians is implementing two collaborative, best practice, mental health and substance abuse prevention service models in Minnesota. It faced several issues in effectively bridging multiple cultural groups, including building a diverse collaborative team, involving families and youth, reconciling cultural variation in meeting styles, and making best practice models culturally appropriate. Researchers and program staff used multiple strategies to address these challenges and build successful partnerships. Through shared goals, flexibility, and a willingness to explore and address challenges, collaboratives can promote stronger relationships across cultural communities and improve their service delivery systems.

  2. Education of children in Polish family in a context of forming health culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T.S. IERMAKOVA

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Purpose - analysis of the approaches of family education in a Polish family in the direction of forming a culture of children's health. Material: The analysis of the publications of post-communist countries and Poland scientists. Used the results of a questionnaire on health culture. Results: It was found that healthsaving aspect of family education in Polish family plays a significant role in forming health culture. Highlighted in national traditions of family upbringing of a healthy child. It is noted that social support, as a result of active participation in the religious life, helps to better cope with the challenges of everyday life, reduces anxiety and excessive sadness, increases the feeling of well-being. There is a possibility in the Ukrainian family and the school to ensure the spiritual education of children, the right of parents to ensure the education and upbringing of their children in conformity with their own philosophical convictions. Considered necessary to strengthen the role of the family and school education of students in the context of building a culture of health. The main factors of a healthy lifestyle today's young people are: quality of food, measures to prevent stress, problems of environmental protection, sports, leisure. Conclusions: It is recommended to involve parents in various activities of the societies and volunteers of various organizations. Considered necessary to strengthen the role of the family and school education of students in the context of building a culture of health.

  3. LEP : four building blocks of matter ... times three Conference MT17

    CERN Multimedia

    2001-01-01

    The four building blocks of everyday matter form a family composed of the up-quark, the down-quark, the electron and the electron-neutrino. Similar particles, heavier but otherwise identical, are known to exist - grouped together in two further families. By measuring the number of neutrino types that exist, LEP has shown that there are no more fam-ilies of particles. Nature has chosen the number three. This is an intriguing result, and the reason why there are neither more nor fewer than three particle families is one of the greatest mysteries of modern physics. One important consequence is that we exist. Had there been any fewer than three families of matter particles, the phenomenon known as CP violation - which led to matter dominating anti-matter in the early Universe - would not have occurred. All the matter and antimatter created in the Big Bang would have annihilated.

  4. SBS symptoms in relation to dampness and ventilation in inspected single-family houses in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smedje, Greta; Wang, Juan; Norbäck, Dan; Nilsson, Håkan; Engvall, Karin

    2017-10-01

    To investigate the relationships between symptoms compatible with the sick building syndrome (SBS) in adults and building dampness and ventilation in single-family houses. Within the Swedish BETSI study, a national sample of single-family houses were inspected by professional building experts, and adults living in the houses answered a questionnaire on SBS. Relationships between building factors and SBS were analysed using logistic regression. Of the respondents, 23% reported having had weekly SBS symptoms during the last three months. A large proportion of houses exhibited building or construction problems. In total, 40% of houses had dampness problems in the foundation, and this was related to a higher prevalence of both mucous and dermal symptoms, and any SBS symptoms. Furthermore, high air humidity was related to more symptoms, with the relationship with absolute humidity being stronger than that with relative humidity or moisture load. Symptoms were also more prevalent in houses with a high U value, reflecting a poor thermal insulation. Compared to natural ventilation, living in a house with mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation was related to a lower prevalence of general symptoms and any SBS symptoms, but there were only weak associations between measured air exchange rate and symptoms. A large proportion of single-family houses have dampness problems in the foundation, and pollutants may enter the living space of the house and affect the health of the occupants. Furthermore, absolute air humidity should be measured more often in indoor air studies.

  5. Region-Based Building Rooftop Extraction and Change Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, J.; Metzlaff, L.; d'Angelo, P.; Reinartz, P.

    2017-09-01

    Automatic extraction of building changes is important for many applications like disaster monitoring and city planning. Although a lot of research work is available based on 2D as well as 3D data, an improvement in accuracy and efficiency is still needed. The introducing of digital surface models (DSMs) to building change detection has strongly improved the resulting accuracy. In this paper, a post-classification approach is proposed for building change detection using satellite stereo imagery. Firstly, DSMs are generated from satellite stereo imagery and further refined by using a segmentation result obtained from the Sobel gradients of the panchromatic image. Besides the refined DSMs, the panchromatic image and the pansharpened multispectral image are used as input features for mean-shift segmentation. The DSM is used to calculate the nDSM, out of which the initial building candidate regions are extracted. The candidate mask is further refined by morphological filtering and by excluding shadow regions. Following this, all segments that overlap with a building candidate region are determined. A building oriented segments merging procedure is introduced to generate a final building rooftop mask. As the last step, object based change detection is performed by directly comparing the building rooftops extracted from the pre- and after-event imagery and by fusing the change indicators with the roof-top region map. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the proposed approach is provided by using WorldView-2 satellite data from Istanbul, Turkey.

  6. REGION-BASED BUILDING ROOFTOP EXTRACTION AND CHANGE DETECTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Tian

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Automatic extraction of building changes is important for many applications like disaster monitoring and city planning. Although a lot of research work is available based on 2D as well as 3D data, an improvement in accuracy and efficiency is still needed. The introducing of digital surface models (DSMs to building change detection has strongly improved the resulting accuracy. In this paper, a post-classification approach is proposed for building change detection using satellite stereo imagery. Firstly, DSMs are generated from satellite stereo imagery and further refined by using a segmentation result obtained from the Sobel gradients of the panchromatic image. Besides the refined DSMs, the panchromatic image and the pansharpened multispectral image are used as input features for mean-shift segmentation. The DSM is used to calculate the nDSM, out of which the initial building candidate regions are extracted. The candidate mask is further refined by morphological filtering and by excluding shadow regions. Following this, all segments that overlap with a building candidate region are determined. A building oriented segments merging procedure is introduced to generate a final building rooftop mask. As the last step, object based change detection is performed by directly comparing the building rooftops extracted from the pre- and after-event imagery and by fusing the change indicators with the roof-top region map. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the proposed approach is provided by using WorldView-2 satellite data from Istanbul, Turkey.

  7. A systematic study of mass spectra and strong decay of strange mesons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pang, Cheng-Qun [Lanzhou University, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou (China); Qinghai Normal University, College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Xining (China); Wang, Jun-Zhang; Liu, Xiang [Lanzhou University, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou (China); Lanzhou University and Institute of Modern Physics of CAS, Research Center for Hadron and CSR Physics, Lanzhou (China); Matsuki, Takayuki [Tokyo Kasei University, Tokyo (Japan); Theoretical Research Division, Nishina Center, RIKEN, Saitama (Japan)

    2017-12-15

    The mass spectrum of the kaon family is analyzed by the modified Godfrey-Isgur model with a color screening effect approximating the kaon as a heavy-light meson system. This analysis gives us the structure and possible assignments of the observed kaon candidates, which can be tested by comparing the theoretical results of their two-body strong decays with the experimental data. Additionally, prediction of some partial decay widths is made on the kaons still missing in experiment. This study is crucial to establishing the kaon family and searching for their higher excitations in the future. (orig.)

  8. Programs for Strengthening Families of State Prison Staff

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tripp, Paula J.

    2010-01-01

    This article describes "Training for Strong Families," a family strengthening program for officers working in the state prison system. The program was offered once per week on the same day and at the same time, and the sessions lasted 15-20 minutes. The new program included topics such as Budgeting 101, Relationships, and Stress Management.…

  9. Family Structure and the Intergenerational Transmission of Gender Ideology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlson, Daniel L.; Knoester, Chris

    2011-01-01

    Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, this study explores how single-parent, stepparent, and two-parent biological family structures may affect the transmission of gender ideology from parents to their adult children. Results indicate that biological parents' ideologies are strong predictors of their children's…

  10. Family Literacy Night: A Celebration of Reading!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Becky; Morton, Shirley; Rumschlag, Hella

    2011-01-01

    Family Literacy Night is an exciting way to engage students and their parents in meaningful literacy activities while building community spirit and strengthening the partnership between school and home. It is an opportunity for students to show their parents what they do in school; how they create in the computer lab, how they work in the art…

  11. Automatic generation and simulation of urban building energy models based on city datasets for city-scale building retrofit analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Yixing; Hong, Tianzhen; Piette, Mary Ann

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: •Developed methods and used data models to integrate city’s public building records. •Shading from neighborhood buildings strongly influences urban building performance. •A case study demonstrated the workflow, simulation and analysis of building retrofits. •CityBES retrofit analysis feature provides actionable information for decision making. •Discussed significance and challenges of urban building energy modeling. -- Abstract: Buildings in cities consume 30–70% of total primary energy, and improving building energy efficiency is one of the key strategies towards sustainable urbanization. Urban building energy models (UBEM) can support city managers to evaluate and prioritize energy conservation measures (ECMs) for investment and the design of incentive and rebate programs. This paper presents the retrofit analysis feature of City Building Energy Saver (CityBES) to automatically generate and simulate UBEM using EnergyPlus based on cities’ building datasets and user-selected ECMs. CityBES is a new open web-based tool to support city-scale building energy efficiency strategic plans and programs. The technical details of using CityBES for UBEM generation and simulation are introduced, including the workflow, key assumptions, and major databases. Also presented is a case study that analyzes the potential retrofit energy use and energy cost savings of five individual ECMs and two measure packages for 940 office and retail buildings in six city districts in northeast San Francisco, United States. The results show that: (1) all five measures together can save 23–38% of site energy per building; (2) replacing lighting with light-emitting diode lamps and adding air economizers to existing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are most cost-effective with an average payback of 2.0 and 4.3 years, respectively; and (3) it is not economical to upgrade HVAC systems or replace windows in San Francisco due to the city’s mild

  12. Building characteristics associated with moisture related problems in 8,918 Swedish dwellings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hagerhed-Engman, L.; Bornehag, Carl-Gustaf; Sundell, Jan

    2009-01-01

    s, houses with a concrete slab on the ground that were built before 1983. Moreover, tenancy and earlier renovation due to mould or moisture problems was strongly associated with dampness. A perception of dry air was associated with windowpane condensation, e. g. humid indoor air.......Moisture problems in buildings have in a number of studies been shown to increase the risk for respiratory symptoms. The study Dampness in Buildings and Health (DBH) was initiated with the aim to identify health relevant exposures related to dampness in buildings. A questionnaire study about home...

  13. Families with school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christensen, Kathleen; Schneider, Barbara; Butler, Donnell

    2011-01-01

    explicitly or implicitly stigmatizes or penalizes employees for choosing these work arrangements. The authors conclude by making a case for creating a workplace culture that supports flexibility. Such a culture, they argue, would enable working parents to better meet the responsibilities of their jobs as they care for and build strong relationships with their children.

  14. Integrating Branding Strategy Across Markets: Building International Brand Architecture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Douglas, S.P.; Craig, S.; Nijssen, E.J.

    2001-01-01

    Brands play a critical role in establishing a firm’s visibility and position in international markets. Building a coherent international brand architecture is a key component of the firm’s overall international marketing strategy, because it provides a structure to leverage strong brands into other

  15. Building the capacity of agricultural extension personnel for effective ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper strongly recommends immediate recruitment of new hands as well as full implementation of a well-designed capacity building programme so as to ensure a sustainable extension service delivery system where extension personnel can operate in the expected commercial (agriculture-driven) economy. Keywords: ...

  16. Method for a component-based economic optimisation in design of whole building renovation versus demolishing and rebuilding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morelli, Martin; Harrestrup, Maria; Svendsen, Svend

    2014-01-01

    investing in retrofit measures and buying renewable energy. The overall cost of the renovation considers the market value of the property, the investment in the renovation, the operational and maintenance costs. A multi-family building is used as an example to clearly illustrate the application...... of the method from macroeconomic and private financial perspectives. Conclusion: The example shows that the investment cost and future market value of the building are the dominant factors in deciding whether to renovate an existing building or to demolish it and thereafter erect a new building. Additionally...

  17. Caring for family caregivers: An analysis of a family-centered intervention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carme Ferré-Grau

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Objective To assess the effectiveness of Problem-Solving Therapy (PST on family caregivers through the use of scales to measure anxiety, depression and emotional distress; and to explore facilitating factors and obstacles for its use based on the narrative of nurses. Method A clinical trial and an exploratory focus group with the use of mixed analysis methodology. The study was conducted in a primary health care center in Tarragona, Spain, and the sample consisted of 122 family caregivers who were included in the home care service, and 10 nurses who participated in the intervention group. Family caregivers with evident symptoms of anxiety, depression and emotional distress received PST in the intervention group. The intervention group also consisted of a discussion with eight nurses, which was transcribed and submitted to content analysis. Conclusion Problem-Solving Therapy proved to be effective in reducing perceived anxiety, depression and emotional distress. We identified its strong points and obstacles as described by nurses.

  18. Transforming Teacher-Family Relationships: Shifting Roles and Perceptions of Home Visits through the Funds of Knowledge Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whyte, Kristin Lyn; Karabon, Anne

    2016-01-01

    Education has embraced the idea of an "asset approach" to working with families and children, creating a focus on developing collaborative relationships with families by building on what they bring to the table. In this paper we explore what happened when early childhood teachers entered homes to learn from families and identify their…

  19. The process of end-of-life care delivery to the families of elderly patients according to the Family Health Strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Lucía; Poles, Kátia; Baliza, Michelle Freire; dos Santos Ribeiro Silva, Mariana Cristina Lobato; dos Santos, Maiara Rodrigues; Bousso, Regina Szylit

    2013-02-01

    To understand the process of end-of-life care delivery to the families of elderly patients according to a Family Health Strategy (FHS) team, to identify the meanings the team attributes to the experience and to build a theoretical model. Symbolic Interactionism and Grounded Theory were applied. Fourteen professionals working in an FHS located in a country town in the state of São Paulo were interviewed. Through comparative analysis, the core category overcoming challenges to assist the family and the elderly during the dying process was identified, and it was composed of the following sub-processes: Identifying situational problems, Planning a new care strategy, Managing the care and Evaluating the care process. the team faces difficulties to achieve better performance in attending to the biological and emotional needs of families, seeking to ensure dignity to the elderly at the end of their lives and expand access to healthcare.

  20. NeOn Methodology for Building Ontology Networks: Specification, Scheduling and Reuse

    OpenAIRE

    Suárez-Figueroa, Mari Carmen

    2010-01-01

    A new ontology development paradigm has started; its emphasis lies on the reuse and possible subsequent reengineering of knowledge resources, on the collaborative and argumentative ontology development, and on the building of ontology networks; this new trend is the opposite of building new ontologies from scratch. To help ontology developers in this new paradigm, it is important to provide strong methodological support. This thesis presents some contributions to the methodological area of...

  1. α,β-D-constrained nucleic acids are strong terminators of thermostable DNA polymerases in polymerase chain reaction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olivier Martínez

    Full Text Available (S(C5', R(P α,β-D- Constrained Nucleic Acids (CNA are dinucleotide building blocks that can feature either B-type torsional angle values or non-canonical values, depending on their 5'C and P absolute stereochemistry. These CNA are modified neither on the nucleobase nor on the sugar structure and therefore represent a new class of nucleotide with specific chemical and structural characteristics. They promote marked bending in a single stranded DNA so as to preorganize it into a loop-like structure, and they have been shown to induce rigidity within oligonucleotides. Following their synthesis, studies performed on CNA have only focused on the constraints that this family of nucleotides introduced into DNA. On the assumption that bending in a DNA template may produce a terminator structure, we investigated whether CNA could be used as a new strong terminator of polymerization in PCR. We therefore assessed the efficiency of CNA as a terminator in PCR, using triethylene glycol phosphate units as a control. Analyses were performed by denaturing gel electrophoresis and several PCR products were further analysed by sequencing. The results showed that the incorporation of only one CNA was always skipped by the polymerases tested. On the other hand, two CNA units always stopped proofreading polymerases, such as Pfu DNA polymerase, as expected for a strong replication terminator. Non-proofreading enzymes, e.g. Taq DNA polymerase, did not recognize this modification as a strong terminator although it was predominantly stopped by this structure. In conclusion, this first functional use of CNA units shows that these modified nucleotides can be used as novel polymerization terminators of proofreading polymerases. Furthermore, our results lead us to propose that CNA and their derivatives could be useful tools for investigating the behaviour of different classes of polymerases.

  2. Family Structure and Youths' Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Painter, Gary; Levine, David I.

    2000-01-01

    National Education Longitudinal Study data were used to examine whether parents' divorce/remarriage or existing family disadvantages caused such outcomes as teens' lower educational attainment or higher rates of parenthood. Neither divorce nor remarriage during a youth's high school years was strongly correlated with preexisting characteristics of…

  3. Evaluation of Two CEDA Weatherization Pilot Implementations of an Exterior Insulation and Over-Clad Retrofit Strategy for Residential Masonry Buildings in Chicago

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neuhauser, K.

    2013-08-01

    This project examines the implementation of an exterior insulation and over-clad strategy for brick masonry buildings in Chicago. The strategy was implemented at a free-standing two story two-family dwelling and a larger free-standing multifamily building. The test homes selected for this research represent predominant housing types for the Chicago area. High heating energy use typical in these buildings threaten housing affordability. Uninsulated mass masonry wall assemblies also have a strongly detrimental impact on comfort. Significant changes to the performance of masonry wall assemblies is generally beyond the reach of typical weatherization (Wx) program resources. The Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County, Inc. (CEDA) has secured a Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers (SERC) innovation grant sponsored by the United States Department of Energy (DOE). This grant provides CEDA the opportunity to pursue a pilot implementation of innovative approaches to retrofit in masonry wall enclosures. The exterior insulation and over-clad strategy implemented through this project was designed to allow implementation by contractors active in CEDA weatherization programs and using materials and methods familiar to these contractors. The retrofit measures are evaluated in terms of feasibility, cost and performance. Through observations of the strategies implemented, the research described in this report identifies measures critical to performance as well as conditions for wider adoption. The research also identifies common factors that must be considered in determining whether the exterior insulation and over-clad strategy is appropriate for the building.

  4. Science achievement determinants: factorial structure of family ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The family plays an important role in determining the academic achievement ... parents' assistance, expectation, and encouragement in their children's mathematics ... suggested that cultural upbringing is a strong factor contributing to the.

  5. Introduction of building vibration observation data of metropolitan area due to the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake: an Approach of the IT Kyoshin Seismometer for Buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takano, K.; Ito, T.

    2011-12-01

    In the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake, many buildings were vibrated greatly also in the Tokyo metropolitan area where is far left from the hypocenter. We have developed the IT Kyoshin(strong motion) Seismometer for Building which is the observation system of the usual weak earthquake ground motion by installing a lot of acceleration sensors in building, and have been setting it up in some buildings of the University of Tokyo. By this February, we have set up IT Kyoshin Seismometers newly in four buildings of the two remote campus of the University of Tokyo. And we have opend to the public of these observed data. In this building vibration observation system, we can get a lot of building vibration observation data of the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake. We have made the building shaking to visible from the observation data of each building and the appearance of the shake of each building is shown plainly. Moreover, we can see how the vibration property in the usual building is changed by the large shaking. This analysis of the observation data of the building vibration at the earthquake is useful for the detection of the damaged part in the building by the earthquake and for the reinforcement measures in the weak buildings.

  6. School and Home Connections and Children's Kindergarten Achievement Gains: The Mediating Role of Family Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galindo, Claudia; Sheldon, Steven B.

    2012-01-01

    Children's home and school are the most influential contexts in which learning and development occur, especially during early childhood. This paper builds on Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory and Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence to examine school and family connections and their relationships to family involvement and…

  7. Fit Families Program Improves Self-Perception in Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archuleta, Martha; VanLeeuwen, Dawn; Turner, Carol

    2016-06-01

    To determine the impact of the Fit Families youth weight management program on self-perception of participants. Fit Families was delivered through Cooperative Extension and provided education to overweight and obese children and their families on healthful eating and physical activity along with building self-esteem and social competence. At the beginning and end of the 7-week program, a convenience sample of 46 youth completed the Self-Perception Profile for Children questionnaire to evaluate changes in self-perception. Youth had improved self-perception in the areas of athletic competence (P = .04) and physical appearance (P = .007) after participating in Fit Families. Fit Families provides a holistic approach to weight management that promotes positive self-perception, which may decrease the burden of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem obese youth face. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. The Nature of Family Engagement in Interventions for Children With Chronic Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knafl, Kathleen A; Havill, Nancy L; Leeman, Jennifer; Fleming, Louise; Crandell, Jamie L; Sandelowski, Margarete

    2017-05-01

    Recognizing the bi-directional relationship between family functioning and child well-being in the context of childhood chronic conditions, researchers have tested family-focused interventions aimed at promoting both child and family well-being through improving the family's condition management capacity. Based on a sample of 70 interventions for families in which there was a child with a chronic physical condition, this analysis examined the nature of family engagement in the interventions. Data were extracted from the intervention reports using a standardized template; conventional content analysis was used to describe family engagement. Interventions varied in focus, structure, and level of family engagement. Investigators most often sought to improve condition control or management, with parent engagement focused on improving capacity to manage the treatment regimen. Few investigators addressed capacity building in the context of family functioning. Recommendations are made for reporting standards for family-focused interventions and for enhancing the family systems grounding of interventions.

  9. Entrepreneurial thinking as a key factor of family business success

    OpenAIRE

    Hnátek, Milan

    2015-01-01

    Many entrepreneurs are really visionary game changers who believe both in their missions and values. These types of entrepreneurs use their mindsets and essential entrepreneurial thinking to build successful family businesses. The aim of this paper is to describe this special mindset, which manifests itself in entrepreneurial thinking, and offer a solution to help successors in family businesses to refresh and improve the core businesses given to them. Design thinking might be used as a metho...

  10. Acceleration, Energy Loss and Screening in Strongly-Coupled Gauge Theories

    OpenAIRE

    Chernicoff, Mariano; Guijosa, Alberto

    2008-01-01

    We explore various aspects of the motion of heavy quarks in strongly-coupled gauge theories, employing the AdS/CFT correspondence. Building on earlier work by Mikhailov, we study the dispersion relation and energy loss of an accelerating finite-mass quark in N=4 super-Yang-Mills, both in vacuum and in the presence of a thermal plasma. In the former case, we notice that the application of an external force modifies the dispersion relation. In the latter case, we find in particular that when a ...

  11. Energy conservation in selected buildings, Gdansk. 1. final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-02-01

    This Final Report marks the end of the implementation stage of the project: 'Energy Conservation in Selected Buildings in Gdansk, Poland' supported by the Danish Environment-related Energy Sector Programme for Poland under the Danish Energy Agency. The residential and commercial sectors together with public buildings account for 40-45% of the total energy consumption and are dominated by the use of space heating and hot water. The sector has a significant over-consumption of energy, which first of all is due to the lack of or too weak incentives for the individual tenants to decrease the energy consumption. Bad thermal insulation of buildings and inefficient central heating systems with a widespread lack of measurement and automatic control systems give cause for extensive heat losses. The objective of the project has been to document the effects of energy savings in 18 multi-family houses when different types of energy saving measures are applied. These measures include thermal insulation of buildings, refurbishment of the heating system and introduction of individual billing system for heating and hot tap water. Energy audits of 18 buildings were performed by combination of on-site inspection of all buildings and data collection from the available drawings, technical descriptions, etc. The on-site inspection was carried out by use of an energy audit scheme specially developed for this project. (EG)

  12. Energy conservation in selected buildings, Gdansk. 1. final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-02-01

    This Final Report marks the end of the implementation stage of the project: `Energy Conservation in Selected Buildings in Gdansk, Poland` supported by the Danish Environment-related Energy Sector Programme for Poland under the Danish Energy Agency. The residential and commercial sectors together with public buildings account for 40-45% of the total energy consumption and are dominated by the use of space heating and hot water. The sector has a significant over-consumption of energy, which first of all is due to the lack of or too weak incentives for the individual tenants to decrease the energy consumption. Bad thermal insulation of buildings and inefficient central heating systems with a widespread lack of measurement and automatic control systems give cause for extensive heat losses. The objective of the project has been to document the effects of energy savings in 18 multi-family houses when different types of energy saving measures are applied. These measures include thermal insulation of buildings, refurbishment of the heating system and introduction of individual billing system for heating and hot tap water. Energy audits of 18 buildings were performed by combination of on-site inspection of all buildings and data collection from the available drawings, technical descriptions, etc. The on-site inspection was carried out by use of an energy audit scheme specially developed for this project. (EG)

  13. Dynamic analysis of reactor containment building using axisymmetric finite element model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thakkar, S.K.; Dubey, R.N.

    1989-01-01

    The structural safety of nuclear reactor building during earthquake is of great importance in view of possibility of radiation hazards. The rational evaluation of forces and displacements in various portions of structure and foundation during strong ground motion is most important for safe performance and economic design of the reactor building. The accuracy of results of dynamic analysis is naturally dependent on the type of mathematical model employed. Three types of mathematical models are employed for dynamic analysis of reactor building beam model axisymmetric finite element model and three dimensional model. In this paper emphasis is laid on axisymmetric model. This model of containment building is considered a reinfinement over conventional beam model of the structure. The nuclear reactor building on a rocky foundation is considered herein. The foundation-structure interaction is relatively less in this condition. The objective of the paper is to highlight the significance of modelling of non-axisymmetric portion of building, such as reactor internals by equivalent axisymmetric body, on the structural response of the building

  14. The Relationship between Perceived Family Health and Personality Functioning among Australian Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heaven, Patrick; Searight, H. Russell; Chastain, Julie; Skitka, Linda J.

    1996-01-01

    Focuses on the relationship between family climate and personality structure, as well as the relationship between family of origin and self-esteem. Results indicate that sociability was positively and moderately related to healthy family functioning. Life satisfaction and self-esteem were much more strongly associated with perceived family…

  15. Designing and implementing a resiliency program for family medicine residents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan, Julie; McGrady, Angele

    2015-01-01

    Family medicine residents are at risk for burnout due to extended work hours, lack of control over their work schedule, and challenging work situations and environments. Building resiliency can prevent burnout and may improve a resident's quality of life and health behavior. This report describes a program designed to build resiliency, the ability to bounce back from stress, in family medicine residents in a medium sized U.S. residency training program. Interactive sessions emphasized building self-awareness, coping skills, strengths and meaning in work, time management, self-care, and connections in and outside of medicine to support resident well-being. System changes which fostered wellness were also implemented. These changes included increasing the availability of fresh fruits in the conference and call room, purchasing an elliptical exercise machine for the on call room, and offering a few minutes of mindfulness meditation daily to the inpatient residents. Results to date show excellent acceptance of the program by trainees, increased consumption of nutritious foods, more personal exercise, and self-reported decreased overreactions to stress. Resiliency programs can effectively serve to meet accreditation requirements while fostering residents' abilities to balance personal and professional demands. © The Author(s) 2015.

  16. SO(14) unification of 3+1 families

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karadayi, H.R.

    1982-03-01

    It is shown that the unification of 3+1 families is possible within the framework of 64 dimensional spinor representation of SO(14). Special care is given for a description without the heavy excess fermions such as conjugate and mirror or completely exotic fermions of some family unification schemes. With the aid of an intrinsic ''L-R Asymmetry'' mechanism which we proposed recently, the conventional strong and electromagnetic interactions are obtained for all four families by concentrating only on the symmetry breaking SO(14) → SU(3)sub(c) x U(1)sub(e.m.). However, the conventional weak interactions of the first three families are obtained just as in the standard SU(2)sub(L) x U(1)sub(Y) model, while those of the prescribed fourth family show certain differences. This is what we mean by 3+1 family unification. All vector particles mediating strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions which are the subjects of present phenomenological tests are specified among the vector fields of SO(14) and their mass mechanisms leading to a consistent description of this low-energy phenomenology are studied with the aid of the Higgs multiplets 14, 364, 1716 and 2002 of SO(14). Moreover, the fermion mass mechanisms are considered with the aid of these scalar multiplets and the contributions from these scalars to the vector and fermion masses are explicitly calculated. All these calculations are carried out in the new mathematical technique for the Lie algebra representations which we introduced recently. (author)

  17. Radon as an environmental risk: concentration measurements in family buildings at Cordoba city

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonzi, A.; Murua, C.; Martin, H.R.

    1992-01-01

    Measurements of radon concentration at homes are usual activities in the last years at the countries with uranium in their soils. On the other hand, the man's radiological protection about radiation is related to the environmental actions for a healthy life, but not much known for a public. The great quantities of ore with uranium can be an important source of irradiation when they are used as building materials. The soils are important too for the emanations of radon in the interior of buildings and for these reasons, the radon concentration measurements in Cordoba familiar houses were implemented in the summer of 1991. The Alpha Track Technique and the results obtained indicate the need of other measurements and a winter measurement for investigation variations of radon concentration. The typical values measured were low, about 4.13 Bq/m 3 if they are compared with other Argentine values measured. This paper discusses the procedure, techniques and criteria used in the work held in Cordoba city, Argentina. (Author)

  18. Aggregation Potentials for Buildings - Business Models of Demand Response and Virtual Power Plants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ma, Zheng; Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2017-01-01

    programs, national regulations and energy market structures strongly influence buildings’ participation in the aggregation market. Under the current Nordic market regulation, business model one is the most feasible one, and business model two faces more challenges due to regulation barriers and limited...... aggregation market with unclear incentives is still a challenge for buildings to participate in the aggregation market. However, few studies have investigated business models for building participation in the aggregation market. Therefore, this paper develops four business models for buildings to participate...

  19. Generating consistent buildings: A semantic approach for integrating procedural techniques

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tutenel, T.; Smelik, R.M.; Lopes, R.; Kraker, K.J. de; Bidarra, R.

    2011-01-01

    Computer games often take place in extensive virtual worlds, attractive for roaming and exploring. Unfortunately, current virtual cities can strongly hinder this kind of gameplay, since the buildings they feature typically have replicated interiors, or no interiors at all. Procedural content

  20. Strong light-matter coupling from atoms to solid-state systems

    CERN Document Server

    2014-01-01

    The physics of strong light-matter coupling has been addressed in different scientific communities over the last three decades. Since the early eighties, atoms coupled to optical and microwave cavities have led to pioneering demonstrations of cavity quantum electrodynamics, Gedanken experiments, and building blocks for quantum information processing, for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2012. In the framework of semiconducting devices, strong coupling has allowed investigations into the physics of Bose gases in solid-state environments, and the latter holds promise for exploiting light-matter interaction at the single-photon level in scalable architectures. More recently, impressive developments in the so-called superconducting circuit QED have opened another fundamental playground to revisit cavity quantum electrodynamics for practical and fundamental purposes. This book aims at developing the necessary interface between these communities, by providing future researchers with a robust conceptu...

  1. Intergenerational transmission of educational attainment in adoptive families in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scheeren, L.; Das, M.; Liefbroer, A.C.

    2017-01-01

    To improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the strong association between family background and children’s educational attainment, we examined intergenerational transmission within families where genetic transmission is absent. Specifically, we investigated the effect of parent’s

  2. Building

    OpenAIRE

    Seavy, Ryan

    2014-01-01

    Building for concrete is temporary. The building of wood and steel stands against the concrete to give form and then gives way, leaving a trace of its existence behind. Concrete is not a building material. One does not build with concrete. One builds for concrete. MARCH

  3. WORKPLACE SOCIAL SUPPORT AND WORK–FAMILY CONFLICT: A META-ANALYSIS CLARIFYING THE INFLUENCE OF GENERAL AND WORK–FAMILY-SPECIFIC SUPERVISOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT

    Science.gov (United States)

    KOSSEK, ELLEN ERNST; PICHLER, SHAUN; BODNER, TODD; HAMMER, LESLIE B.

    2011-01-01

    This article uses meta-analysis to develop a model integrating research on relationships between employee perceptions of general and work–family-specific supervisor and organizational support and work–family conflict. Drawing on 115 samples from 85 studies comprising 72,507 employees, we compared the relative influence of 4 types of workplace social support to work–family conflict: perceived organizational support (POS); supervisor support; perceived organizational work–family support, also known as family-supportive organizational perceptions (FSOP); and supervisor work–family support. Results show work–family-specific constructs of supervisor support and organization support are more strongly related to work–family conflict than general supervisor support and organization support, respectively. We then test a mediation model assessing the effects of all measures at once and show positive perceptions of general and work–family-specific supervisor indirectly relate to work–family conflict via organizational work–family support. These results demonstrate that work–family-specific support plays a central role in individuals’ work–family conflict experiences. PMID:21691415

  4. WORKPLACE SOCIAL SUPPORT AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT: A META-ANALYSIS CLARIFYING THE INFLUENCE OF GENERAL AND WORK-FAMILY-SPECIFIC SUPERVISOR AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kossek, Ellen Ernst; Pichler, Shaun; Bodner, Todd; Hammer, Leslie B

    2011-01-01

    This article uses meta-analysis to develop a model integrating research on relationships between employee perceptions of general and work-family-specific supervisor and organizational support and work-family conflict. Drawing on 115 samples from 85 studies comprising 72,507 employees, we compared the relative influence of 4 types of workplace social support to work-family conflict: perceived organizational support (POS); supervisor support; perceived organizational work-family support, also known as family-supportive organizational perceptions (FSOP); and supervisor work-family support. Results show work-family-specific constructs of supervisor support and organization support are more strongly related to work-family conflict than general supervisor support and organization support, respectively. We then test a mediation model assessing the effects of all measures at once and show positive perceptions of general and work-family-specific supervisor indirectly relate to work-family conflict via organizational work-family support. These results demonstrate that work-family-specific support plays a central role in individuals' work-family conflict experiences.

  5. The Impact of Family and Peer Protective Factors on Girls’ Violence Perpetration and Victimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shlafer, Rebecca J.; McMorris, Barbara J.; Sieving, Renee E.; Gower, Amy L.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose This study investigates whether family and peer connections and prosocial norms buffer adolescent girls’ violence involvement, and whether a youth development intervention augments the power of these protective factors in reducing girls’ risk for violence. Methods Data were obtained from 253 13–17 year-olds enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Prime Time, a youth development intervention offered through urban clinic settings to girls at high risk for pregnancy. Participants completed an A-CASI survey at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months following enrollment. Protective factors included scales assessing family and peer connections and prosocial norms. Outcome variables were violence victimization and perpetration scales measured at 18 months. Results Family connections and prosocial norms independently protected girls against violence involvement. Peer prosocial norms also served as a protective buffer against violence perpetration and victimization; however, girls with strong peer connections had higher levels of violence perpetration. Participation in Prime Time augmented the protective effects of family and peer connections on girls’ violence victimization but not perpetration. Prime Time participants who had high levels of family connections reported the lowest levels of violence victimization at 18 months. Prime Time participants with strong peer connections trended toward lower levels of violence victimization than other girls. Conclusions Results suggest that effects of the Prime Time intervention on violence victimization were optimized among high-risk adolescent girls with strong connections to family and peers. The intervention was most potent in preventing violence victimization among girls with strong prosocial connections to family and peers. PMID:23299002

  6. Analyses of MMP20 Missense Mutations in Two Families with Hypomaturation Amelogenesis Imperfecta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Youn Jung; Kang, Jenny; Seymen, Figen; Koruyucu, Mine; Gencay, Koray; Shin, Teo Jeon; Hyun, Hong-Keun; Lee, Zang Hee; Hu, Jan C-C; Simmer, James P; Kim, Jung-Wook

    2017-01-01

    Amelogenesis imperfecta is a group of rare inherited disorders that affect tooth enamel formation, quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The aim of this study was to identify the genetic etiologies of two families presenting with hypomaturation amelogenesis imperfecta. DNA was isolated from peripheral blood samples obtained from participating family members. Whole exome sequencing was performed using DNA samples from the two probands. Sequencing data was aligned to the NCBI human reference genome (NCBI build 37.2, hg19) and sequence variations were annotated with the dbSNP build 138. Mutations in MMP20 were identified in both probands. A homozygous missense mutation (c.678T>A; p.His226Gln) was identified in the consanguineous Family 1. Compound heterozygous MMP20 mutations (c.540T>A, p.Tyr180 * and c.389C>T, p.Thr130Ile) were identified in the non-consanguineous Family 2. Affected persons in Family 1 showed hypomaturation AI with dark brown discoloration, which is similar to the clinical phenotype in a previous report with the same mutation. However, the dentition of the Family 2 proband exhibited slight yellowish discoloration with reduced transparency. Functional analysis showed that the p.Thr130Ile mutant protein had reduced activity of MMP20, while there was no functional MMP20 in the Family 1 proband. These results expand the mutational spectrum of the MMP20 and broaden our understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations in amelogenesis imperfecta.

  7. Analyses of MMP20 Missense Mutations in Two Families with Hypomaturation Amelogenesis Imperfecta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jung-Wook Kim

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Amelogenesis imperfecta is a group of rare inherited disorders that affect tooth enamel formation, quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The aim of this study was to identify the genetic etiologies of two families presenting with hypomaturation amelogenesis imperfecta. DNA was isolated from peripheral blood samples obtained from participating family members. Whole exome sequencing was performed using DNA samples from the two probands. Sequencing data was aligned to the NCBI human reference genome (NCBI build 37.2, hg19 and sequence variations were annotated with the dbSNP build 138. Mutations in MMP20 were identified in both probands. A homozygous missense mutation (c.678T>A; p.His226Gln was identified in the consanguineous Family 1. Compound heterozygous MMP20 mutations (c.540T>A, p.Tyr180* and c.389C>T, p.Thr130Ile were identified in the non-consanguineous Family 2. Affected persons in Family 1 showed hypomaturation AI with dark brown discoloration, which is similar to the clinical phenotype in a previous report with the same mutation. However, the dentition of the Family 2 proband exhibited slight yellowish discoloration with reduced transparency. Functional analysis showed that the p.Thr130Ile mutant protein had reduced activity of MMP20, while there was no functional MMP20 in the Family 1 proband. These results expand the mutational spectrum of the MMP20 and broaden our understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations in amelogenesis imperfecta.

  8. Building Capacity for Protected Area Management in Lao PDR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, Madhu; Johnson, Arlyne; Spence, Kelly; Sypasong, Ahnsany; Bynum, Nora; Sterling, Eleanor; Phimminith, Thavy; Praxaysombath, Bounthob

    2014-04-01

    Declining biodiversity in protected areas in Laos is attributed to unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. At a basic level, an important need is to develop capacity in academic and professional training institutions to provide relevant training to conservation professionals. The paper (a) describes the capacity building approach undertaken to achieve this goal, (b) evaluates the effectiveness of the approach in building capacity for implementing conservation and (c) reviews implementation outcomes. Strong linkages between organizations implementing field conservation, professional training institutions, and relevant Government agencies are central to enhancing effectiveness of capacity building initiatives aimed at improving the practice of conservation. Protected area management technical capacity needs will need to directly influence curriculum design to insure both relevance and effectiveness of training in improving protected area management. Sustainability of capacity building initiatives is largely dependent on the level of interest and commitment by host-country institutions within a supportive Government policy framework in addition to engagement of organizations implementing conservation.

  9. Learning from Local Wisdom: Friction Damper in Traditional Building

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pudjisuryadi P.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Indonesia is situated in the so called “Ring of Fire” where earthquake are very frequent. Despite of all the engineering effort, due to the March 28, 2005 strong earthquake (8.7 on Richter scale a lot of modern buildings in Nias collapsed, while the traditional Northern Nias house (omohada survived without any damage. Undoubtedly many other traditional buildings in other area in Indonesia have survived similar earthquake. Something in common of the traditional building are the columns which usually are not fixed on the ground, but rest on top of flat stones. In this paper some traditional building are subjected to non linear time history analysis to artificial earthquake equivalent to 500 years return period earthquake. This study shows that apparently the columns which rest on top of flat stone acts as friction damper or base isolation. The presence of sliding at the friction type support significantly reduces the internal forces in the structure.

  10. Assessment of Seismic Vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Frame buildings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatiha Cherifi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The seismic activity remains strong in the north of Algeria since no less than 30 earthquakes per month are recorded. The large number of structures built before the introduction of the seismic standards represents a high seismic risk. Analysis of damage suffered during the last earthquakes highlighted the vulnerability of the existing structures. In this study the seismic behavior of the existing buildings in Tizi-Ouzou city, located in the north of Algeria, is investigated. To make this assessment, a database was created following a building inventory based on a set of technical folders and field visits. The listed buildings have been classified into different typologies. Only reinforced concrete frame buildings are considered in this paper. The approach adopted to estimate structures damage is based on four main steps: 1 construction of capacity curves using static nonlinear method “push-over”, 2 estimate of seismic hazard, 3 determination of performance points, and finally 4 deduction of damage levels.

  11. Using EMIS to Identify Top Opportunities for Commercial Building Efficiency

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Guanjing [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Singla, Rupam [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Granderson, Jessica [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2017-04-11

    Energy Management and Information Systems (EMIS) comprise a broad family of tools and services to manage commercial building energy use. These technologies offer a mix of capabilities to store, display, and analyze energy use and system data, and in some cases, provide control. EMIS technologies enable 10–20 percent site energy savings in best practice implementations. Energy Information System (EIS) and Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) systems are two key technologies in the EMIS family. Energy Information Systems are broadly defined as the web-based software, data acquisition hardware, and communication systems used to analyze and display building energy performance. At a minimum, an EIS provides daily, hourly or sub-hourly interval meter data at the whole-building level, with graphical and analytical capability. Fault Detection and Diagnosis systems automatically identify heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system or equipment-level performances issues, and in some cases are able to isolate the root causes of the problem. They use computer algorithms to continuously analyze system-level operational data to detect faults and diagnose their causes. Many FDD tools integrate the trend log data from a Building Automation System (BAS) but otherwise are stand-alone software packages; other types of FDD tools are implemented as “on-board” equipment-embedded diagnostics. (This document focuses on the former.) Analysis approaches adopted in FDD technologies span a variety of techniques from rule-based methods to process history-based approaches. FDD tools automate investigations that can be conducted via manual data inspection by someone with expert knowledge, thereby expanding accessibility and breath of analysis opportunity, and also reducing complexity.

  12. Stakeholder perceptions of a total market approach to family planning in Nicaragua.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drake, Jennifer Kidwell; Espinoza, Henry; Suraratdecha, Chutima; Lacayo, Yann; Keith, Bonnie M; Vail, Janet G

    2011-05-01

    To assess private-sector stakeholders' and donors' perceptions of a total market approach (TMA) to family planning in Nicaragua in the context of decreased funding; to build evidence for potential strategies and mechanisms for TMA implementation (including public-private partnerships (PPPs)); and to identify information gaps and future priorities for related research and advocacy. A descriptive exploratory study was conducted in various locations in Nicaragua from March to April 2010. A total of 24 key private-sector stakeholders and donors were interviewed and their responses analyzed using two questionnaires and a stakeholder analysis tool (PolicyMakerTM software). All survey participants supported a TMA, and public-private collaboration, in family planning in Nicaragua. Based on the survey responses, opportunities for further developing PPPs for family planning include building on and expanding existing governmental frameworks, such as Nicaragua's current coordination mechanism for contraceptive security. Obstacles include the lack of ongoing government engagement with the commercial (for-profit) sector and confusion about regulations for its involvement in family planning. Strategies for strengthening existing PPPs include establishing a coordination mechanism specifically for the commercial sector and collecting and disseminating evidence supporting public-private collaboration in family planning. There was no formal or absolute opposition to a TMA or PPPs in family planning in Nicaragua among a group of diverse nongovernmental stakeholders and donors. This type of study can help identify strategies to mobilize existing and potential advocates in achieving articulated policy goals, including diversification of funding sources for family planning to achieve contraceptive security.

  13. Comfort air temperature influence on heating and cooling loads of a residential building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanciu, C.; Șoriga, I.; Gheorghian, A. T.; Stanciu, D.

    2016-08-01

    The paper presents the thermal behavior and energy loads of a two-level residential building designed for a family of four, two adults and two students, for different inside comfort levels reflected by the interior air temperature. Results are intended to emphasize the different thermal behavior of building elements and their contribution to the building's external load. The most important contributors to the building thermal loss are determined. Daily heating and cooling loads are computed for 12 months simulation in Bucharest (44.25°N latitude) in clear sky conditions. The most important aspects regarding sizing of thermal energy systems are emphasized, such as the reference months for maximum cooling and heating loads and these loads’ values. Annual maximum loads are encountered in February and August, respectively, so these months should be taken as reference for sizing thermal building systems, in Bucharest, under clear sky conditions.

  14. Gambling related family coping and the impact of problem gambling on families in Hong Kong

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elda Mei Lo Chan

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Despite substantial evidence that problem gambling is associated with a wide range of family difficulties, limited effort has been devoted to studying the negative impacts on family members as a result of problem gambling and how they cope and function under the impacts of problem gambling in Chinese communities. Among the very few Chinese-specific gambling-related family impact studies, none have examined how gambling-related family coping responses are related to gambling-related family impacts. Based on a sample of treatment-seeking Chinese family members of problem gamblers, this study aimed to explore: (1 the demographic characteristics and health and psychological well-being of the family members; (2 the gambling-related family member impacts (active disturbance, worrying behavior; (3 the family coping strategies (engaged, tolerant-inactive and withdrawal coping; (4 the relationship between gambling-related family member impacts, psychological distress and family coping strategies. It was hypothesized that positive significant relationships would be found between family member impacts, psychological distress and family coping strategies. From March 2011 to February 2012, a total of 103 family members of problem gamblers who sought help from Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Even Centre in Hong Kong were interviewed. Results showed that a majority of family members were partners or ex-partners of the gambler with low or no income. A large proportion of participants reported moderate to high psychological distress (72.6 %, poor to fair general health (60.2 %, and poor to neither good nor bad quality of life (61.1 %. Family member impacts were positively significantly correlated to all family coping strategies and psychological distress. Tolerant-inactive coping had the strongest relationships with family member impacts and psychological distress. Strong relationships between family member impacts and psychological distress were also

  15. Does brand building matter? A study of the bacalhau brand Dybvik

    OpenAIRE

    Aure, Kristin Gaaseide; Nervik, Kristine; Helgesen, Øyvind

    2017-01-01

    Brand building results in brand equity creation based on intellectual efforts. Thus brand equity is perceived as intellectual capital of the brand builder. Building strong brands has become a priority for many organizations, with the presumption that increased brand equity yields advantages such as customers’ increased willingness to pay a price premium. This paper addresses the brand Dybvik (salted and dried cod/bacalhau/«clip-fish»). A survey was conducted in order to answer the following r...

  16. Stakeholder Specific Multi-Scale Spatial Representation of Urban Building-Stocks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magnus Österbring

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Urban building-stocks use a significant amount of resources and energy. At the same time, they have a large potential for energy efficiency measures (EEM. To support decision-making and planning, spatial building-stock models are used to examine the current state and future development of urban building-stocks. While these models normally focus on specific cities, generic and broad stakeholder groups such as planners and policy makers are often targeted. Consequently, the visualization and communication of results are not tailored to these stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to explore the possibilities of mapping and representing energy use of urban building-stocks at different levels of aggregation and spatial distributions, to communicate with specific stakeholders involved in the urban development process. This paper uses a differentiated building-stock description based on building-specific data and measured energy use from energy performance certificates for multi-family buildings (MFB in the city of Gothenburg. The building-stock description treats every building as unique, allowing results to be provided at any level of aggregation to suit the needs of the specific stakeholders involved. Calculated energy use of the existing stock is within 10% of the measured energy use. The potential for EEM in the existing stock is negated by the increased energy use due to new construction until 2035, using a development scenario based on current renovation rates and planned developments. Visualizations of the current energy use of the stock as well as the impact of renovation and new construction are provided, targeting specific local stakeholders.

  17. Climate Change and Buildings Energy Efficiency - the Key Role of Residents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miezis, Martins; Zvaigznitis, Kristaps; Stancioff, Nicholas; Soeftestad, Lars

    2016-05-01

    Eastern Europe today is confronted with an unavoidable problem - the multifamily apartment building stock is deteriorating but apartment owners do not have sufficient access to resources be they organizational, financial, technical or legal. In addition, destructive myths have grown about the Soviet era buildings despite their continued resilience or the ex- GDR experience in the 90s with the same buildings. Further, without resources, decision making in residential apartments is seen as a major obstacle and used as an explanation why renovation has not taken place in Latvia. This is important not only in the context of a potential housing crisis but also because the renovation of the apartment buildings is an effective solution to significantly reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It has a proven potential to effectively finance the long term renovation of these buildings. This paper summarizes the first findings of a comprehensive and in-depth study of apartment buildings, their owners and the processes relating to renovation, combining social and environmental engineering research methods. It seeks to understand how owners of multi-family buildings in Eastern Europe understand their buildings and then to answer two questions - how to motivate owners to renovate their homes and increase energy efficiency and what business models should be used to implement economically viable and high quality projects.

  18. Caring Buildings: a concept to implement comfort and well-being

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zeiler, W.; Houten, van M.A.; Kamphuis, I.G.; Hommelberg, M.P.F.

    2006-01-01

    Global warming, caused largely by energy consumption, has become a major problem. During the last decades the introduction of energy saving technologies have strongly reduced energy consumption of buildings. In comfort control strategy there is an exciting development: the user’s preferences and

  19. Health sciences library outreach to family caregivers: a call to service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howrey, Mary M

    2018-04-01

    This commentary discusses the information needs of family caregivers and care recipients in the United States. Health sciences library services and outreach activities that support family caregivers include: (1) advocacy, (2) resource building, and (3) programming and education. Ethical issues related to the privacy and confidentiality of clients are outlined in the commentary for information service providers. Also, continuing professional education resources are identified to assist librarians in providing high-quality information services for this special family caregiver population, such as those designed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) through the NLM 4 Caregivers program.

  20. Health sciences library outreach to family caregivers: a call to service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary M. Howrey

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This commentary discusses the information needs of family caregivers and care recipients in the United States. Health sciences library services and outreach activities that support family caregivers include: (1 advocacy, (2 resource building, and (3 programming and education. Ethical issues related to the privacy and confidentiality of clients are outlined in the commentary for information service providers. Also, continuing professional education resources are identified to assist librarians in providing high-quality information services for this special family caregiver population, such as those designed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM through the NLM 4 Caregivers program.

  1. Rising Inequality in Family Incomes and Children's Educational Outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Greg J. Duncan

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Increases in family income inequality in the United States have translated into widening gaps in educational achievement and attainments between children from low- and high-income families. We describe the mechanisms that have produced this disturbing trend. We argue that the three dominant policy approaches states and the federal government have used to improve the education of the disadvantaged have had at best modest success in improving education for disadvantaged children. To conclude, we describe the building blocks for an American solution to the problem of growing inequality of educational outcomes.

  2. Transformations, Inc.: Partnering to Build Net-Zero Energy Houses in Massachusetts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ueno, K. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Bergey, D. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Wytrykowska, H. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Transformations, Inc. is a residential development and building company that has partnered with Building Science Corporation to build new construction net-zero energy houses in Massachusetts under the Building America program. There are three communities that will be constructed through this partnership: Devens Sustainable Housing ('Devens'), The Homes at Easthampton Meadow ('Easthampton') andPhase II of the Coppersmith Way Development ('Townsend'). This report intends to cover all of the single-family new construction homes that have been completed to date. The houses built in these developments are net zero energy homes built in a cold climate. They will contribute to finding answers to specific research questions for homes with high R double stud walls and high efficiency ductlessair source heat pump systems ('mini-splits'); allow to explore topics related to the financing of photovoltaic systems and basements vs. slab-on-grade construction; and provide feedback related to the performance of ductless mini-split air source heat pumps.

  3. Transformations, Inc.. Partnering To Build Net-Zero Energy Houses in Massachusetts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ueno, K. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Bergey, D. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States); Wytrykowska, H. [Building Science Corporation, Somerville, MA (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Transformations, Inc. is a residential development and building company that has partnered with Building Science Corporation to build new construction net-zero energy houses in Massachusetts under the Building America program. There are three communities that will be constructed through this partnership: Devens Sustainable Housing ("Devens"), The Homes at Easthampton Meadow ("Easthampton") and Phase II of the Coppersmith Way Development ("Townsend"). This report intends to cover all of the single-family new construction homes that have been completed to date. The houses built in these developments are net zero energy homes built in a cold climate. They will contribute to finding answers to specific research questions for homes with high R double stud walls and high efficiency ductless air source heat pump systems ("mini-splits"); allow to explore topics related to the financing of photovoltaic systems and basements vs. slab-on-grade construction; and provide feedback related to the performance of ductless mini-split air source heat pumps.

  4. Building evaluative culture in community services: Caring for evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayne, John

    2017-05-25

    An organization with a strong evaluative culture engages in self-reflection, evidence-based learning and experimentation. It sees evidence as essential for managing well, but building such a culture is challenging. Community service organizations seek to provide effective services for their clients. To build an evaluative culture, they need to acquire basic monitoring and evaluation capabilities, be provided with opportunities for using these capabilities and be adequately motivated to care about evidence as a means to improve services to their clients. Leadership along with a phased in approach are key in bringing about these behaviour changes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Air pollutant penetration through airflow leaks into buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, De-Ling [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2002-01-01

    The penetration of ambient air pollutants into the indoor environment is of concern owing to several factors: (1) epidemiological studies have shown a strong association between ambient fine particulate pollution and elevated risk of human mortality; (2) people spend most of their time in indoor environments; and (3) most information about air pollutant concentration is only available from ambient routine monitoring networks. A good understanding of ambient air pollutant transport from source to receptor requires knowledge about pollutant penetration across building envelopes. Therefore, it is essential to gain insight into particle penetration in infiltrating air and the factors that affect it in order to assess human exposure more accurately, and to further prevent adverse human health effects from ambient particulate pollution. In this dissertation, the understanding of air pollutant infiltration across leaks in the building envelope was advanced by performing modeling predictions as well as experimental investigations. The modeling analyses quantified the extent of airborne particle and reactive gas (e.g., ozone) penetration through building cracks and wall cavities using engineering analysis that incorporates existing information on building leakage characteristics, knowledge of pollutant transport processes, as well as pollutant-surface interactions. Particle penetration is primarily governed by particle diameter and by the smallest dimension of the building cracks. Particles of 0.1-1 μm are predicted to have the highest penetration efficiency, nearly unity for crack heights of 0.25 mm or higher, assuming a pressure differential of 4 Pa or greater and a flow path length of 3 cm or less. Supermicron and ultrafine particles (less than 0.1 μm) are readily deposited on crack surfaces by means of gravitational settling and Brownian diffusion, respectively. The fraction of ozone penetration through building leaks could vary widely, depending significantly on its

  6. Building College Access with Families in New Bedford, Massachusetts: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Sue Anne

    2012-01-01

    This qualitative study was an investigation into improving college access through family engagement with minority and low-income students in an urban school district. Critical theory concepts of cultural capital, field, and habitus, as well as organizational communication theory, formed the theoretical framework that guided a literature review and…

  7. The Everyday Life of Children Across Early Childhood Institution and The Family

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kousholt, Dorte

    2008-01-01

    This article focuses on the everyday life of Danish children across different social practices and explores what this outset can tell us about the life of children and families. Building on the critique of classical approaches in developmental psychology (e.g. Burman 1994; James, Jenks, & Prout...... 1998) and family research (e.g. Leira 1993; Thorne & Yalom 1982) the article puts forward a decentred approach to family life. The aim is to show how the institutional context and family context sets conditions for each other - and that interplay sets conditions for the development of the children...... and professionals influences the parents' possibilities for supporting their children's life outside the family. That means that the institutional practice influences their possibilities as parents. Keywords: children's perspectives; family life; early childhood institution; communities of children; parent (and...

  8. Asking the difficult questions: Building the capacity of community paediatricians to routinely enquire and respond to family violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbons, Claire L; Holmes, Hilary; Bragg, Judith; Neeman, Teresa

    2018-03-01

    To enhance the confidence and capacity of community paediatricians and paediatric trainees to identify and respond to family violence, through a series of education sessions and evidence-based recommendations. The action research methodology included a literature search to review the data on family violence education programmes and evidence-based family violence screening tools. Six education sessions were then developed and held for physicians at the Community Paediatric and Child Health Service (CPCHS). An audit was performed on the charts of all new referrals to the CPCHS for a period of 18 months prior to the education sessions and 5 months following the education sessions. A questionnaire was distributed at the first and final education sessions to gauge physician comfort with enquiry into family violence. The documented rate of enquiry into family violence at CPCHS was 24% in the retrospective chart audit. Following the series of education sessions, the documented rate of enquiry increased to 60% (P family violence also increased from 13% of all new patients in the retrospective chart audit to 24% in the prospective arm of the study (P family violence and were comfortable enquiring about family violence. This study demonstrates that clinician education about family violence supports routine enquiry about family violence in community paediatric consultations. © 2017 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (The Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

  9. Chapter A. The Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake of October 17, 1989 - Strong Ground Motion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borcherdt, Roger D.

    1994-01-01

    Strong ground motion generated by the Loma Prieta, Calif., earthquake (MS~7.1) of October 17, 1989, resulted in at least 63 deaths, more than 3,757 injuries, and damage estimated to exceed $5.9 billion. Strong ground motion severely damaged critical lifelines (freeway overpasses, bridges, and pipelines), caused severe damage to poorly constructed buildings, and induced a significant number of ground failures associated with liquefaction and landsliding. It also caused a significant proportion of the damage and loss of life at distances as far as 100 km from the epicenter. Consequently, understanding the characteristics of the strong ground motion associated with the earthquake is fundamental to understanding the earthquake's devastating impact on society. The papers assembled in this chapter address this problem. Damage to vulnerable structures from the earthquake varied substantially with the distance from the causative fault and the type of underlying geologic deposits. Most of the damage and loss of life occurred in areas underlain by 'soft soil'. Quantifying these effects is important for understanding the tragic concentrations of damage in such areas as Santa Cruz and the Marina and Embarcadero Districts of San Francisco, and the failures of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Interstate Highway 880 overpass. Most importantly, understanding these effects is a necessary prerequisite for improving mitigation measures for larger earthquakes likely to occur much closer to densely urbanized areas in the San Francisco Bay region. The earthquake generated an especially important data set for understanding variations in the severity of strong ground motion. Instrumental strong-motion recordings were obtained at 131 sites located from about 6 to 175 km from the rupture zone. This set of recordings, the largest yet collected for an event of this size, was obtained from sites on various geologic deposits, including a unique set on 'soft soil' deposits

  10. Incentive mechanism design for the residential building energy efficiency improvement of heating zones in North China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhong, Y.; Cai, W.G.; Wu, Y.; Ren, H.

    2009-01-01

    Starting with analyzing the investigation results by Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China in 2005, more than half of the 10,236 participants are willing to improve the residential building energy efficiency and accept an additional cost of less than 10% of the total cost, the authors illustrate that incenting actions are necessary to improve building energy efficiency and build a central government-local government-market model. As a result of the model analysis, to pursue good execution effects brought by the incentive policies, the executors are required to distinguish the differences of incentive objects' economic activities and strongly respect the incenting on the energy conservation performance. A case study on the incentive policies of existing residential building energy efficiency improvement in heating zones in North China is given as well. Finally, it is strongly recommended to give the first priority to performance-based incentives so that to reduce the lazy behaviors of the incented objects and ensure the targets to be achieved.

  11. Family Relationships and Adolescent Well-Being: Are Families Equally Protective for Same-Sex Attracted Youth?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Jennifer; Wilkinson, Lindsey

    2013-01-01

    Existing research suggests that sexual minority youth experience lower levels of well-being, in part because they perceive less social support than heterosexual youth. Sexual minority youth with strong family relationships may demonstrate resilience and increased well-being; however, it is also possible that the experience of sexual stigma may…

  12. Virtual detector theory for strong-field atomic ionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xu; Tian, Justin; Eberly, J. H.

    2018-04-01

    A virtual detector (VD) is an imaginary device located at a fixed position in space that extracts information from the wave packet passing through it. By recording the particle momentum and the corresponding probability current at each time, the VDs can accumulate and build the differential momentum distribution of the particle, in a way that resembles real experiments. A mathematical proof is given for the equivalence of the differential momentum distribution obtained by the VD method and by Fourier transforming the wave function. In addition to being a tool for reducing the computational load, VDs have also been found useful in interpreting the ultrafast strong-field ionization process, especially the controversial quantum tunneling process.

  13. Family functioning and perceived support from nurses during cancer treatment among Danish and Australian patients and their families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dieperink, Karin B; Coyne, Elisabeth; Creedy, Debra K; Østergaard, Birte

    2018-01-01

    This study aimed to compare family functioning and perceptions of support from nurses among Danish and Australian adult oncology patients and family members. Family can have a strong influence on the health of individuals, providing support during a health crisis such as cancer. However, family functioning and supportive care from nurses may vary across cultures and settings. A descriptive, cross-sectional comparative design with patients and family members from Denmark and Australia. Participants were asked to fill in translated versions of the Iceland-Expressive Family Functioning Questionnaire (ICE-EFFQ) and Iceland-Expressive Family Perceived Support Questionnaire (ICE-FPSQ). In total, 232 participants were recruited. The Danish cohort consisted of 56 patients and 54 family members. The Australian cohort consisted of 83 patients and 39 family members. Mean age was 59 years. No significant differences were found between Danish and Australian families. However, compared to patients, family members reported significantly lower overall family functioning, expressive emotions and communication, as well as less emotional support from nurses. Family functioning was comparable between Denmark and Australia. Family members reported less emotional support than patients. Nurses need to consider the patient and the family as a unit with complex needs that require monitoring and attention during oncology treatment. Families supporting a member with cancer have significant and often unmet needs. Assessment, information-sharing and health education need to include the family. Supportive care information may be shared between Denmark and Australia and inspires the development of common guidelines for optimal family nursing practice. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Earthquake and ambient vibration monitoring of the steel-frame UCLA factor building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, M.D.; Davis, P.M.; Safak, E.

    2005-01-01

    Dynamic property measurements of the moment-resisting steel-frame University of California, Los Angeles, Factor building are being made to assess how forces are distributed over the building. Fourier amplitude spectra have been calculated from several intervals of ambient vibrations, a 24-hour period of strong winds, and from the 28 March 2003 Encino, California (ML = 2.9), the 3 September 2002 Yorba Linda, California (ML = 4.7), and the 3 November 2002 Central Alaska (Mw = 7.9) earthquakes. Measurements made from the ambient vibration records show that the first-mode frequency of horizontal vibration is between 0.55 and 0.6 Hz. The second horizontal mode has a frequency between 1.6 and 1.9 Hz. In contrast, the first-mode frequencies measured from earthquake data are about 0.05 to 0.1 Hz lower than those corresponding to ambient vibration recordings indicating softening of the soil-structure system as amplitudes become larger. The frequencies revert to pre-earthquake levels within five minutes of the Yorba Linda earthquake. Shaking due to strong winds that occurred during the Encino earthquake dominates the frequency decrease, which correlates in time with the duration of the strong winds. The first shear wave recorded from the Encino and Yorba Linda earthquakes takes about 0.4 sec to travel up the 17-story building. ?? 2005, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

  15. Energy Efficiency Potential in the U.S. Single-Family Housing Stock

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wilson, Eric J. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Christensen, Craig B. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Horowitz, Scott G. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Robertson, Joseph J. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Maguire, Jeffrey B. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2017-12-19

    Typical approaches for assessing energy efficiency potential in buildings use a limited number of prototypes, and therefore suffer from inadequate resolution when pass-fail cost-effectiveness tests are applied, which can significantly underestimate or overestimate the economic potential of energy efficiency technologies. This analysis applies a new approach to large-scale residential energy analysis, combining the use of large public and private data sources, statistical sampling, detailed building simulations, and high-performance computing to achieve unprecedented granularity - and therefore accuracy - in modeling the diversity of the single-family housing stock. The result is a comprehensive set of maps, tables, and figures showing the technical and economic potential of 50 plus residential energy efficiency upgrades and packages for each state. Policymakers, program designers, and manufacturers can use these results to identify upgrades with the highest potential for cost-effective savings in a particular state or region, as well as help identify customer segments for targeted marketing and deployment. The primary finding of this analysis is that there is significant technical and economic potential to save electricity and on-site fuel use in the single-family housing stock. However, the economic potential is very sensitive to the cost-effectiveness criteria used for analysis. Additionally, the savings of particular energy efficiency upgrades is situation-specific within the housing stock (depending on climate, building vintage, heating fuel type, building physical characteristics, etc.).

  16. Hybrid Life Cycle Assessment of Low, Mid and High-Rise Multi-Family Dwellings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kimberly Bawden

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available We undertake Life Cycle Assessment (LCA of the cumulative energy demand (CED and global warming potential (GWP for a portfolio of 10 multi-family residences in the U.S. We argue that prior LCA studies of buildings use an inconsistent boundary for processes to be included in the supply chain: The operational phase includes all energy use in a building, but supply chains for the production of appliances, equipment and consumables associated with activities done in the building are neglected. We correct this by starting the analysis with an explicit definition of a functional unit, providing climate controlled space, and including processes associated with this functional unit. Using a hybrid LCA approach, the CED for low, mid and high-rise multi-family residences is found to increase from 30, 34, to 39 GJ/m2, respectively. This increase is due to the need for energy-intensive structural materials such as concrete and steel in taller buildings. With our approach, the share of materials and construction of total life cycle energy doubles to 26%, compared with a 13% share that would be obtained with inconsistent system boundaries used in prior studies. We thus argue that explicit definition of functional unit leads to an increase in the contribution of supply chains to building energy life cycles.

  17. 76 FR 68609 - Military Family Month, 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-04

    ... family members embody the resilience and generosity that make our communities strong. They serve with... for our men and women in uniform and our veterans not only when they are away at war, but at every...

  18. A research for Exploring the Social Intelligence as a Way of Copi ng with Work - Family (WFC/Family - Work (FWC Conflict

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aysun Kanbur

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In today, life fiction of humanbeing has intensively focused on work and home dilemma. Greedy expectations of these two institution (which are always tried to be protected are always in the mind of the individual. If harmony between competing expectations cannot be achieved, work-family/family-work conflict arises. It is wondered that whether or not the tension between work and family can be managed with social intelligence, in which it makes strong the ability of establishing good relations with other people. The aim of this study is examining social intelligence in organizational context and exhibiting whether or not social intelligence takes a reducing role for work-family/family-work conflict. Findings of the study suggest that social intelligence and its all dimensions have negatively and significantly related with family-work conflict and social intelligence takes a role in reducing family-work conflict.

  19. Developing a Family-Centered Care Model for Critical Care After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Megan; Robinson, Gabrielle; Mink, Richard; Hudson, Kimberly; Dotolo, Danae; Gooding, Tracy; Ramirez, Alma; Zatzick, Douglas; Giordano, Jessica; Crawley, Deborah; Vavilala, Monica S

    2015-10-01

    This study examined the family experience of critical care after pediatric traumatic brain injury in order to develop a model of specific factors associated with family-centered care. Qualitative methods with semi-structured interviews were used. Two level 1 trauma centers. Fifteen mothers of children who had an acute hospital stay after traumatic brain injury within the last 5 years were interviewed about their experience of critical care and discharge planning. Participants who were primarily English, Spanish, or Cantonese speaking were included. None. Content analysis was used to code the transcribed interviews and develop the family-centered care model. Three major themes emerged: 1) thorough, timely, compassionate communication, 2) capacity building for families, providers, and facilities, and 3) coordination of care transitions. Participants reported valuing detailed, frequent communication that set realistic expectations and prepared them for decision making and outcomes. Areas for capacity building included strategies to increase provider cultural humility, parent participation in care, and institutional flexibility. Coordinated care transitions, including continuity of information and maintenance of partnerships with families and care teams, were highlighted. Participants who were not primarily English speaking reported particular difficulty with communication, cultural understanding, and coordinated transitions. This study presents a family-centered traumatic brain injury care model based on family perspectives. In addition to communication and coordination strategies, the model offers methods to address cultural and structural barriers to meeting the needs of non-English-speaking families. Given the stress experienced by families of children with traumatic brain injury, careful consideration of the model themes identified here may assist in improving overall quality of care to families of hospitalized children with traumatic brain injury.

  20. Educating children and families about growth hormone deficiency and its management: part 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collin, Jacqueline; Whitehead, Amanda; Walker, Jenny

    2016-03-01

    Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a long-term condition, therefore creating ongoing partnerships with families is a fundamental part of the role of a paediatric endocrine nurse specialist (PENS). Teaching children, young people and their families about GHD and exploring what it means to them and how they can manage their ongoing treatment is central to building positive relationships. Educating children about the management of their growth hormone treatment (GHT) is an ongoing process and professionals must respond to the changing needs for that information children may have as they grow and develop. Long-term relationships with families are strengthened by recognising and respecting the developing expertise of families as they gain confidence and competence to manage GHT. This article is the second of two parts. Part one was published in the February issue of Nursing Children and Young People and covered an overview of growth hormone, causes and clinical presentation of GHD, development and availability of GHT and the role of the PENS in building partnerships with parents. The focus of this article is the education role of the PENS and the importance of providing information that is appropriate to the child or young person's developmental age.

  1. How to Catch ’Em All : WatchDog, a Family of IDE Plug-Ins to Assess Testing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beller, M.; Levaja, I.; Panichella, A.; Gousios, G.; Zaidman, A.E.

    2016-01-01

    As software engineering researchers, we are also zealous tool smiths. Building a research prototype is often a daunting task, let alone building an industry-grade family of tools supporting multiple platforms to ensure the generalizability of results. In this paper, we give advice to academic and

  2. A unified framework for haplotype inference in nuclear families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iliadis, Alexandros; Anastassiou, Dimitris; Wang, Xiaodong

    2012-07-01

    Many large genome-wide association studies include nuclear families with more than one child (trio families), allowing for analysis of differences between siblings (sib pair analysis). Statistical power can be increased when haplotypes are used instead of genotypes. Currently, haplotype inference in families with more than one child can be performed either using the familial information or statistical information derived from the population samples but not both. Building on our recently proposed tree-based deterministic framework (TDS) for trio families, we augment its applicability to general nuclear families. We impose a minimum recombinant approach locally and independently on each multiple children family, while resorting to the population-derived information to solve the remaining ambiguities. Thus our framework incorporates all available information (familial and population) in a given study. We demonstrate that using all the constraints in our approach we can have gains in the accuracy as opposed to breaking the multiple children families to separate trios and resorting to a trio inference algorithm or phasing each family in isolation. We believe that our proposed framework could be the method of choice for haplotype inference in studies that include nuclear families with multiple children. Our software (tds2.0) is downloadable from www.ee.columbia.edu/∼anastas/tds. © 2012 The Authors Annals of Human Genetics © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/University College London.

  3. Efficiency of single-family houses and harmonisation of their life cycle participants’ interests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nerija Kvederyte

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available An efficient single-family house is the main purpose of the life cycle. It determines the necessity to evaluate various decisions of the life cycle of single-family houses and possibilities to satisfy objectives and requirements of the participants of that process. To design and achieve an effective process of the life cycle of a single-family house, it is necessary to take care of its efficiency starting from the determination of needs and objectives and ending with the usage of a building.

  4. The impact of family and peer protective factors on girls' violence perpetration and victimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shlafer, Rebecca J; McMorris, Barbara J; Sieving, Renee E; Gower, Amy L

    2013-03-01

    This study investigates whether family and peer connections and prosocial norms buffer adolescent girls' violence involvement and whether a youth development intervention augments the power of these protective factors in reducing girls' risk for violence. Data were obtained from 253 13-17-year-olds enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of Prime Time, a youth development intervention offered through urban clinic settings to girls at high risk for pregnancy. Participants completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview survey at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months after enrollment. Protective factors included scales assessing family and peer connections and prosocial norms. Outcome variables were violence victimization and perpetration scales measured at 18 months. Family connections and prosocial norms independently protected girls against violence involvement. Peer prosocial norms also served as a protective buffer against violence perpetration and victimization; however, girls with strong peer connections had higher levels of violence perpetration. Participation in Prime Time augmented the protective effects of family and peer connections on girls' violence victimization but not perpetration. Prime Time participants who had high levels of family connections reported the lowest levels of violence victimization at 18 months. Prime Time participants with strong peer connections trended toward lower levels of violence victimization than other girls. Results suggest that effects of the Prime Time intervention on violence victimization were optimized among high-risk adolescent girls with strong connections to family and peers. The intervention was most potent in preventing violence victimization among girls with strong prosocial connections to family and peers. Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Values expressed through intergenerational family food and nutrition management systems among African American women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahye, Brenda A; Devine, Carol M; Odoms-Young, Angela M

    2006-01-01

    This grounded theory investigation aimed to understand intergenerational family roles and the food management strategies of African American women from a social-ecological perspective. Thirty women from 10 low/moderate-income 3-generation urban families participated in interviews covering roles, health, nutrition, and food management strategies. Four dynamic family systems for managing food and nutrition emerged from qualitative data analysis. Participants expressed values of responsibility, social connections, caretaking, reward, and equal opportunity, and fulfilling responsibilities for family care, connections, and finances. These values and systems provide a basis for culturally appropriate, interpersonal-level nutrition interventions among African American women that build on family structures, needs, and resources.

  6. Scaling and allometry in the building geometries of Greater London

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batty, M.; Carvalho, R.; Hudson-Smith, A.; Milton, R.; Smith, D.; Steadman, P.

    2008-06-01

    Many aggregate distributions of urban activities such as city sizes reveal scaling but hardly any work exists on the properties of spatial distributions within individual cities, notwithstanding considerable knowledge about their fractal structure. We redress this here by examining scaling relationships in a world city using data on the geometric properties of individual buildings. We first summarise how power laws can be used to approximate the size distributions of buildings, in analogy to city-size distributions which have been widely studied as rank-size and lognormal distributions following Zipf [ Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort (Addison-Wesley, Cambridge, 1949)] and Gibrat [ Les Inégalités Économiques (Librarie du Recueil Sirey, Paris, 1931)]. We then extend this analysis to allometric relationships between buildings in terms of their different geometric size properties. We present some preliminary analysis of building heights from the Emporis database which suggests very strong scaling in world cities. The data base for Greater London is then introduced from which we extract 3.6 million buildings whose scaling properties we explore. We examine key allometric relationships between these different properties illustrating how building shape changes according to size, and we extend this analysis to the classification of buildings according to land use types. We conclude with an analysis of two-point correlation functions of building geometries which supports our non-spatial analysis of scaling.

  7. Montessori Early Childhood Teacher Perceptions of Family Priorities and Stressors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ann Epstein

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Teachers of young children work closely with families. One component of teacher-family partnerships is teachers’ understanding of family priorities and stressors. This study examines Montessori early childhood (ages three through six teacher perceptions of family priorities and stressors through an analysis of responses to two parallel surveys.  Eighty teachers (37% of those who received the survey and forty-nine family members (representing a 55% response rate completed the survey.  Significant differences were found between teachers’ perceptions of four (of seven family priorities and families’ actual responses. Teachers ranked “making academic progress” as the most important of seven possible family priorities. However, families stated that “developing kindness” is the most important priority for their young children. No significant differences were found when comparing teacher rankings of family stressors with actual family responses. Montessori early childhood teachers ranked “not having enough time” as the most stressful of six possible stressors. Families confirmed that time pressures cause them the most stress. Maria Montessori’s recommendations for teachers and families are summarized. Recommendations for building stronger family partnerships in the context of Montessori’s philosophy, for example on-going self-reflection, are provided.             Keywords: Montessori, teacher-family partnerships, early childhood teacher perceptions

  8. Strong evidence for a genetic contribution to late-onset Alzheimer's disease mortality: a population-based study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John S K Kauwe

    Full Text Available Alzheimer's disease (AD is an international health concern that has a devastating effect on patients and families. While several genetic risk factors for AD have been identified much of the genetic variance in AD remains unexplained. There are limited published assessments of the familiality of Alzheimer's disease. Here we present the largest genealogy-based analysis of AD to date.We assessed the familiality of AD in The Utah Population Database (UPDB, a population-based resource linking electronic health data repositories for the state with the computerized genealogy of the Utah settlers and their descendants. We searched UPDB for significant familial clustering of AD to evaluate the genetic contribution to disease. We compared the Genealogical Index of Familiality (GIF between AD individuals and randomly selected controls and estimated the Relative Risk (RR for a range of family relationships. Finally, we identified pedigrees with a significant excess of AD deaths.The GIF analysis showed that pairs of individuals dying from AD were significantly more related than expected. This excess of relatedness was observed for both close and distant relationships. RRs for death from AD among relatives of individuals dying from AD were significantly increased for both close and more distant relatives. Multiple pedigrees had a significant excess of AD deaths.These data strongly support a genetic contribution to the observed clustering of individuals dying from AD. This report is the first large population-based assessment of the familiality of AD mortality and provides the only reported estimates of relative risk of AD mortality in extended relatives to date. The high-risk pedigrees identified show a true excess of AD mortality (not just multiple cases and are greater in depth and width than published AD pedigrees. The presence of these high-risk pedigrees strongly supports the possibility of rare predisposition variants not yet identified.

  9. Building Better Buildings: Sustainable Building Activities in California Higher Education Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sowell, Arnold; Eichel, Amanda; Alevantis, Leon; Lovegreen, Maureen

    2003-01-01

    This article outlines the activities and recommendations of California's sustainable building task force, discusses sustainable building activities in California's higher education systems, and highlights key issues that California is grappling with in its implementation of sustainable building practices. (EV)

  10. Accuracy of self-reported family history is strongly influenced by the accuracy of self-reported personal health status of relatives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssens, A.C.J.W.; Henneman, L.; Detmar, S.B.; Khoury, M.J.; Steyerberg, E.W.; Eijkemans, M.J.C.; Mushkudiani, N.; Oostra, B.A.; Duijn, C.M. van; MacKenbach, J.P.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: We investigated the accuracy of self-reported family history for diabetes, hypertension, and overweight against two reference standards: family history based on physician-assessed health status of relatives and on self-reported personal health status of relatives. Study Design and

  11. A measure to manage approach to characterizing the energy impact of residential building stocks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Afamia Elnakat

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The city of San Antonio is the seventh largest in the United States by population and the second in the state of Texas, with a population of over 1.3 million people. As one of the fastest growing cities, the San Antonio residential real estate market has expanded to meet the demands of the growing population. Managing the energy footprint of single-family houses can be enhanced by big data analysis of combined metered energy consumption and building infrastructure characteristics. This study analyzes the energy intensity of 389,160 single family detached homes and identifies energy utilization trends across various residential building stock size and vintage categories. Supported by the “measure to manage” premise, this study highlights the value of this characterization as a forecasting and planning tool for sustainable growth and a more engaged consumer.

  12. Building Communities of Learners. A Collaboration among Teachers, Students, Families, and Community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCaleb, Sudia Paloma

    This book suggests an approach to education that includes students' family members as valuable citizens in a community of learners which also includes students, teachers, and other members of the community at large. Part 1 examines current trends in parental involvement and the hidden assumptions on which many such programs are based. It is argued…

  13. Like Father, like Son? Familial Aggregation of Physicians among Medical and Psychology Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voracek, Martin; Tran, Ulrich S.; Fischer-Kern, Melitta; Formann, Anton K.; Springer-Kremser, Marianne

    2010-01-01

    Various research findings, mostly from Anglo-American countries, evidence the medical profession to be strongly familial and further suggest that a medical family background may be associated with study success in medical undergraduates. This study explored the familial aggregation of the medical profession among 1-year cohort samples of medical…

  14. Capacity building in indigenous men's groups and sheds across Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Southcombe, Amie; Cavanagh, Jillian; Bartram, Timothy

    2015-09-01

    This article presents an investigation into capacity building, at the community level, in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Men's Groups and Sheds. As safe men's spaces, Men's Groups and Sheds represent an ever-growing social, and health and well-being community service across Australia. The study is qualitative and employs 'yarning circles' (focus groups), semi-structured interviews and observations to gather data from 15 Groups/Sheds involving 45 men from urban, regional and remote communities. We found that capacity building is primarily about securing relationships between Group Leaders/Shed Co-ordinators and Government services. Capacity building establishes links to services such as Centrelink, Medicare, Department of Housing, Probation and Control, and positive outcomes such as Indigenous men securing housing and Centrelink payments. Capacity building results in better health outcomes and, educates and empowers men to improve their social, cultural, emotional and economic well-being. It helps men to better connect with family and community. The current research paves the way for countries worldwide to explore the conceptual and empirical approach of capacity building applicable to other Indigenous [and non-Indigenous] Men's Groups/Sheds. We recommend feasibilities studies, on approaches to capacity building in Indigenous Groups/Sheds, be carried out within urban, regional and remote regions across the country. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Building a working alliance between professionals and service users in family preservation : A multiple case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Steens, R.; Hermans, K.; van Regenmortel, M.R.F.

    2018-01-01

    In the margin of the ongoing experimental and quasi-experimental research projects on family preservation, some research projects focus on the process through which families accomplish change and acknowledge the importance of the working alliance. There is, however, little information about barriers

  16. Renewing focus on family planning service quality globally.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hancock, Nancy L; Stuart, Gretchen S; Tang, Jennifer H; Chibwesha, Carla J; Stringer, Jeffrey S A; Chi, Benjamin H

    2016-01-01

    Reducing the global unmet need for contraception is currently a priority for many governments, multi-lateral initiatives, non-governmental organizations, and donors. Evidence strongly suggests that the provision of quality family planning services can increase uptake, prevalence, and continuation of contraception. While an accepted framework to define the components of family planning service quality exists, translating this framework into assessment tools that are accessible, easily utilized, and valid for service providers has remained a challenge. We propose new approaches to improve the standardization and accessibility of family planning service quality assessment tools to simplify family planning service quality evaluation. With easier approaches to program evaluation, quality improvements can be performed more swiftly to help increase uptake and continuation of contraception to improve the health of women and their families.

  17. FAMILY BUSINESSES AND THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandra Martins

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available There are few family owned businesses that survive to the next generation. In general, 30% of these businesses are passed on to second generation families and less than 15% survive to third generation families. There has been little research done on third generation family businesses. Therefore the main purpose of this paper is to identify the principal difficulties of passing on managerial skills to the third generation owners. This study uses a case study of a Brazilian family organization composed of twelve enterprises. The instrument to collect data was an individually guided recorded interview with all of the family managers (1ª, 2ª e 3ª generation. The technique applied, was suggested for Miles & Huberman (1994 to group the data in analytical categories to facilitate the analyzed speeches contained in the 49 blocks of responses. As a result, the transition the business to the third generation owners has been strongly associated with the relation between family and business by the following factors: a the succession process influenced by emotional and family values; b conflicts, rivalries and divergences of strategic visions and business goals between the family generations; c lack of professional criteria to hire relatives; and d fragility of communication and consequent asymmetry of information among the family members.

  18. Demo abstract: Flexhouse-2-an open source building automation platform with a focus on flexible control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gehrke, Oliver; Kosek, Anna Magdalena; Svendsen, Mathias

    2014-01-01

    , an open-source implementation of a building automation system which has been designed with a strong focus on enabling the integration of the building into a smart power system and dedicated support for the requirements of an R&D environment. We will demonstrate the need for such a platform, discuss...

  19. Eyes are on us, but nobody cares: are eye cues relevant for strong reciprocity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fehr, Ernst; Schneider, Frédéric

    2010-05-07

    Strong reciprocity is characterized by the willingness to altruistically reward cooperative acts and to altruistically punish norm-violating, defecting behaviours. Recent evidence suggests that subtle reputation cues, such as eyes staring at subjects during their choices, may enhance prosocial behaviour. Thus, in principle, strong reciprocity could also be affected by eye cues. We investigate the impact of eye cues on trustees' altruistic behaviour in a trust game and find zero effect. Neither the subjects who are classified as prosocial nor the subjects who are classified as selfish respond to these cues. In sharp contrast to the irrelevance of subtle reputation cues for strong reciprocity, we find a large effect of explicit, pecuniary reputation incentives on the trustees' prosociality. Trustees who can acquire a good reputation that benefits them in future interactions honour trust much more than trustees who cannot build a good reputation. These results cast doubt on hypotheses suggesting that strong reciprocity is easily malleable by implicit reputation cues not backed by explicit reputation incentives.

  20. Building brands without mass media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joachimsthaler, E; Aaker, D A

    1997-01-01

    Costs, market fragmentation, and new media channels that let customers bypass advertisements seem to be in league against the old ways of marketing. Relying on mass media campaigns to build strong brands may be a thing of the past. Several companies in Europe, making a virtue of necessity, have come up with alternative brand-building approaches and are blazing a trail in the post-mass-media age. In England, Nestlé's Buitoni brand grew through programs that taught the English how to cook Italian food. The Body Shop garnered loyalty with its support of environmental and social causes. Cadbury funded a theme park tied to its history in the chocolate business. Häagen-Dazs opened posh ice-cream parlors and got itself featured by name on the menus of fine restaurants. Hugo Boss and Swatch backed athletic or cultural events that became associated with their brands. The various campaigns shared characteristics that could serve as guidelines for any company hoping to build a successful brand: senior managers were closely involved with brand-building efforts; the companies recognized the importance of clarifying their core brand identity; and they made sure that all their efforts to gain visibility were tied to that core identity. Studying the methods of companies outside one's own industry and country can be instructive for managers. Pilot testing and the use of a single and continuous measure of brand equity also help managers get the most out of novel approaches in their ever more competitive world.