Suchergebnisse

The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 2 November 1995 - 4 March 1996. French literature has been part of the curriculum at Monash University since 1961. The collections in the Rare Book Room reflect quite accurately the way in which teaching and research in the subject have developed. Over the first twenty-five years there was a strong emphasis on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Latterly there has been more focus on developments since 1830, even if earlier periods have not been neglected. Thus, alongside the modern critical editions and reprints in the Library's undergraduate and research stacks, there are materials, essentially original printings, that enable students and scholars to examine the production, distribution and reception of many French literary works. The present exhibition is concerned with narrative fiction from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. From the chansons de geste and the romans courtois of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries on to the novels and short stories of our own time, there is a long, continuous history in France of these genres. Inevitably, given the unevenness of the Rare Book Room's own holdings, some eras are better represented than others. Nonetheless, it is our aim to show something of the great diversity of what was published and read in France and in all the other places where French was taught to and effectively used by the educated. A substantial public in Britain and other English-speaking countries was part of the world audience for what emanated from Paris. Whether in the original or in translation, many French authors were directly available in local printings to readers in London, New York, and even Melbourne. The works exhibited show this dimension of the impact of French fiction quite clearly. Medieval romances and the novels of the Renaissance are here represented for the most part in editions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Although Romantic rediscovery of the Middle Ages was responsible for many pseudo-facsimile reprints, it is important to note that the Enlightenment period was not totally oblivious of literary traditions that were out of fashion. The Library's real strength in narratives from the 150 years encompassing the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI can be displayed only selectively. Samples are provided of some of the great names from the canon, including authors like Fenelon and Le Sage from whom schoolchildren the world over learnt French for several generations. In addition, the massive publishing enterprises of the 1770s and 1780s that brought together whole libraries of fairy stories, imaginary voyages and digests of fiction of all kinds are given due prominence. Literary history in France did not have to wait until recent decades to recognize the major role played by women writers from the Middle Ages onwards. Marguerite de Navarre, Mme de Lafayette, Mme de Genlis, Mme Cottin, and Mme de Stael are just some of the figures whose success was solid and durable long before the international triumphs of a Marguerite Yourcenar and a Marguerite Duras in our own time. The last two centuries appear here more through English translations than original editions. In a roll-call that includes Eugene Sue, Gustave Flaubert, Jules Verne, Emile Zola and Marcel Proust distinctions between the popular and the recherche are not always meaningful. What is certain is that the French novel since Romanticism has an assured place in the imaginative world of readers everywhere. Beyond misunderstandings, quarrels and temporary discords in politics this is the permanent reality of French fictions. Some items kindly loaned by private collectors

Trevor Lloyd died in Ottawa on 6 February 1995, at the age of 88. For more than half a century he had been one of Canada's foremost geographers. He had gained an international reputation for his social science studies of the circumpolar world and particularly for his contributions in northern economic and political geography. Henry Trevor Lloyd was born in London, England on 4 May 1906. His Quaker parents had come from Wales, and as a young boy he returned with them when they made their home in the Rhondda valley. Before he left school the valley had become the most economically and socially depressed part of the South Wales coal field, and his deep, lifelong concern for social justice in society clearly dated from his personal observations at that time. . By 1942 he was attracted to university teaching and was increasingly interested in the North. . In the last year of the war he went to Greenland to replace Max Dunbar as Canadian consul. He had hardly been back in his Dartmouth department (of which he had become chairman) when in 1947 he returned to Ottawa for a year to be appointed Chief of the recently created Geographical Bureau. In this position, continuing the objectives of his predecessor, Diamond Jenness, he was able to encourage and support young scientists who were developing research in the Canadian Arctic . these included women as well as men. It was in this period that Trevor Lloyd began his close ties to the newly created Arctic Institute of North America. He edited the first two volumes of Arctic (1948-49) and the editorial standards as well as the format he established were to remain unchanged for the next 25 years. Created a Fellow in 1948, he became a Governor in 1950. His main contribution to the Institute was maintained in the sixties when he was almost continuously a Governor and for 1967-69, Chairman of the Board. His special interest was in encouraging the expansion of the Institute's outstanding research library. . He left Dartmouth in 1959 to become the first Professor of Human Geography at McGill University; three years later he became chairman of the department, a position he held until the end of 1966. He was fortunate in his period of tenure as McGill departmental chairman, as it coincided with a period of stability and considerable economic prosperity in the university. Under his guidance and driven by his great energy, the department doubled its size and expanded its northern research interests, which until then had been primarily in the physical environment, into social, economic and cultural fields. He revitalized the Stanstead Geography Summer School which specialized in arctic programs. He paid particular attention to the need of schoolteachers specializing in geography and put into effect his plans to improve the quality of geography teaching in McGill's Institute of Education. With external help, he initiated a review of the map resources of the university, a consequence of which today is the large map and airphoto collection, now part of the university's Hitschfeld environmental library. . When the Arctic Institute left Montreal in 1975, Trevor Lloyd felt he had lost close contact with two first-class northern libraries, the Arctic Institute's and the Baker collection. He worked wholeheartedly to develop McGill's Centre for Northern Studies and Research, and was its director in the last years before he retired in 1977. After retirement he . returned to Ottawa where he continued to work for the rest of his life on Canadian northern administrative policies. He became deeply committed to founding a national Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies and became its executive director in 1980. .

The worldwide technological explosion has dramatically changed the basis of international competition. The accelerated rate of change in product engineering and process technology has led to decreasing product life cycles and made equipment obsolescence a primary concern to U.S. manufacturers. Researchers in academia, industry, and the government have unanimously agreed on the primary role that the investment in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT, eg., Flexible Manufacturing Systems) can play in meeting the challenges of the new global business environment. However, U.S. manufacturing technology is still lagging far behind U.S. innovation , and many U.S. firms are practically unable to justify the needed modernization. Many authors have written about the necessity to account for strategic, long-term benefits associated with acquiring new AMTs in order for U.S. manufacturers to justify more easily, and more realistically, their investment decisions. However, most of these authors have overlooked the fact that the decision to acquire a new AMT is most likely to displace existing resources, and that unless manufacturers are offered a tool to evaluate the impact of abandoning obsolete or less-than-profitable products and/or processes and justify such a decision, the needed modernization process will continue to be hindered. The objective of this research is bifold. First, the product/process abandonment problem is reformulated from a new perspective which is congruent with the requirements of the new global business environment. And second, a global decision model (GDM) incorporating the product abandonment option into the companys overall strategic planning and control system is developed which seeks to help U.S. manufacturers make world-class capital expenditure decisions. To this end, an extensive taxonomic analysis was first conducted to investigate the product abandonment analysis topic as treated in the literature of engineering economy, financial management, management accounting, marketing, strategic management, and corporate organizational and behavioral sciences. The product abandonment problem is then reformulated in view of both the strengths and shortcomings of traditional models and the requirements of the new business environment. Finally, the developed solution methodology is described, implemented as a computer program, and illustrated through an actual case-study. The GDM is governed by an abandonment algorithm and a multi-attribute decision module (MADM) which are interfaced in a highly interactive mode. The proposed abandonment algorithm uses a recursive dynamic programming search method to determine at each decision point in the project life cycle whether it is more profitable to abandon a product or to continue its operations for one more time period. The MADM translates various strategic objectives of the company, financial and non-financial, into quantifiable performance measures and ranks alternative improvement portfolios. Production simulation techniques and activity-based costing (ABC) are suggested to collect the needed input data for the model. Preference ordering theory is used to account for managements attitude toward risk and make trade-offs between project profitability and riskiness. Once a course of action is selected, its performance must be continuously monitored and controlled in view of pre-specified strategic performance targets. The results obtained from the analysis of the case study confirmed the economic validity of the philosophy underlying the developed solution methodology as well as the ease of application of such a methodology to a wide range of real-life problems. They also demonstrated the benefits that a company can forgo by ignoring the abandonment option throughout the product life cycle. In conclusion, the developed model is believed to be a sophisticated, yet practical, tool which can help engineering managers reach more informed, and therefore more competitive, decisions about their firms portfolio of products. Furthermore, pertinent recommendations were made to direct future research regarding this subject matter. ; Ph. D.

The vulnerability of urban environments in continental regions to earthquake forces was explicitly demonstrated in Australia's devastating Newcastle earthquake on December 28, 1989. This moderately-sized earthquake of Richter magnitude ML 5.6 (Moment magnitude M 5.3) claimed 13 lives, damaged more than 70,000 properties and left an estimated total loss of about $AU (1991) 4 billion. The need for an earthquake mitigation programme in Australia was thus clearly established. It is for this reason that a multidisciplinary approach involving seismology, geology, engineering, insurance, local government and emergency services is being followed to study this event and its consequences. The earthquake source is defined as being on a thrust fault trending NW-SE dipping 75° to the NE, with a depth of focus at 11.5 km, source radius of 1.86 km, stress drop of at least 24 bars and a displacement along the rupture surface of at least 310 mm. The epicentre is located at 32.95°S, 151.61°E close to Boolaroo, about 15 km SW of the City of Newcastle, and with an epicentral error of about + 15 km. More than 100,000 observations from damage and felt reports are being analysed and integrated with the wide experiences gained in the rescue, recovery and renewal phases that have extended over the two years since the event. The specific issue of the geotechnical aspects is of great importance. It is being considered from the view of urban geology (surface alluvial sediments), rather than from theoretical considerations, to explain the major extent of building damage on the alluvial areas, amplification and liquefaction. Apart from the immediate "causes" of damage, serious consideration is being given to the long-term effects which have resulted in the latent and recurrent defects to buildings. The engineering findings from the Newcastle earthquake are discussed in detail. While it is uneconomical and not necessary to design a structure to withstand the greatest likely earthquake without damage in Australia, the cost of providing strength to resist very high intensity loads must be weighed against the importance of the structure and probability of the earthquakes, particularly in areas such as this with relatively little known seismic histories. Lessons for local government authorities who had not previously considered seismic activity are addressed. Based on the response and recovery of the City of Newcastle, the lessons include the development of a recovery management plan, revision of building regulations and the requirements for hazard mitigation. Unfortunately, several misconceptions about some aspects of the consequences of this earthquake have arisen. These concern the limitations of some analyses, use of selected data sets rather than all the available data and apparent lack of understanding of complex, rather than singular, causal relationships. Implications for the engineering, insurance and possibly the legal professions need to be considered. The potential to reduce losses in future earthquakes in Australia through an earthquake mitigation programme is now an achievable goal. The scenarios of such an event occurring at a different time or in a different city can be addressed, based on the Newcastle and other international experiences. Sufficient information is available to prepare the revised Australian earthquake loading code as a reliable and practical document for use by engineers. The consequences of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake have also captured the interest of researchers from many other continental areas of the Earth who must consider preparations for similar situations. All aspects of the study ultimately lead to the preparedness of urban communities to deal with such consequences with the assistance of emergency services agencies to minimize the social and economic traumas that will inevitably occur.

A well-known phenomenon in the developing countries is the existence of acute unemployment in the urban areas, and particularly among the youth and women. The phenomenon exhibits itself in an event of more or less continuous search for paid work, or a state in which one is seeking work while having no source of income. Unemployment is generated and precipitated through a number of factors including growth of labour force; the inability of the economy to grow at a rate that would stimulate enough employment creation to absorb all job seekers; lay-offs in the public sector as a consequence of economic austerity programmes; job selectivity among school leavers; seasonality of jobs; skills imbalance which results in vacancies co-existing with surplus labour; inappropriate technological applications; and failure of development programmes to focus more sharply on areas with greater employment potential. The impact of each of the above factors on employment will differ from one country to another, but what is pertinent is that demand for labour depends on the quantity of goods and services being produced, supply and demand of these goods and services, the marginal productivity of labour, and production techniques applied (whether labour or capital saving). The present report is concerned with the last of these factors. Rapid growth of labour force in the urban areas is largely due to push-factors in the form of continued rural underdevelopment, unfavourable terms of trade for agricultural products in the world market, and natural as well as natural and man-made disasters including droughts and civil wars and high natural growth rates. Urban migration is thus a calculated risk by the migrant forced by deteriorating circumstances at horne. 1 Characteristic of the urban labour markets in many developing countries is the high structural unemployment rates among the youth. As observed by the ILO Report on Kenya (ILO, 1972:12) as education expanded fast among a population itself fast expanding, thousands of young people with their parents and other supporters are finding their certificates almost worthless, at least for obtaining jobs. Certain skills are over-supplied while others are undersupplied. This is largely a consequence of educational systems in the developing countries that laid emphasis on "whitecollar" jobs. In this scenario women are worse off than men. In many countries girls have been excluded from vocational and technical education which prepare students for immediate absorption into the labour market. Due to relatively low level of performance in education, women in any developing country compare unfavourably with men in numbers employed within the formal sector. Urban unemployment has been the concern not only of the national governments but also of international agencies. It has been observed that the majority of urban population in developing countries find themselves living in increasingly difficult circumstances. Government social services in these communities have in most countries been cut back while the opportunities for earning cash incomes in the informal sector which is the main employer of the urban poor have been reduced in these hard economic times. Low-cost approaches to services and income-generating activities are therefore especially important. A review of UNICEF'S experience in urban support concluded that the communitybased approach was a viable strategy to provision of urban services. The capacity and necessity for communities to participate in solving their own problems was recognised and found appropriate within the context of limited resources, access and coverage. Services provided should be simple and low-cost at the community level; community workers should be selected by the community; and services should be planned and carried out

The Danish Meteorological Institute celebrated its centennial on 1 April this year and on the same date the Ionosphere Laboratory, a division under the Meteorological Institute, observed its tenth anniversary, although its history goes back almost twenty years. The idea of establishing an Ionosphere Laboratory was first conceived by the active and foresighted Professor P. O. Pedersen . During the Second Polar Year 1932-33 Pedersen wanted to build an ionosphere station in Godhavn . but it was not until 1951 that his wish was fulfilled by his assistant and later successor, Professor Jørgen Rybner. The year before, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Bureau of Standards had established an ionosphere station at the American military base in southern Greenland and in 1957 when the U.S. Armed Forces left what is now called Narssarssuaq, Professor Rybner also undertook the responsibility for this station in his capacity as the Chairman of the Danish National Committee of the International Radio Union (URSI). It was realized that operation of the Greenlandic stations would only be feasible if there were an active group in Copenhagen to analyze the ionosphere data obtained and to train the station personnel before leaving for Greenland. To fill this need Professor Rybner founded a laboratory at the Technical University based upon support from local URSI funds. At the same time rapid technological development made possible measurements in the ionosphere with instruments launched with rockets or from satellites. Using the resources at the new laboratory, Professor Rybner in 1961 accepted a Norwegian proposal for a joint campaign with rocket launchings from Andøya in Lofoten, Norway, in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This project formed the basis later for a Greenlandic ionosphere rocket program. . it was deemed desirable to change the laboratory supported under the Danish URSI Committee to an official laboratory under the Technical University of Denmark. . on 1 April 1962 the Ionosphere Laboratory was established at the University . Recordings of naturally generated electromagnetic noise at very low frequencies (VLF recordings), and studies had been made at Godhavn and Narssarssuaq for some years when , in 1964, a "VLF-station" was established at the Danish site Thule, approximately 80 miles north of Thule Air Base [AB]. Financial support was given by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and locally by the U.S. Army Research Support Group (USARSG). When in 1966 the American scientific camp situated approximately 16 miles east of Thule AB was closed down, the U.S. ionosphere station there was transferred to the Danish station at Thule; an ionosonde was made available from the U.S.A. and a building of 150 sq. m. was moved from the camp to the station by helicopter! The U.S. National Science Foundation supported the operation for the following three years until the Danish Government took over financial responsibility. Between 1966 and 1968 the Ionosphere Laboratory was reorganized involving among other administrative changes the establishment of an independent Danish Space Research Institute for work with balloons, rockets and satellites. Today, ten years after it was officially established with a staff of four, the Laboratory with a staff of twenty, is continuing its ionospheric research based largely upon the operations of the Greenlandic observatories at Godhavn, Narssarssuaq, and Thule. Although it is administered and financed by the Danish Meteorological Institute, it is still located at the Technical University north of Copenhagen, and maintains close cooperation with other laboratories at the University in teaching and providing guidance to graduate students. [Included are summaries of research under the following headings: ground-based measurements, vertical soundings, cosmic noise absorption measurements, whistler and VLF emissions, auroral electrojet activity, the polar ionization, geomagnetic micropulsation studies, the polar slant E condition, stratospheric balloon measurements, high altitude meteorological observations, ionospheric rocket experiment, and electric field measurements].

The association of dietary energy density (ED) and overweight is not clear in the literature. Our aim was to study in 4259 of the PREDIMED trial whether an increase in dietary ED based on a higher adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with 3-year weight gain. A validated 137-item food-frequency questionnaire was administered. Multivariable-adjusted models were used to analyze the association between 3-year ED change and the subsequent 3-year body weight change. The most important weight reduction after 3-year follow-up was observed in the two lowest quintiles and the highest quintile of ED change. The highest ED increase was characterized by an increased intake of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and nuts and a decreased intake of other oils, vegetable and fruit consumption (p < .001). In conclusion, increased 3-year ED in the PREDIMED study, associated with a higher EVOO and nuts consumption, was not associated with weight gain. ; The PREDIMED trial was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), the official funding agency for Biomedical Research of the Spanish Government, through grants provided to research networks specifically developed for the trial: RTIC G03/140, CIBERobn and RTIC RD06/0045. The authors also acknowledge grants received from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares CNIC 06/2007, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria – Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (PI04-2239, PI05/2584, CP06/00100, PI07/0240, PI07/1138, PI07/0954, PI07/0473; PI10/01407, PI11/01647, PI11/02505, PI13/00615; PI13/01090, PI14/01668, PI14/01798, and PI14/01764), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (AGL-2009-13906-C02, AGL2010-22319-C03), Fundación Mapfre 2010, Public Health Division of the Department of Health of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and Generalitat Valenciana (ACOMP06109, CS2010-AP-111 and CS2011-AP-042; GVACOMP2010-181 and GVACOMP2011-151), and a joint contract (CES09/030) with the ISCIII and the Health Department of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya). The roles of the sponsors are as follows: the supplemental foods used in the study were generously donated by Patrimonio Comunal Olivarero and Hojiblanca from Spain (extra-virgin olive oil); the California Walnut Commission from Sacramento, CA (walnuts); and Borges S.A. (almonds) and La Morella Nuts (hazelnuts), both from Reus, Spain. However, the sponsors played no role in the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. E. Ros received research grants from the California Walnut Commission (Sacramento, CA) and is a non-paid member of its Scientific Advisory Committee. J. Salas-Salvadó received research grants from the International Nut Council (Reus, Spain) and is a non-paid member of its Scientific Advisory Committee. R. Estruch reports serving on the board of and receiving lecture fees from the Research Foundation on Wine and Nutrition (FIVIN); serving on the boards of the Beer and Health Foundation and the European Foundation for Alcohol Research (ERAB); receiving lecture fees from Cerveceros de España. R.M. Lamuela-Raventos reports serving on the board of and receiving lecture fees from FIVIN; receiving lecture fees from Cerveceros de España; and receiving lecture fees and travel support from PepsiCo. L. Serra-Majem reports serving on the boards of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation and the Beer and Health Foundation. X. Pinto´ reports serving on the board of Omegafort; receiving lecture fees from Danone; receiving payment for the development of educational presentations from Menarini; and receiving grant support through his institution from Kowa Life Science Foundation, Unilever, and Karo Bio.

OBJECTIVES: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a heterogeneous group of conditions unified by the presence of chronic childhood arthritis without an identifiable cause. Systemic JIA (sJIA) is a rare form of JIA characterised by systemic inflammation. sJIA is distinguished from other forms of JIA by unique clinical features and treatment responses that are similar to autoinflammatory diseases. However, approximately half of children with sJIA develop destructive, long-standing arthritis that appears similar to other forms of JIA. Using genomic approaches, we sought to gain novel insights into the pathophysiology of sJIA and its relationship with other forms of JIA. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association study of 770 children with sJIA collected in nine countries by the International Childhood Arthritis Genetics Consortium. Single nucleotide polymorphisms were tested for association with sJIA. Weighted genetic risk scores were used to compare the genetic architecture of sJIA with other JIA subtypes. RESULTS: The major histocompatibility complex locus and a locus on chromosome 1 each showed association with sJIA exceeding the threshold for genome-wide significance, while 23 other novel loci were suggestive of association with sJIA. Using a combination of genetic and statistical approaches, we found no evidence of shared genetic architecture between sJIA and other common JIA subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of shared genetic risk factors between sJIA and other JIA subtypes supports the hypothesis that sJIA is a unique disease process and argues for a different classification framework. Research to improve sJIA therapy should target its unique genetics and specific pathophysiological pathways. ; This work was supported by the Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (Z01-AR041198 to MJO) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (Z01-HG200370 to DLK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additional funding was provided by NIH grants R01-AR059049 (AAG), R01AR061297 (EDM), R01-AR060893 (SP), P30-AR47363 and P01-AR48929 (ST), AG030653, AG041718 and AG005133 (MIK) and U01-DK062420 and R01-DK076025 (RHD); ArthritisResearch UK Grant 20385 (WT); the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF project 01ER0813) for the 'ICON-JIA' inception cohort (KM and DF); the Val A. Browning Charitable Foundation ( JFB); the Marcus Foundation (SP); the Proyecto de Excelencia (CTS-2548) of the Andalousian Government (MA-R) and the Swedish Association Against Rheumatism (MA-R). IT and EZ were supported by the Wellcome Trust (098051). WT and JC are funded by the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Unit Funding Scheme. The CAPS study was funded by Arthritis Research UK Grant 20542. WT, AH, and JC are supported by the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre (MAHSC). SPARKS-CHARMS was funded by grants from SPARKS UK (08ICH09 and 12ICH08), the Medical Research Council (MR/M004600/1) and the UK National Institute for Health Research GOSH Biomedical Research Centre. The BBOP study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Arthritis Society (CIHR funding reference number 82517) and the Canadian Arthritis Network (funding reference SRI-IJD-01). This research was supported in part by the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation and its Cincinnati Genomic Control Cohort. The authors acknowledge the use of DNA from the UK Blood Services collection of Common Controls (UKBS-CC collection), which is funded by Wellcome Trust grant 076113/C/04/Z and by the USA NIH research programme grant to the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (RP-PG-0310-1002). The authors acknowledge the use of DNA from the British 1958 Birth Cohort collection, which is funded by the UK Medical Research Council grant G0000934 and the Wellcome Trust grant 068545/Z/02

Background: The exposome is defined as the totality of environmental exposures from conception onwards. It calls for providing a holistic view of environmental exposures and their effects on human health by evaluating multiple environmental exposures simultaneously during critical periods of life. Objective: We evaluated the association of the urban exposome with birth weight. Methods: We estimated exposure to the urban exposome, including the built environment, air pollution, road traffic noise, meteorology, natural space, and road traffic (corresponding to 24 environmental indicators and 60 exposures) for nearly 32,000 pregnant women from six European birth cohorts. To evaluate associations with either continuous birth weight or term low birth weight (TLBW) risk, we primarily relied on the Deletion-Substitution-Addition (DSA) algorithm, which is an extension of the stepwise variable selection method. Second, we used an exposure-by-exposure exposome-wide association studies (ExWAS) method accounting for multiple hypotheses testing to report associations not adjusted for coexposures. Results: The most consistent statistically significant associations were observed between increasing green space exposure estimated as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and increased birth weight and decreased TLBW risk. Furthermore, we observed statistically significant associations among presence of public bus line, land use Shannon's Evenness Index, and traffic density and birth weight in our DSA analysis. Conclusion: This investigation is the first large urban exposome study of birth weight that tests many environmental urban exposures. It confirmed previously reported associations for NDVI and generated new hypotheses for a number of built-environment exposures. ; The study has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 308333—the HELIX project—for data collection and analyses. The HELIX program built on six existing cohorts that received previous funding, including the major cohorts listed here. INMA data collections were supported by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, CIBERESP, the Conselleria de Sanitat, Generalitat Valenciana, Department of Health of the Basque Government; the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa, and the Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT. KANC was funded by the grant of the Lithuanian Agency for Science Innovation and Technology (6-04-2014_31V-66). MoBa (Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study) is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Research, NIH/NIEHS (Contract No. N01-ES-75558), and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS; Contract No. N01-ES-75558), and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Grant No. 1 UO1 NS 047537-01 and Grant No. 2 UO1 NS 047537-06A1). The Rhea project was financially supported by European projects (EU FP6–2003-Food-3-NewGeneris, EU FP6.STREP Hiwate, EU FP7 ENV.2007·1.2.2.2, Project No. 211250 Escape, EU FP7–2008-ENV-1·2.1·4 Envirogenomarkers, EU FP7-HEALTH-2009-single stage CHICOS, EU FP7 ENV.2008.1.2.1.6, Proposal No. 226285 ENRIECO, EUFP7-HEALTH-2012 Proposal No. 308333 HELIX, FP7 European Union Project No. 264357 MeDALL), and the Greek Ministry of Health (Program of Prevention of Obesity and Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Preschool Children, in Heraklion district, Crete, Greece: 2011–2014; "Rhea Plus": Primary Prevention Program of Environmental Risk Factors for Reproductive Health, and Child Health: 2012–15). L.C. received additional funding from the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center (Grant No. P30ES007048) funded by NIEHS. We acknowledge the support of the program for international scientific collaborations of Région Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne.

Background: The epidemiological evidence on green spaces and obesity is inconsistent. Objectives: To study the association of access to green spaces and surrounding greenness with obesity in Spain. Methods: We enrolled 2354 individuals 20-85 years from urban areas of seven provinces of Spain between 2008-13. Subjects were randomly selected population controls of the MCC-Spain case-control study. We geocoded current residences and defined exposures in a buffer of 300 m around them: i) access to green space, identified using Urban Atlas, and ii) levels of surrounding greenness, measured by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. We examined excess weight/obesity as binary outcomes based on body mass index and waist-hip ratio. We examined effect modification by genetic factors, sex and individual socio-economic status and mediation by physical activity and concentrations of PM2.5 and NO2. To assess potential effect modification by genetic factors, we used a polygenic risk score based on obesity polymorphisms detected in genome-wide association studies. We used logistic mixed-effects models with a random effect for catchment area adjusted for potential confounders. Results: Access to green space was associated with a reduced risk of excess weight/obesity after adjusting for confounders [excess weight: OR (95%CI) = 0.82 (0.63, 1.07), p-value = 0.143; abdominal obesity: OR (95%CI) = 0.68 (0.45, 1.01), p-value = 0.057]. In the stratified analysis, this association was only observed in women. Associations between surrounding greenness and excess weight/obesity were null or modest based on a 1 IQR increase in NDVI [excess weight: OR (95%CI) = 0.99 (0.88, 1.11), p-value = 0.875; abdominal obesity: OR (95%CI) = 0.91 (0.79, 1.05), p-value = 0.186]. The observed associations were not mediated by physical activity or air pollution. Discussion: Access to green space may be associated with decreased risk of excess weight/obesity among women in Spain. Mechanisms explaining this association remain unclear. ; The study was conducted with the Support of Department of Health, Catalan Government grant SLT002/16/00223. The study was partially funded by the "Acción Transversal del Cáncer", approved on the Spanish Ministry Council on the 11th October 2007, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FEDER (PI08/1770, PI08/0533, PI08/1359, PS09/00773-Cantabria, PS09/01903-Valencia, PI11/01403, PI11/01889-FEDER, PI11/01810, PI12/00488, PI12/00265, PI12/01270, PI12/00715, PI14/01219, PI14/0613, PI15/00069), by the Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla (API 10/09), by the ICGC International Cancer Genome Consortium CLL (The ICGC CLL-Genome Project is funded by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and Red Temática de Investigación del Cáncer (RTICC) del ISCIII (RD12/0036/0036), by the Junta de Castilla y León (LE22A10-2), by the Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0571-2009, PI-0306-2011, salud201200057018tra), by the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (AP_061/10), by the Recercaixa (2010ACUP 00310), by the Regional Government of the Basque Country, by the Consejería de Sanidad de la Región de Murcia, by the European Commission grants FOOD-CT-2006-036224-HIWATE, by the Catalan Government- Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) grants 2017SGR723 and 2014SGR850, by the Fundación Caja de Ahorros de Asturias and by the University of Oviedo. ISGlobal is a member of the CERCA Programme, Generalitat de Catalunya. Biological samples were stored at the biobanks supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III- FEDER: Parc de Salut MAR Biobank (MARBiobanc) (RD09/0076/00036), "Biobanco La Fe" (RD 09 0076/00021) and FISABIO Biobank (RD09 0076/00058)

Background Timely assessment of the burden of HIV/AIDS is essential for policy setting and programme evaluation. In this report from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we provide national estimates of levels and trends of HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence, coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and mortality for 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2015. Methods For countries without high-quality vital registration data, we estimated prevalence and incidence with data from antenatal care clinics and population-based seroprevalence surveys, and with assumptions by age and sex on initial CD4 distribution at infection, CD4 progression rates (probability of progression from higher to lower CD4 cell-count category), on and off antiretroviral therapy (ART) mortality, and mortality from all other causes. Our estimation strategy links the GBD 2015 assessment of all-cause mortality and estimation of incidence and prevalence so that for each draw from the uncertainty distribution all assumptions used in each step are internally consistent. We estimated incidence, prevalence, and death with GBD versions of the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) and Spectrum software originally developed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). We used an open-source version of EPP and recoded Spectrum for speed, and used updated assumptions from systematic reviews of the literature and GBD demographic data. For countries with high-quality vital registration data, we developed the cohort incidence bias adjustment model to estimate HIV incidence and prevalence largely from the number of deaths caused by HIV recorded in cause-of-death statistics. We corrected these statistics for garbage coding and HIV misclassification. Findings Global HIV incidence reached its peak in 1997, at 3·3 million new infections (95 uncertainty interval UI 3·1�3·4 million). Annual incidence has stayed relatively constant at about 2·6 million per year (range 2·5�2·8 million) since 2005, after a period of fast decline between 1997 and 2005. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has been steadily increasing and reached 38·8 million (95% UI 37·6�40·4 million) in 2015. At the same time, HIV/AIDS mortality has been declining at a steady pace, from a peak of 1·8 million deaths (95% UI 1·7�1·9 million) in 2005, to 1·2 million deaths (1·1�1·3 million) in 2015. We recorded substantial heterogeneity in the levels and trends of HIV/AIDS across countries. Although many countries have experienced decreases in HIV/AIDS mortality and in annual new infections, other countries have had slowdowns or increases in rates of change in annual new infections. Interpretation Scale-up of ART and prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been one of the great successes of global health in the past two decades. However, in the past decade, progress in reducing new infections has been slow, development assistance for health devoted to HIV has stagnated, and resources for health in low-income countries have grown slowly. Achievement of the new ambitious goals for HIV enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets will be challenging, and will need continued efforts from governments and international agencies in the next 15 years to end AIDS by 2030. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license

Background & aims: Epidemiological data on iron status and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are still controversial. The aim of this study was to determine whether low serum iron (SI) levels are associated with an increased odds of first CVD event in a population at high cardiovascular risk. Methods: Case-control study design nested within the "PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea" (PREDIMED) trial. A total of 207 participants diagnosed with CVD (myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular death) during follow-up period (2003-2010) were matched by sex, age and intervention group to 436 controls by incidence density sampling. Median time between serum sample collection and subsequent CVD event occurrence was 0.94 years. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis was used to determine SI levels. In-person interviews, medical record reviews, and validated questionnaires were used to assess covariates. Multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of CVD were calculated with conditional logistic regression. Results: Mean SI levels were higher in men than in women (1224.0 μg/L vs. 1093.8 μg/L; p < 0.001). Among women, but not in men, the mean SI concentration was lower in cases than in controls (1008.5 μg/L vs. 1132.9 μg/L; p = 0.030). There was a gradual decrease in the multivariable-adjusted ORs of CVD with increasing SI levels (highest vs. lowest quartile: OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.32-0.93; ptrend = 0.020). This inverse relationship was more pronounced among women (highest vs. lowest quartile: OR = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.03-0.69; ptrend = 0.011). Conclusions: The present findings are consistent with previously reported inverse associations between SI and CVD. SI levels as an independent marker of short-term cardiovascular risk may be useful for risk assessment in older populations. Trial registration: www.controlled-trials.com; International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 35,739,639. Registered 5 October 2005. Retrospectively registered. ; This research was supported by the official funding agency for biomedical research of the Spanish government, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), through grants provided to research networks specifically developed for the trial (RTIC G03/140; RTIC RD 06/0045 "PREDIMED"), and JR14/00008, and through Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), and by grants from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC 06/2007), the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria–Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Proyecto de Investigación (PI04-2239, PI05/2584, CP06/00100, PI07/0240, PI07/1138, PI07/0954, PI 07/0473, PI10/01407, PI10/02658, PI11/01647, P11/02505 and PI13/00462), the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Recursos y teconologia agroalimentarias (AGL)-2009-13906-C02 and AGL2010-22319-C03 and AGL2013-49083C3-1-R), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad-Fondos FEDER-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (UNGR15-CE-3380), the Fundación Mapfre 2010, the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (PI0105/2007), the Public Health Division of the Department of Health of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, the Generalitat Valenciana (Generalitat Valenciana Ayuda Complementatia GVACOMP) 06109, GVACOMP2010-181, GVACOMP2011-151), Conselleria de Sanitat y AP; Atención Primaria (CS) 2010-AP-111, and CS2011-AP-042), Regional Government of Navarra (P27/2011), and Centre Català de la Nutrició de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Hojiblanca and Patrimonio Communal Olivarero donated extra-virgin olive oil; the California Walnut Commission donated walnuts; Borges donated almonds; La Morella Nuts donated hazelnuts. ROLE OF THE FUNDERS: funding sources had no role in the designing and conducting of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

Background: Over the past 10-15 years, a substantial amount of work has been done by the scientific, regulatory, and business communities to elucidate the effects and risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment. Objective: This review was undertaken to identify key outstanding issues regarding the effects of PPCPs on human and ecological health in order to ensure that future resources will be focused on the most important areas. Data sources: To better understand and manage the risks of PPCPs in the environment, we used the "key question" approach to identify the principle issues that need to be addressed. Initially, questions were solicited from academic, government, and business communities around the world. A list of 101 questions was then discussed at an international expert workshop, and a top-20 list was developed. Following the workshop, workshop attendees ranked the 20 questions by importance. Data synthesis: The top 20 priority questions fell into seven categories: a) prioritization of substances for assessment, b) pathways of exposure, c) bioavailability and uptake, d) effects characterization, e) risk and relative risk, f) antibiotic resistance, and g) risk management. Conclusions: A large body of information is now available on PPCPs in the environment. This exercise prioritized the most critical questions to aid in development of future research programs on the topic. ; Fil: Boxall, Alistair B. A. University of York; Reino Unido ; Fil: Rudd, Murray A. University of York; Reino Unido ; Fil: Brooks, Bryan W. Baylor University; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Caldwell, Daniel J. Johnson & Johnson; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Choi, Kyungho. Seoul National University; Corea del Sur ; Fil: Hickmann, Silke. Umweltbundesamt; Alemania ; Fil: Innes, Elizabeth. Health Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Ostapyk, Kim. Health Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Staveley, Jane P. Exponent; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Verslycke, Tim. Gradient; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Ankley, Gerald T. United States Environmental Protection Agency; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Beazley, Karen F. Dalhousie University Halifax; Canadá ; Fil: Belanger, Scott E. Procter And Gamble; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Berninger, Jason P. Baylor University; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Carriquiriborde, Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Química. Centro de Investigaciones del Medio Ambiente; Argentina ; Fil: Coors, Anja. Ect Oekotoxikologie Gmbh; Alemania ; Fil: DeLeo, Paul C. American Cleaning Institute; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Dyer, Scott D. Procter And Gamble; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Ericson, Jon F. Pfizer Inc.; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Gagné, François. Environment Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Giesy, John P. University of Saskatchewan; Canadá ; Fil: Gouin, Todd. Unilever; Reino Unido ; Fil: Hallstrom, Lars. University of Alberta; Canadá ; Fil: Karlsson, Maja V. University of York; Reino Unido ; Fil: Joakim Larsson, D.G. University of Göteborg; Alemania ; Fil: Lazorchak, James M. United States Environmental Protection Agency; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Mastrocco, Frank. Pfizer Inc.; Estados Unidos ; Fil: McLaughlin, Alison. Health Canada; Canadá ; Fil: McMaster, Mark E. Environment Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Meyerhoff, Roger D. Eli Lilly And Company; Estados Unidos ; Fil: Moore, Roberta. Health Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Parrott, Joanne L. Environment Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Snape, Jason R. AstraZeneca UK Ltd.; Reino Unido ; Fil: Murray-Smith, Richard. AstraZeneca UK Ltd.; Reino Unido ; Fil: Servos, Mark R. University of Waterloo; Canadá ; Fil: Sibley, Paul K. University of Guelph; Canadá ; Fil: Straub, Jürg Oliver. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.; Suiza ; Fil: Szabo, Nora D. University of Ottawa; Canadá ; Fil: Topp, Edward. Agriculture Et Agroalimentaire Canada; Canadá ; Fil: Tetreault, Gerald R. University of Waterloo; Canadá ; Fil: Trudeau, Vance L. University of Ottawa; Canadá ; Fil: Van Der Kraak, Glen. University of Guelph; Canadá

Background: The effect of dietary fat intake on the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and in turn on cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unclear in individuals at high CVD risk. Objective: To assess the association between fat intake and MetS components in an adult Mediterranean population at high CVD risk. Design: Baseline assessment of nutritional adequacy in participants (n = 6560, men and women, 55-75 years old, with overweight/obesity and MetS) in the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED)-Plus randomized trial. Methods: Assessment of fat intake (total fat, monounsatured fatty acids: MUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acids: PUFA, saturated fatty acids: SFA, trans-fatty acids: trans-FA, linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, and ω-3 FA) using a validated food frequency questionnaire, and diet quality using 17-item Mediterranean dietary questionnaire and fat quality index (FQI). Results: Participants in the highest quintile of total dietary fat intake showed lower intake of energy, carbohydrates, protein and fiber, but higher intake of PUFA, MUFA, SFA, TFA, LA, ALA and ω-3 FA. Differences in MetS components were found according to fat intake. Odds (5th vs. 1st quintile): hyperglycemia: 1.3-1.6 times higher for total fat, MUFA, SFA and ω-3 FA intake; low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c): 1.2 higher for LA; hypertriglyceridemia: 0.7 lower for SFA and ω-3 FA intake. Conclusions: Dietary fats played different role on MetS components of high CVD risk patients. Dietary fat intake was associated with higher risk of hyperglycemia. ; The PREDIMED-Plus trial was supported by the official funding agency for biomedical research of the Spanish government, ISCIII through the Fondo de Investigación para la Salud (FIS), which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (four coordinated FIS projects led by Jordi Salas-Salvadó and Josep Vidal, including the following projects: PI13/00673, PI13/00492, PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/02184, PI13/00728, PI13/01090, PI13/01056, PI14/01722, PI14/00636, PI14/00618, PI14/00696, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/00853, PI14/01374, PI16/00473, PI16/00662, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00381, PI16/00366, PI16/01522, PI16/01120, PI17/00764, PI17/01183, PI17/00855, PI17/01347, PI17/00525, PI17/01827, PI17/00532, PI17/00215, PI17/01441, PI17/00508, PI17/01732, PI17/00926), the Especial Action Project entitled: Implementación y evaluación de una intervención intensive sobre la actividad física Cohorte PREDIMED-PLUS grant to Jordi Salas-Salvadó, the European Research Council (Advanced Research Grant 2013-2018; 340918) grant to Miguel Ángel Martínez-Gonzalez, the Recercaixa grant to Jordi Salas-Salvadó (2013ACUP00194), grants from the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (PI0458/2013; PS0358/2016; PI0137/2018), the PROMETEO/2017/017 grant from the Generalitat Valenciana, the SEMERGEN grant, and CIBEROBN and FEDER funds (CB06/03), ISCIII. International Nut & Dried Fruit Council – FESNAD No. 201302: Miguel Ángel Martínez-Gonzalez (PI). Alicia Julibert, Maria del Mar Bibiloni, Cristina Bouzas, Lucía Ugarriza and Josep A. Tur are granted by Grant of support to research groups no. 35/2011 (Balearic Islands Gov.; FEDER funds), EU-COST ACTION CA16112, and Fundació La Marató TV3 (Spain) project ref. 201630.10. None of the funding sources took part in the design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The corresponding authors had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility to submit for publication.

The Middle East is a predominately Islamic region. Islam is not only a religion, it is the Muslim way of life and law. The western world follows a more modern system of government, in the form of democracy. Democracy is not modern, as in new, since it was started by the ancient Greeks, but it is modern, because it is the main system being adopted in contemporary times. Muslims follow the ideals found in the Holy Quran, the book dictated by the prophet Muhammad. The Middle East has had a strong Islamic influence since the mid-seventh century. Islam originated in Mecca in 610 C.E. About twelve years later, in 622 C.E., after much persecution in Mecca, Muslims migrated to Medina. This was in 622 C.E. and it marked the start of the Muslim calendar. Soon, by 655 C.E., Islam had begun spreading over the regions along the Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Peninsula, Asia, and Africa. This research will span the political systems from pre-Ottoman, to Ottoman, to the Modern era. The beginning of the modern Middle East is marked by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the end of World War I. Since the end of World War I, much of the Middle Eastern region has been exposed to the western system of government and western culture. The intent of this Thesis is to analyze and draw a conclusion on the possibility of Politically Islamic states having Democracy and following Democratic ideologies. It will examine the ideologies of Islam to determine if democracy, a system of government that includes the citizens of the nation having the right to speak and receiving civil liberties to choose their leaders, is actually present. It will use data from Turkey, Iran, and Egypt, Middle Eastern nations located either in, or bordering, three different continents of the world. In each country the research will examine, the governmental system, the regime type, the leaders past and present, and the policies, including how each country vary according to a specific Islamic sector (Sunni or Shia). This thesis will draw conclusions from the comparative analysis on each case study, on whether it is possible to have democracy in a state where Islamic ideologies are a major factor. From the case study findings, there were clear differences between all the countries studied. Turkey was found to be majority Sunni with a secular republic government but it is showing signs of reverting into the realm of political Islam. Iran was found to be majority Shia with a religious republic government, one that freely allows religion into the law-making body and has emphasized policies that are based on Islamic law. In addition, Iran shows adversity to western democratic bodies, which falls in line with the idea that Islam and democracy are at odds. Finally, Egypt the most revolution-plagued has changed leaders constantly through coups and protests, when the citizens find the leaders as corrupt or not acting in the best interest of the country. Like Turkey, Egypt is a secular republic with the majority of its citizens being from the Sunni Islamic sect it has recently shown an inclination to be the most democratic nation of those studied. The research showed that the Middle East is still having trouble adjusting to the idea of democracy and democratic ideology. The issues were found on various cultural, social, and leadership levels. There were not only civil and regional disputes among the nations of the Middle East, some of the issues have been extended to international levels. The split between Democracy and traditional Islamic values, appeared to only deepen the conflicts of the region. ; 2017-08-01 ; B.A. ; College of Sciences, Political Science ; Bachelors ; This record was generated from author submitted information.