Thesis (M.S.)--Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 2005. / Running title: Seasonal affective disorder and melanopsin. Typescript (photocopy).

Thesis (M.S.)--Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy).

Thesis (M.S.)--Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy).

Within this diploma thesis were evaluated factors, affecting consumption of drinking water from water supply system. Evaluation of time series of water consumption and chosen factors was performed using tools of mathematical statistics. In the last step was performed a dependence analysis of water consumption using artificial neuron network ANN. Diploma thesis was solved in cooperation with company Vodárenská akciová společnost, PLC and Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava, PCL.

This article reviews the effectiveness of dose forms and the efficacy of dosage and distribution in morphosyntax intervention for children. Dose forms include the commonly used techniques, procedures, and intervention contexts that constitute teaching episodes; dosage includes the quantitative measures of dose, dose frequency, total intervention duration, and cumulative intervention intensity (S. F. Warren, M. E. Fey, & P. J. Yoder, 2007). Based on the literature, this article first outlines and evaluates the range of dose forms and intervention contexts that clinicians and researchers can employ to facilitate morphosyntactic acquisition. Then, it defines and evaluates research outcomes and provides examples of the dosage components. Current evidence, which focuses primarily on young children and early-developing morphology and sentence structures, suggests that some dose forms and dosage levels are more effective with some populations and some morphosyntactic forms than with others. Distributed practice within sessions and throughout the total period of treatment appears to be more facilitative than massed practice, at least for children with typical language development. The scant research concerning total intervention duration suggests that it affects children's developmental trajectory and that treatment attendance matters. What is missing from the research base is detailed information about the effectiveness and efficacy of intervention for the acquisition of particular morphosyntactic forms in specific populations. The article summarizes these gaps in 3 research goals that reflect the argument of S. F. Warren et al. that it is time to conduct systematic comparisons of specific dose forms while testing how each measure of dosage affects outcomes.

The use of materialized views in a data warehouse installation is a common tool to speed up mostly aggregation queries. The problems coming along with materialized aggregate views have triggered a huge variety of proposals, such as picking the optimal set of aggregation combinations, transparently rewriting user queries to take advantage of the summary data, or synchronizing pre-computed summary data as soon as the base data changes. The paper focuses on the problem of view selection in the context of distributed data warehouse architectures. While much research was done with regard to the view selection problem in the central case, we are not aware to any other work discussing the problem of view selection in distributed data warehouse systems. The paper proposes an extension of the concept of an aggregation lattice to capture the distributed semantics. Moreover, we extend a greedy-based selection algorithm based on an adequate cost model for the distributed case. Within a performance study, we finally compare our findings with the approach of applying a selection algorithm locally to each node in a distributed warehouse environment.

No / When descending stairs bodyweight becomes supported on a single limb while the forwards-reaching contralateral limb is lowered in order to make contact with the step below. This is associated with lowering of the centre of mass (CoM), which in order to occur in a controlled manner, requires increased ankle and knee joint torque production relative to that in overground walking. We have previously shown that when descending steps or stairs older people operate at a higher proportion of their maximum eccentric capacity and at, or in excess of the maximum passive reference joint range of motion. This suggests they have reduced and/or altered control over their CoM and we hypothesised that this would be associated with alterations in muscle activity patterns and in the CoM vertical acceleration and velocity profiles during both the lowering and landing phases of stair descent. 15 older (mean age 75 years) and 17 young (mean age 25 years) healthy adults descended a 4-step staircase, leading with the right limb on each stair, during which CoM dynamics and electromyographic activity patterns for key lower-limb muscles were assessed. Maximum voluntary eccentric torque generation ability at the knee and ankle was also assessed. Older participants compared to young participants increased muscle co-contraction relative duration at the knee and ankle of the trailing limb so that the limb was stiffened for longer during descent. As a result older participants contacted the step below with a reduced downwards CoM velocity when compared to young participants. Peak downwards and peak upwards CoM acceleration during the descent and landing phases respectively, were also reduced in older adults compared to those in young participants. In contrast, young participants descended quickly onto the step below but arrested their downward CoM velocity sooner following landing; a strategy that was associated with longer relative duration lead-limb plantar flexor activity, increased peak upwards CoM acceleration, and a reduced landing duration. These results suggest that a reduced ability to generate high eccentric torque at the ankle in the forward reaching limb is a major factor for older participants adopting a cautious movement control strategy when descending stairs. The implications of this CoM control strategy on the incidences of falling on stairs are discussed.

No / Initiation of breast feeding and duration of any breast feeding are known to differ by ethnic group, but there are limited data on differences in exclusive breast feeding. This study aimed to determine if there are ethnic differences in the initiation and duration of any and exclusive breast feeding. METHODS: Breast-feeding data were obtained from a subsample of 1365 women recruited to a multi-ethnic cohort study (Born in Bradford) between August 2008 and March 2009. Poisson regression was used to investigate the impact of socio-economic, life style and birth factors on ethnic differences in the prevalence of breast feeding. RESULTS: Compared with white British mothers, initiation of breast feeding was significantly higher in all ethnic groups and this persisted after adjustment for socio-economic, life style and birth factors [Pakistani: prevalence rate ratio (PRR) = 1.19 (95% confidence interval 1.10, 1.29); Other South Asian: PRR = 1.29 (1.18, 1.42); Other ethnicities: PRR = 1.33 (1.21, 1.46)]. There were no differences in exclusive breast feeding at 4 months [Pakistani: PRR = 0.77 (0.54, 1.09); Other South Asian: PRR = 1.55 (0.99, 2.43); Other ethnicities: PRR = 1.50 (0.88, 2.56)]. Any breast feeding at 4 months was significantly higher in mothers of all non-white British ethnicities [Pakistani: PRR = 1.27 (1.02, 1.58); Other South Asian: PRR = 1.99 (1.52, 2.62); Other ethnicities: 2.45 (1.86, 3.21)]. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst women of ethnic minority groups were significantly more likely to initiate breast feeding and continue any breast feeding for 4 months compared with white British women, the rates of exclusive breast feeding at 4 months were not significantly different once socio-economic, life style and birth factors were accounted for.

No / Metamemory is integral for strategizing about memory intentions. This study investigated the prospective memory (PM) deficit in Parkinson's disease (PD) from a metamemory viewpoint, with the aim of examining whether metamemory deficits might contribute to PM deficits in PD. METHOD: Sixteen patients with PD and 16 healthy older adult controls completed a time-based PM task (initiating a key press at two specified times during an ongoing task), and an event-based PM task (initiating a key press in response to animal words during an ongoing task). To measure metamemory participants were asked to predict and postdict their memory performance before and after completing the tasks, as well as complete a self-report questionnaire regarding their everyday memory function. RESULTS: The PD group had no impairment, relative to controls, on the event-based task, but had prospective (initiating the key press) and retrospective (recalling the instructions) impairments on the time-based task. The PD group also had metamemory impairments on the time-based task; they were inaccurate at predicting their performance before doing the task but, became accurate when making postdictions. This suggests impaired metamemory knowledge but preserved metamemory monitoring. There were no group differences regarding PD patients' self-reported PM performance on the questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: These results reinforce previous findings that PM impairments in PD are dependent on task type. Several accounts of PM failures in time-based tasks are presented, in particular, ways in which mnemonic and metacognitive deficits may contribute to the difficulties observed on the time-based task.

No / Enabling patients to be cared for in their preferred location often involves journeys between care settings. The challenge of ensuring journeys are timely and safe emerged as an important issue in an evaluation of palliative care services, which informed a service redesign programme in three areas of the United Kingdom by the Marie Curie Cancer Care 'Delivering Choice Programme'. This article explores perceptions of service users and key stakeholders of palliative care services about problems encountered in journeys between care settings during end-of-life care. This article draws on data from interviews with stakeholders (n = 44), patients (n = 16), carers (n = 19) and bereaved carers (n = 20); and focus groups (n = 9) with specialist nurses. Data were gathered in three areas of the United Kingdom. Data were analysed using a framework approach. Transport problems between care settings emerged as a key theme. Four particular problems were identified: (1) urgent need for transport due to patients' rapidly changing condition; (2) limited time to organise transfers; (3) the management of specialist equipment and (4) the need to clarify the resuscitation status of patients. Partnership working between Ambulance Services and secondary care is required to develop joint protocols of care to ensure timely and safe transportation between care settings of patients, who are near their end of life. Commissioning of services should be responsive to the complexities of patients' needs and those of their families.