A randomized double‐blind crossover study of indoor air filtration and acute changes in cardiorespiratory health in a First Nations community

Few studies have examined indoor air quality in First Nations communities and its impact on cardiorespiratory health. To address this need, we conducted a crossover study on a First Nations reserve in Manitoba, Canada, including 37 residents in 20 homes. Each home received an electrostatic air filter and a placebo filter for 1 week in random order, and lung function, blood pressure, and endothelial function measures were collected at the beginning and end of each week. Indoor air pollutants were monitored throughout the study period. Indoor PM_2.5 decreased substantially during air filter weeks relative to placebo (mean difference: 37 μg/m³, 95% CI: 10, 64) but remained approximately five times greater than outdoor concentrations owing to a high prevalence of indoor smoking. On average, air filter use was associated with a 217‐ml (95% CI: 23, 410) increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 s, a 7.9‐mm Hg (95% CI: ?17, 0.82) decrease in systolic blood pressure, and a 4.5‐mm Hg (95% CI: ?11, 2.4) decrease in diastolic blood pressure. Consistent inverse associations were also observed between indoor PM_2.5 and lung function. In general, our findings suggest that reducing indoor PM_2.5 may contribute to improved lung function in First Nations communities.     

Sustainability and the impact of Chinese policy initiatives upon construction

The environment has been perceived as an international issue, and ways of attaining sustainability are becoming important for countries seeking sustainable development. The international community has been active in developing policy frameworks towards achieving the sustainability, such as an ecological modernization approach and environment assessment. Developing countries deserve special attention in the effort to make sustainability an operative criterion in their development activities. Given the difficulties that developing countries are facing, their perceptions of the concept and principles of sustainability differ in various contexts from those of developed countries, and the attainment of sustainability is much more difficult. Therefore, the establishment of a global partnership is important for the vision of sustainability to be realized and operationalized in the world. The current stage of economic development in China provides an opportunity to incorporate environmental provisions into the national development strategies from a relatively early stage, rather than attempt retrofit to strategies. However, at present China's policy initiatives expressed in its Agenda 21 remains only a visionary concept. A comprehensive policy framework and realistic implementation measures are needed. The environmental impacts of the construction industry are extensive, particularly in developing countries. However, as in many developing countries, China's sustainable construction is still at its primary stage and current practice is unsatisfactory.     

Effect of untreated urban effluents on the accumulation of toxic metals in river sediments under tropical conditions: Funa River,Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The objective of the present study was to assess the status of surface sediments from Funa River. Sediment samples were characterized for physicochemical parameters, including grain size, organic matter and toxic metals. The result revealed high metal concentrations in river sediments, reaching values of 154.19, 186.00, 1105.34, 3.69, 548.02 and 5.45 mg/kg for Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Hg, respectively. A strong correlation was observed between analysed metals and organic matter suggesting that these contaminants could have originated from common sources with a similar transport pathway. Based on the Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life, Funa River is considered as highly polluted with toxic metals indicating the potential environmental and human health risk. The results of this research represent a useful tool to assess the sediment quality of urban river receiving system which can be applied to similar environment.     

The ‘desiccator difficulty’: surprise,indignation and the local politics of planning for sanitary technology in nineteenth century Melbourne

ABSTRACT

‘Desiccators’, large machines that used steam and beaters to reduce waste into powder that could be sold as fertilizer, were one solution put forward in response to late nineteenth century Melbourne’s sanitation problems. Despite some initial enthusiasm for them, challenges with finding locations for desiccators were soon dubbed the ‘Desiccator Difficulty’. The ‘Desiccator Difficulty’ is one, all but forgotten, story of the fragmented governance contributing to Melbourne’s delays in coordinating a metropolitan sewerage system. This paper examines desiccators as a story with parallels in and legacies for planning today. It focuses on the role of local property-based conflicts – arguing these constituted emergent forms of planning, underscoring an increasing urban separation and control later embodied in metropolitan planning and infrastructure. Fragmented standoffs and bylaws also rationalized spatial disparities – with suburban municipalities refusing to house desiccators, nightsoil was sent to outer shires for decades. The paper argues Melbourne’s socio-technical transition to metropolitan sewerage and governance occurred not because water-borne technology was necessarily superior, but because legal assumptions and property interests made alternatives difficult to maintain. Desiccators are examples of ‘muddling’ details that belie simple narratives of technological change, and which have implications for how wider urban environmental change occurs and is understood.     

Precision metrology for studying thin films and surfaces

Evaluation techniques that are appropriate for characterizing the surface topography of optical thin films and surfaces are briefly described. These include microscopes ranging from low power optical microscopes to scanning probe microscopes that can measure topography of individual atoms or groups of atoms, optical non-contact and mechanical contact profilers, some of which can give topographic maps of surface areas, and total integrated scattering and angle-resolved scattering that yield statistical properties of surfaces. Theories are needed to relate scattering to surface topography; these are valid only for certain types of topographies. Examples are given showing how various surface evaluation techniques can be applied to selected surfaces.     

Approche stochastique de l’analyse de la propagation des erreurs d’arrondi et de données dans les algorithmes numériques

Any result of algorithms provided by a computer always contains an error resulting from floating-point arithmetic round-off error propagation. Furthermore signal processing algorithms are also generally performed with data containing errors. The permutationperturbation method, also known under the name CESTAC (contrôle et estimation stochastique d’arrondi de calcul) is a very efficient practical method for evaluating these errors and consequently for estimating the exact significant decimal figures of any result of algorithms performed on a computer. The stochastic approach of this method, its probabilistic proof, and the perfect agreement between the theoretical and practical aspects are described in this paper.     

Use of analogies in therapeutic situations: An analogue study.

141 participants read vignettes that described stressors encountered by college students. Each vignettes also included information about the students' hobby and therapeutic advice the students might follow to deal with their stressors. This advice was expressed in either a literal or an analogical form. Ss were asked to read the vignettes from the perspective of a therapist, a patient, or an observer, and to rate the advice component of each vignette for helpfulness. Analogical advice was rated as significantly more helpful than literal advice on a variety of questions. A surprise cued-recall memory test showed that Ss in the analogical condition but not in the literal condition remembered information according to their assigned role. In the role of patients, Ss showed greatest recall for the therapeutic advice, but in the role of therapists, they showed greatest recall for the students' stressors. In line with a growing literature in cognitive psychology, these results show that the impact of analogies in therapeutic interactions is a combined is a combined function of the material to be processed and the role of the person processing it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mastering technology and containing costs

Research cannot be considered a luxury any longer, subject to economic fluctuations. Discussing the upstream sector, the author outlines the main directions of research in the next few years. He emphasizes the aspects of R&D which will be invariable, like increases in the recovery rate and sets out the main approaches to research reflecting future needs. A technological scenario incorporating the results of the most promising avenues of research would lead to substantial cost reductions for the oil and gas industry.     

Constraint-induced movement therapy: A new approach to treatment in physical rehabilitation.

Constraint-Induced (CI) Movement Therapy is a new approach to the rehabilitation of movement, based on research in neuroscience and behavioral psychology, that has been shown in controlled experiments to greatly increase the amount of use of an impaired upper extremity in chronic stroke patients in both the laboratory and the real world. CI Therapy consists of a family of techniques that induce stroke patients to greatly increase their use of an affected upper extremity for many hours a day over 10 to 14 consecutive days. The signature technique involves restricting the contralateral arm in a sling and training the affected arm. This commentary reviews the animal and human research and the theoretical formulation on which CI Therapy is based. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)