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There is considerable debate about whether bilingual children have an advantage in executive functioning relative to monolingual children. In the current meta-analysis, we addressed this debate by comprehensively reviewing the available evidence. We synthesized data from published studies and unpublished data sets, which equated to 1,194 effect sizes from 10,937 bilingual and 12,477 monolingual participants between the ages of 3 and 17 years. Bilingual language status had a small overall effect on children’s executive functioning ( g = .08, 95% confidence interval = [.01, .14]). However, the effect of language status on children’s executive functioning was indistinguishable from zero ( g = −.04) after we adjusted for publication bias. Further, no significant effects were apparent within the executive-attention domain, in which the effects of language status have been hypothesized to be most pronounced ( g = .06, 95% confidence interval = [−.02, .14]). Taken together, available evidence suggests that the bilingual advantage in children’s executive functioning is small, variable, and potentially not attributable to the effect of language status.

Bandages are common in many health-related treatments, including management of edema of the lower limb where they may remain in place for several days. The behavior of 2 bandage fabrics was investigated after exposure for up to 5 days to a multiaxial extension laboratory setup on a tensile tester in compression mode. The fabrics were extended 20% and remained under that machine setting. Stress-relaxation over time was determined by analyzing the rate of change over 24 hours and over 5 days. Most change, a rapid drop in force, occurred during the first 15 minutes; thereafter, for the next 12-hour period, a slower rate of decrease was observed. Both fabrics continued to relax gradually during the next 12 hours and continued to do so for up to 5 days. Little further change was evident during the last 12 hours or so. This phenomenon suggests that rewrapping may be appropriate (albeit not practical) after 12 hours of compression therapy to optimize the compression given to the lower leg. Relaxation behavior of these 2 fabrics can be explained using the generalized Maxwell-Wiechert model.

Background Hardware changes can be an unavoidable confound in imaging trials. Understanding the impact of such changes may play an important role in the analysis of imaging data. Objective To characterize the effect of equipment changes in a longitudinal, multi-site multiple sclerosis trial. Methods Using data from a clinical trial in progressive multiple sclerosis, we explored how major changes in imaging hardware affected data. We analyzed the extent to which these changes affected imaging biomarkers and the estimated treatment effects by including such changes as a time-dependent covariate. Results Significant differences whole brain atrophy (brain parenchymal fraction, BPF) and microstructure (transverse diffusivity, TD) between scans with and without changes were found and depended on the type of hardware change. A switch from GE HDxt to Siemens Skyra led to significant shifts in BPF (p 0.5). Conclusions The results suggest that differences among hardware types should be considered when planning and analyzing brain atrophy and diffusivity in a longitudinal clinical trial.

Following resolution of a long-standing debate over the timing of the initial settlement of New Zealand from Polynesia (late 13th century), a prevailing paradigm has developed that invokes rapid transformation of the landscape, principally by fire, within a few decades of the first arrivals. This model has been constructed from evidence mostly from southern and eastern regions of New Zealand, but a more complicated pattern may apply in the more humid western and northern regions where forests are more resilient to burning. We present a new pollen record from Lake Pupuke, Auckland, northern New Zealand, that charts the changing vegetation cover over the last 1000 years, before and after the arrival of people. Previous results from this site concurred with the rapid transformation model, although sampling resolution, chronology and sediment disturbance make that interpretation equivocal. Our new record is dated principally by tephrochronology together with radiocarbon dating and includes a cryptotephra deposit identified as Kaharoa tephra, a key marker for first settlement in northern New Zealand. Its discovery and stratigraphic position below two Rangitoto-derived tephras enables a clearer picture of environmental change to be drawn. The new pollen record shows an early phase (step 1) of minor, localised forest clearance around the time of Kaharoa tephra ( c. 1314 AD) followed by a later, more extensive deforestation phase (step 2) commencing at around the time of deposition of the Rangitoto tephras ( c. 1400–1450 AD). This pattern, which needs to be corroborated from other well-resolved records from northern New Zealand, concurs with an emerging hypothesis that the ‘Little Ice Age’ had a significant impact on pre-European Māori with the onset of harsher conditions causing a consolidation of populations and later environmental impact in northern New Zealand.

Background: Episodic memory loss is one of the most common cognitive symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), but the pathophysiology of this symptom remains unclear. Both the hippocampus and thalamus have been implicated in episodic memory and show regional atrophy in patients with MS. Objective: In this work, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a verbal episodic memory task, lesion load, and volumetric measures of the hippocampus and thalamus to assess the relative contributions to verbal and visual–spatial episodic memory. Methods: Functional activation, lesion load, and volumetric measures from 32 patients with MS and 16 healthy controls were used in a predictive analysis of episodic memory function. Results: After adjusting for disease duration, immediate recall performance on a visual–spatial episodic memory task was significantly predicted by hippocampal volume ( p Conclusion: Our results suggest that functional activation may be useful as a predictive measure of episodic memory loss in patients with MS.

Impaired brain clearance of amyloid-beta peptides (Aβ) 40 and 42 across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is believed to be one of the pathways responsible for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Hyperinsulinemia prevalent in type II diabetes was shown to damage cerebral vasculature and increase Aβ accumulation in AD brain. However, there is no clarity on how aberrations in peripheral insulin levels affect Aβ accumulation in the brain. This study describes, for the first time, an intricate relation between plasma insulin and Aβ transport at the BBB. Upon peripheral insulin administration in wild-type mice: the plasma clearance of Aβ40 increased, but Aβ42 clearance reduced; the plasma-to-brain influx of Aβ40 increased, and that of Aβ42 reduced; and the clearance of intracerebrally injected Aβ40 decreased, whereas Aβ42 clearance increased. In hCMEC/D3 monolayers (in vitro BBB model) exposed to insulin, the luminal uptake and luminal-to-abluminal permeability of Aβ40 increased and that of Aβ42 reduced; the abluminal-to-luminal permeability of Aβ40 decreased, whereas Aβ42 permeability increased. Moreover, Aβ cellular trafficking machinery was altered. In summary, Aβ40 and Aβ42 demonstrated distinct distribution kinetics in plasma and brain compartments, and insulin differentially modulated their distribution. Cerebrovascular disease and metabolic disorders may disrupt this intricate homeostasis and aggravate AD pathology.

Background: Imaging can provide noninvasive neural markers of disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) that are related to behavioral and cognitive symptoms. Past work suggests that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides a measure of white matter pathology, including demyelination and axonal counts. Objectives: In the current study, the authors investigate the relationship of DTI measures in the cingulum bundle to common deficits in MS, including episodic memory, working memory, and information processing speed. Methods: Fifty-seven patients with MS and 17 age- and education-matched controls underwent high-spatial resolution diffusion scans and cognitive testing. Probabilistic tracking was used to generate tracks from the posterior cingulate cortex to the entorhinal cortex. Results: Radial and axial diffusivity values were significantly different between patients and controls ( p < 0.031), and in patients bilateral diffusion measures were significantly related to measures of episodic memory and speed of processing ( p < 0.033). Conclusions: The tractography-based measures of posterior cingulum integrity reported here support further development of DTI as a viable measure of axonal integrity and cognitive function in patients with MS.

This study aimed to determine the relative effects of fiber type (fine wool, mid-micron wool, acrylic), yarn type (high-twist, low-twist, single), and fabric structure (single jersey, half-terry, terry) on thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, thermal conductance, water vapor permeability, liquid absorption capacity, and regain of sock fabrics. Fabric structure had the greatest effect on thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, water vapor permeability, liquid absorption capacity, and thermal conductance. Terry fabrics were the most thermal and water vapor resistant, most absorbent, and most conductive. Results were consistent with current understanding of the effect of fabric thickness on thermal and moisture transfer properties when measured under static conditions: However, the effects of yarn type and/or fabric structure of sock fabrics have not previously been explained.

The objective of this study was to measure the combined effects of fiber type (fine wool, mid-micron wool, acrylic), yarn type (high twist, low twist, single) and fabric structure (single jersey, half-terry, terry) on friction between sock fabrics and a synthetic skin using the horizontal platform method. The effect of weight of a hypothetical wearer and moisture content of a sock fabric were also investigated. Differences among fabrics were analyzed using frictional force traces. Data compared included the static and dynamic friction and coefficients of friction, as well as three new descriptive parameters. All variables investigated affected the frictional characteristics between a sock fabric and a synthetic skin. Single jersey fabrics had the lowest coefficient of static and dynamic friction. Friction between fabric and a synthetic skin was affected most by the applied weight, with the simulated adult weight resulting in a greater frictional force, and higher coefficients of static and dynamic friction. The most important effect of fiber was on the static frictional force and coefficient of static friction of damp fabrics, with fabrics composed of fine wool exhibiting lowest friction, and acrylic fabrics the highest.

The objective of this study was to subject dry and damp sock fabrics to repeated compression cycles in order to determine the relative effects of fiber type (fine wool, mid-micron wool, acrylic), yarn type (high twist, low twist, single) and fabric structure (single jersey, half-terry, terry) on fabric compression and recovery from compression. Changes in fabric thickness were measured using a tensile tester and a number of parameters identified and analyzed: retained thickness, recovered thickness, compression to recovery ratio, energy absorption and energy absorption standardized for fabric thickness. The dominant factor was the number of compression cycles, with most change in the thickness retained and recovered evident within the first 10 cycles. The pattern of response of dry and damp fabrics was quite different with, the dry fabrics having a better compression to recovery ratio. Energy absorption was affected strongly by fabric structure, however this was closely related to initial fabric thickness. When fabrics were made damp, fabrics composed of acrylic fibers had a better compression to recovery ratio than fabrics composed of wool.

Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have immunomodulatory and neuro-protective properties and are being studied for treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Tractography-based diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), cortical thickness (Cth) and T2 lesion volume (T2LV) can provide insight into treatment effects. Objective The objective of this study was to analyse the effects of MSC transplantation in MS on exploratory MRI measures. Methods MRIs were obtained from 24 MS patients from a phase 1 open-label study of autologous MSC transplantation. DTI metrics were obtained in lesions and normal-appearing white matter motor tracts (NAWM). T2LV and Cth were derived. Longitudinal evolution of MRI outcomes were modelled using linear mixed effects. Pearson’s correlation was calculated between MRI and clinical measures. Results Lesional radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD) decreased pre-transplant and showed no changes post-transplant. There were mixed trends in NAWM RD and AD pre/post-transplant. Transplantation stabilized T2LV growth. NAWM RD and AD correlated with Cth, T2LV and with leg and arm function but not with cognition. Lesional DTI demonstrated similar but less robust correlations. Conclusions Microstructural tissue integrity is altered in MS. DTI changes pre-transplant may be influenced by concomitant lesion accrual. Contributor to DTI stabilization post-transplant is multifactorial. DTI of major motor tracts correlated well with clinical measures, highlighting its sensitivity to clinically meaningful changes.

Taupo volcano in central North Island, New Zealand, is the most frequently active and productive rhyolite volcano on Earth. Its latest explosive activity about 1800 years ago generated the spectacular Taupo eruption, the most violent eruption known in the world in the last 5000 years. We present here a new accurate and precise eruption date of ad 232 ± 5 (1718 ± 5 cal. BP) for the Taupo event. This date was derived by wiggle-matching 25 high-precision 14C dates from decadal samples of Phyllocladus trichomanoides from the Pureora buried forest near Lake Taupo against the high-precision, first-millennium ad subfossil Agathis australis (kauri) calibration data set constructed by the Waikato Radiocarbon Laboratory. It shows that postulated dates for the eruption estimated previously from Greenland ice-core records (ad 181 ± 2) and putative historical records of unusual atmospheric phenomena in ancient Rome and China ( c. ad 186) are both untenable. However, although their conclusion of a zero north–south 14C offset is erroneous, and their data exhibit a laboratory bias of about 38 years (too young), Sparks et al. (Sparks RJ, Melhuish WH, McKee JWA, Ogden J, Palmer JG and Molloy BPJ (1995) 14C calibration in the Southern Hemisphere and the date of the last Taupo eruption: Evidence from tree-ring sequences. Radiocarbon 37: 155–163) correctly utilized the Northern Hemisphere calibration curve of Stuiver and Becker (Stuiver M and Becker B (1993) High-precision decadal calibration of the radiocarbon timescale, AD 1950–6000 BC. Radiocarbon 35: 35–65) to obtain an accurate wiggle-match date for the eruption identical to ours but less precise (ad 232 ± 15). Our results demonstrate that high-agreement levels, indicated by either agreement indices or χ2 data, obtained from a 14C wiggle-match do not necessarily mean that age models are accurate. We also show that laboratory bias, if suspected, can be mitigated by applying the reservoir offset function with an appropriate error value (e.g. 0 ± 40 years). Ages for eruptives such as Taupo tephra that are based upon individual 14C dates should be considered as approximate only, and confined ideally to short-lived material (e.g. seeds, leaves, small branches or the outer rings of larger trees).

Fibre properties may be an important source of information to identify, conserve and protect intraspecific diversity within culturally significant fibre plants such as harakeke (Phormium tenax, New Zealand flax). Māori weavers recognise differences in whītau * (fibre aggregate prepared using traditional practices) extracted from leaves of different harakeke cultivars. However, tensile properties of fibre aggregates are reportedly highly variable. The aim of this study was to investigate variation in fibre aggregate physical and mechanical properties among leaves harvested from different fans within two bushes representing different cultivars of harakeke. Tenacity, extension to maximum load, specific modulus and specific energy to maximum load of fibre aggregates differed between the bushes, and also among leaves within each bush. Leaf width and thickness were weakly correlated with fibre aggregate properties suggesting that wider, thicker leaves yield tougher and more pliable fibre aggregates. Variability among leaves differed according to the property measured, and was highest for fibre aggregate length and lowest for specific energy to maximum load. Although fibre aggregate tenacity (or strength) is commonly used to compare intra and interspecific fibre properties, specific modulus, extension at maximum load and specific energy to maximum load were all more appropriate for identifying intraspecific differences in harakeke fibre properties.

Still they stand, the churches of England, their towers grey above billowy globes of elm trees, the red cross of St George flying over their battlements ... schoolmistress at the organ, incumbent in the chancel, scattered worshippers in the nave ... as the familiar Seventeenth Century phrases come echoing down arcades of ancient stone. --John Betjeman's Guide to English Parish Churches, 1 With more than two million copies of his Collected Poems sold to date, John Betjeman is one of modern English literatures most popular figures, loved for his poetry and for a broadcasting career of longer than forty years in which he shared his interests with his audience in radio and television programs. A measure of his revered status was the flood of new or republished material that greeted the 2006 centenary of his birth, including a new biography by A. N. Wilson and the release in DVD format of the films Betjeman made for BBC television in the 1970s--Metroland, A Passion for Churches, and Summoned By Bells. A collected volume of his BBC radio broadcasts, assembled by Stephen Games and titled Trains and Buttered Toast was a great success, and a further volume, Tennis Whites and Teacakes, appeared the following summer, drawing together Betjeman's published and unpublished writings on the theme of "Englishness." The autumn of 2007 also marked the publication of another volume edited by Games titled Sweet Songs of Zion: a volume more religious in its content, drawn from a series of radio broadcasts on hymns and hymn writers that Betjeman gave toward the end of his life. On reading this extra material, it becomes clear that Betjeman was a far more complex figure than we may have hitherto believed him to be. The man described by The Times in the 1970s as the "teddy bear to the nation" had once been something of a snob in his outlook, scornful of the very suburban, middle-class society that would later take him to its heart. Although, in the words of one biographer, he "never entirely threw off [his] pacifist convictions" when war broke out in 1939, his wartime writing and broadcasting toned down the harsh aesthetic pronouncements of the 1930s in favour of a more inclusive, shared sense of the "Englishness" that was so threatened by Hitler's war machine. (Wilson 135) (1) His work from the 1950s to the 1970s, seen at the time as a prolonged exercise in "nostalgia," was actually an urgent call to preserve aspects of English culture that were being lost in the drive for post-war modernisation and "rebuilding" Furthermore, Betjeman's religious writing is remarkably candid in nature, and the honesty with which he addressed his own spiritual doubts and anxieties makes him a figure of considerable relevance to modern readers. Betjeman's Christianity was vitally important to him, but he was not always comfortable in "that arduous love affair," as he described it in Summoned By Bells, and his writings fluctuate between spiritual assurance and anxiety. This fueled some of his finest poetry, collected and discussed by Kevin Gardner in his 2005 volume, Faith and Doubt of John Betjeman, and it may also be seen in his writings on subjects like church architecture and hymnology. From the material now available, it would appear that whilst Betjeman was never wholly comfortable in his religious life, he never sought to suppress that unease but chose rather to weave it into all aspects of his writing. In doing so he left his readers with poems that, in Gardner's words, "describe the perils of faith and the struggle to believe ... celebrate the social and cultural significance of the Church of England [and] reveal the intersection of architecture and faith, of aesthetics and the spirit" (Faith viii). In his lifetime, the enormous success of Betjeman's poems and radio and television broadcasts testified to his capacity to connect with his audience. His appointment as Poet Laureate in 1972 was, as some commentators noted, the official acknowledgement of what the British public had already decided: that he was the poetic voice of the nation's culture. …

A continuous ∼5280 calendar (cal.) yr long cryptotephrostratigraphic record of a peat core from northern New Zealand demonstrates that cryptotephra studies can enhance conventional tephra records by extending the known distribution of ash fall and enabling re-assessment of volcanic hazards. A systematic sampling strategy was used to locate peaks in glass-shard concentrations and to determine loci of individual geochemical populations, and a palynological method involving spiking samples with Lycopodium spores was adapted to facilitate accurate counting of glass-shard concentrations. Using glass shard major element compositions, and a core chronology based on eight AMS 14C ages and two visible macroscopic tephra layers, Taupo Tephra (Unit Y) (1688-1748 cal. BP) and Tuhua Tephra (6800-7230 cal. BP) (2cr-age ranges), four cryptotephras were correlated with known eruptions: Whakaipo (Unit V) (2743-2782 cal. BP), Stent (Unit Q) (4240-4510 cal. BP), and Unit K (4970-5290 cal. BP), erupted from Taupo Volcanic Centre, and Whakatane Tephra (5470-5600 cal. BP) erupted from Okataina Volcanic Centre. Mixed glass populations were found in the core, most likely an artefact of post-depositional remobilization of shards vertically (both up and down) in the peat or on its surface by wind, or a result of closely spaced eruption events, or a combination of these. A secondary glass population identified within the macroscopic Taupo Tephra was tentatively attributed to either an earlier phase within that eruption or to mixing with a slightly older Taupo-derived eruptive or (less likely) a currently unknown Okataina-derived eruptive. These results indicate that, in the absence of continuous cryptotephrostratigraphic analysis, a peak in shard concentrations may not in itself be indicative of the ‘true’ stratigraphic (ie, isochronous) level of a tephra layer. For cryptotephra studies of peat cores, we recommend (1) using a detailed sampling strategy for the analysis of distal tephra-derived glass to detect and account for any mixed populations and possible vertical spread of glass shards through the peat, and (2) analysing more shards from larger samples to help ‘capture’ sparsely represented cryptic andesitic tephra deposits.

Surveys of resident satisfaction are commonplace in most nursing homes, although surveys used in many facilities may be biased toward concerns of providers and regulators instead of residents. In this study, content for a nursing home satisfaction survey was synthesized from analysis of 11 published and 5 commercially available instruments, as well as qualitative data from interviews with a diverse group of 15 residents in three New Jersey nursing homes. Content analysis of the 16 instruments yielded six broad domains of resident satisfaction: activities, care and services, caregivers, environment, meals, and well-being. Data from residents yielded 87 discrete areas of content across the six domains. In all domains except meals, existing instruments failed to address at least one area of content considered important by residents. Findings from this study provided a framework to generate items for a standardized resident satisfaction survey to be used in New Jersey nursing homes.

In this article, the authors present the results of a questionnaire inquiring into the use and usefulness of resident satisfaction surveys sent to all nursing homes (N = 363) and assisted living facilities (N = 152) in New Jersey in fall 2000. The authors found 86% of nursing homes and 88% of assisted living facilities to be using resident satisfaction surveys. Satisfaction information was reported as extremely useful or very useful in 72% of nursing homes and 83% of assisted living facilities. However, satisfaction instruments used by nursing homes and assisted living facilities are highly varied, and instruments appear to have been developed largely on an ad hoc basis, with little attention to testing of validity or psychometric properties. Standardization initiatives are clearly needed. In addition, the uses of satisfaction information were limited and primarily aimed at administrative goals rather than at improving quality of care. These factors may restrict the potential benefits of resident satisfaction information.

To evaluate the outcome of patients with renal insufficiency undergoing endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), data were prospectively collected between 1998 and 2003 on patients undergoing elective repair of their AAA with a stent graft. The patients were divided into 2 groups: those with serum creatinine (Crs) concentrations

It is suggested that Bayesian statistical methods for radiocarbon data interpretation, already widely used in archaeology, also have potential to improve the dating of tephra layers and hence enhance their use for tephrochronology. By re-analysing data from a recently published paper in which the authors sought to identify the calendar date of the eruption of fourteenth-century AD Kaharoa Tephra, a key marker in New Zealand prehistory, it is shown that Bayesian methods can be used to draw together a coherent collection of radiocarbon data, undertake formal outlier detection, and include prior information. Regardless of the calibration curve adopted, the distribution of likely dates for the Kaharoa eruption is multimodal. By including prior information from wiggle-matched dendrochronology, the uncertainty on the estimate of the calendar date is reduced from a range of about 100 years to about 25 years (i.e., 648-623 cal. BP, with modes at 638 and 632 cal. BP). Using sensitivity analysis, however, it is shown that such estimates are affected by the quality and nature of the prior information available. As a result, we urge tephrochronologists to seek fastidiously both high-quality radiocarbon data and reliable stratigraphic sequences that might inform future geochronological model building.

Background: Phase I and Phase II studies in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis demonstrated that intravenous (TV) efalizumab improved clinical signs and symptoms and was well tolerated. Objective: To determine if subcutaneous (SC) delivery of efalizumab improves chronic plaque psoriasis and demonstrates an acceptable safety profile. Methods: This was a Phase I, open-label, single- and multiple-dose, escalating-dose study. Subjects received a single dose of efalizumab (0.3 mg/kg/wk SC) or escalating multiple doses of efalizumab (0.50–2.0 mg/kg/wk SC). Effectiveness was assessed using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), target lesion assessment, and Physician's Global Assessment (PGA). Safety was assessed by evaluating adverse events, clinical laboratory test results, physical examination results, immunologic responses, and vital signs. Results: PASI score, target lesion assessment, and PGA showed improvement of approximately 40%–60% in signs and symptoms of plaque psoriasis by day 56. Mean PASI scores were still declining at the end of the eight-week dosing period, suggesting that longer duration of treatment would be more effective. By day 91, mean PASI scores were 16.2 vs. 14.6 at day 56 in the 0.5–1.0-mg/kg/wk group and 11.7 vs. 10.1 in the 1.0–2.0-mg/kg/wk group. This demonstrates that, on average, patients maintained their treatment benefit during the 42-day followup period. Overall, there were considerably fewer adverse events than in previous IV studies. These consisted principally of mild to moderate headache, pain, and rhinitis. No allergic reactions were observed. Antibodies to efalizumab were observed in only one subject (2%) and did not have any clinical relevance. Conclusion: The SC administration of eight weekly doses of efalizumab improves signs and symptoms of psoriasis. The treatment was safe and very well tolerated. In comparison to previously published results with IV efalizumab, SC administration of efalizumab improves overall safety and tolerability, with the additional advantage of greater convenience.

Meteorological tsunamis are long-period waves that result from meteorologically driven disturbances. They are also generated by phase coupling with atmospheric gravity waves arising through powerful volcanic activity. The AD 1883 Krakatau eruption generated volcano-meteorological tsunamis that were recorded globally. Because of its extreme violence and energy release (≥150±50 megatons explosive yield), and by analogy with the Krakatau event, it is highly possible that the ignimbrite-emplacement phase of the c. ad 200 Taupo eruption of North Island, New Zealand, generated a similar volcano-meteorological tsunami that may have reached coastal areas worldwide. Tsunami deposits of identical age to the Taupo eruption occur in central coastal New Zealand and probably relate to that event; definitive evidence elsewhere has not yet been found. In theory, volcano-meteorological tsunamis are likely to be produced during comparable eruptive events at other explosive volcanoes, and thus represent an additional volcanic hazard at coastal sites far from source. We suggest that evidence for such tsunamis, both for marine and lacustrine environments, may be preserved in geological records, and that further work searching for this evidence using a facies approach is timely.

The discovery that orbital variations are the driving force behind Quaternary climate change provides an impetus to set local and regional records of environmental change into the global context, a principle that has been strongly embraced by Quaternary scientists working in New Zealand. Their major achievements and significant current initiatives are reviewed here. The importance of the New Zealand Quaternary stems from its geographical context: a climatically sensitive, remote oceanic, southern location spanning 17 degrees of the mid-latitudes; an obliquely convergent plate boundary setting resulting in a high mountain range athwart the prevailing westerlies, active volcanism, a youthful and dynamic landscape, and mountains high enough to maintain glaciers today; and a remarkably short prehistory. The resultant records show marked environmental changes due not only to climatic oscillations but also to vigorous, active tectonism and volcanism. The Taupo Volcanic Zone, containing the world's strongest concentration of youthful rhyolitic volcanoes, has produced at least 10 000 km3of magma in the last 2 Ma. Climatic interpretations of records from marine sediments in the New Zealand region, together with several long sequences of alternating marine and terrestrial sediments, indicate broad synchrony with Northern Hemisphere events (within limitations of dating), although there are differences in detail for shorter-term climatic events. It is not yet certain that glacial advances coincided precisely with those in the Northern Hemisphere or were of similar duration. Late Cainozoic glaciation commenced c. 2.6-2.4 Ma but the record of glacial deposits is fragmentary and poorly dated except for the most recent events. The Last (Otira) Glaciation, from c. 100-10 ka, was characterized by at least five glacial advances including during the Last Glacial Maximum from 25 to 15 ka, when snowlines fell by 600-800 m. New Zealand evidence for cooling during the Younger Dryas stade is equivocal whilst isotopic records from speleothems, and other data, indicate warmer and wetter conditions from 10-7 ka, broadly conforming with records from mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere locations. Future advances will require sampling at shorter timescales, improvements in the accuracy and precision of existing dating methods and the development of new ones, extension of palaeoecological techniques to cover the full potential of new Zealand's diverse biota, and a stronger emphasis on quantification of palaeoclimatic parameters.

The technical audit is a powerful tool for gathering and analysing data critical for strategic decision making. To introduce the approach to local manufacturing SMEs a programme of technical audits has been carried out by undergraduates at the University of Sheffield, UK. This paper describes the aims of technical audits and some of the methodologies that exist for carrying them out. The general format of the approach taken at Sheffield is detailed and a practical application of this audit methodology within a cutlery manufacturer is discussed. The authors conclude with a summary of the benefits of the audit programme relevant to the companies, the University and the undergraduates involved.

Objective: Using the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Depression Guideline Panel's recommendations as its focus, this article describes a step-by-step approach for disseminating a paper-based depression guideline to primary care physicians via a commercially available electronic medical record (EMR) system. Method: Description of the author's approach to disseminate an evidence-based depression treatment guideline to a group of primary care physicians using a commercially available EMR system and to evaluate the results. Results: We review clinical considerations and practical barriers faced in this process with the expectation that our experiences can guide others attempting to disseminate psychiatric treatment guideline via EMR systems. Conclusions: The EMR offers critical efficiencies in disseminating state-of-the-art clinical practice guidelines and in directing the primary care physicians' use of them. Still, well-designed, randomized controlled trials are necessary to demonstrate their effectiveness at enhancing patient outcomes for major depression in primary care settings.

Successful school program innovation must incorporate technology as a tool to enhance teaching and learning. West Junior High School integrates technology into the curriculum to complement and enhance its mission to help all learners explore and attain results that only a technology-rich, student-centered learning environment can offer.

Further evidence in support of a late pre-European (Polynesian) settlement of New Zealand is pro vided by an 1850-year-long tephropalynological record from a remote region in New Zealand's North Island. The earliest unequivocally anthropogenic forest clearance is estimated from sedimentation rates to have occurred c. 375 14C years BP (c. ad 1523–1631), although the radiocarbon chronology, shown by tephrochron ology to be erroneous due to hard-water effects, suggested this occurred c. 900 years earlier. Delineation of the anthropogenic era, and the distinction between human activity and other agents of environmental change in the pollen/spore diagram, are supported by cluster analysis and detrended correspondence analysis. Two distinct phases of forest clearance are evident during the pre-European era, reflecting local changes either in population pressure or settlement patterns. We note that the lull between the two phases of forest clearance coincides with the maximum of the ‘Little Ice Age’ within the period c. late ad 1600s to early 1800s.

The Kaharoa eruption, the most recent rhyolitic volcanic event in New Zealand, resulted in the deposition of the compositionally distinctive Kaharoa Tephra over at least 30 000 km2 of northern and eastern North Island. The tephra forms an isochronous marker bed for various late-Holocene stratigraphic and palaeoen vironmental studies but is particularly important for evaluating the chronology of New Zealand's notably short prehistory because it was erupted within the last millennium, close to the time of first Polynesian colonization. We derive a definitive radiocarbon age, previously ambiguous, for the Kaharoa Tephra of 665615 BP using cluster analysis of 22 radiocarbon ages relevant to the Kaharoa eruptive episode. The error-weighted mean age obtained on unscreened ages, minus outliers, is supported by statistically identical ages obtained from three sets of screened ages selected to minimize the effects of inbuilt age or contamination. Based on the intercepts method and 1 sigma range of Northern Hemisphere calibration curves, and after subtraction of 27 years for the interhemispheric offset, the radiocarbon age 665615 BP corresponds to calibrated dates ranging from c. 650–560 cal. BP (i.e. cal. ad 1300–1390). The approximate midpoint of this range provides a colloquial calen dar date for the Kaharoa Tephra of c. 600 cal. BP ( c. cal. ad 1350).

We describe a unique case of a cholangiocarcinoma that metastasized to a cervical lymph node—to our knowledge the only such case ever reported. The diagnosis was based on fine-needle aspiration cytology and confirmed by excision biopsy. This case illustrates the importance of keeping all possible options in mind when diagnosing head and neck masses.

Abnormalities in zinc homeostasis are indicated in many human diseases, including Alzheimer disease (AD). 63Zn-zinc citrate was developed as a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging probe of zinc transport and used in a first-in-human study in 6 healthy elderly individuals and 6 patients with clinically confirmed AD. Dynamic PET imaging of the brain was performed for 30 minutes following intravenous administration of 63Zn-zinc citrate (∼330 MBq). Subsequently, body PET images were acquired. Urine and venous blood were analyzed to give information on urinary excretion and pharmacokinetics. Regional cerebral 63Zn clearances were compared with 11C-Pittsburgh Compound B (11C-PiB) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) imaging data. 63Zn-zinc citrate was well tolerated in human participants with no adverse events monitored. Tissues of highest uptake were liver, pancreas, and kidney, with moderate uptake being seen in intestines, prostate (in males), thyroid, spleen, stomach, pituitary, and salivary glands. Moderate brain uptake was observed, and regional dependencies were observed in 63Zn clearance kinetics in relationship with regions of high amyloid-β plaque burden (11C-PiB) and 18F-FDG hypometabolism. In conclusion, zinc transport was successfully imaged in human participants using the PET probe 63Zn-zinc citrate. Primary sites of uptake in the digestive system accent the role of zinc in gastrointestinal function. Preliminary information on zinc kinetics in patients with AD evidenced regional differences in clearance rates in correspondence with regional amyloid-β pathology, warranting further imaging studies of zinc homeostasis in patients with AD.

The effects of the competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist D-( E)-4-(3-phosphonoprop-2-enyl)piperazine-2-carboxylic acid (D-CPP-ene; SDZ EAA 494) upon ischemic brain damage have been examined in anesthetized cats. Focal cerebral ischemia was produced by permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and the animals were killed 6 h later. The amount of early ischemic brain damage was assessed in coronal sections at 16 predetermined stereotaxic planes. Pretreatment with D-CPP-ene (15 mg/kg i.v. followed by continuous infusion at 0.17 mg/kg/min until death), 15 min prior to MCA occlusion, significantly reduced the volume of ischemic brain damage (from 20.6 ± 9.9% of the cerebral hemisphere in vehicle-treated cats to 7.2 ± 4.4% in drug-treated cats; p < 0.01). The competitive NMDA receptor antagonist D-CPP-ene is as effective as noncompetitive NMDA antagonists in reducing the amount of ischemic brain damage in this model of focal cerebral ischemia in a gyrencephalic species.

Brain activation of cortical and subcortical foci during a complex motor task as demonstrated with spin-echo (SE) and gradient-echo (GE) FMRI and PET were compared in order to determine how signal changes in each of these FMRI techniques reflect cerebral blood flow changes shown by PET. Five normal volunteers performed bilateral fingering tapping in a defined sequential pattern during functional imaging. BOLD FMRI was performed at 1.5T. Five 32 second activation periods were alternated with five 32 second rest periods. MR signal detection was done by performing a least-squares fit of the time series data to a boxcar function. PET CBF measurements were performed using intravenous H215O. 4 pairs of control and task scans were obtained. PET activation maps were generated by subtracting the averaged activation and control scans. The statistical significance of regions of interest in sensorimotor cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum for all three techniques were evaluated within each subject. GE-FMRI and SE-FM...

This paper describes BREL's approach to cost effective small batch manufacture through the introduction of group technology machining cells, new computer systems for part programming and manufacturing control, and the standardization of tooling and raw material.

The location of n new facilities on a network when the objective function is a sum of weighted distances between new and existing facilities, plus a sum of weighted distances between new facilities is studied. Interdistance constraints which impose upper bounds on distances between facilities have been included. A linear programming approach has been developed which solves the problem exactly on any spanning tree of the network, and which yields a lower bounding problem when the network is cyclic. The gap between the best spanning tree solution and the lower bound averages about 4% in the computational studies.

In September 1974, sixty diesel-electric freight locomotives, designated Class 56, were ordered by British Railways to meet an anticipated upsurge in coal and freight traffic. This new freight locomotive has been designed and constructed employing latest developments in traction technology with a.c. electrical power generation and electronic control equipment. Considerably less routine maintenance is thus required and carried out at extended periods. The first thirty were purchased from Brush Electrical Machines Limited (BEML) being constructed in Romania and later locomotives at British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) Doncaster Works. Further orders for seventy-five locomotives have since been placed with BREL, Doncaster. This paper outlines the main design features, methods of construction used at Doncaster Works and regional utilization and service experience since 1977.

The San Francisco Bay area is facing a mounting problem of handling the ever-increasing flow of traffic. With this traffic rising so rapidly in an area severely constricted by topography it has been concluded that freeway, bridge, and parking improvements alone cannot meet the Bay area's mounting transportation needs. Rapid transit, utilizing only a fraction of the space and with much less cost, would provide far more passenger capacity than automobiles on freeway and as a result a billion dollar rapid transit system has been planned for the Bay area. This paper describes the design and development of the BARTD system at present being undertaken.

The implementation of routine analyses on a two-meter direct reading emission spectrometer has been facilitated by a specially designed system. A digital readout console controls the element selection in the spectrometer and generates punched data cards containing the spectral information. A computer calculates concentrations in weight percent or parts per million for a maximum of 24 elements in a number of different matrices. The results are printed along with pertinent comments and footnotes onto a report. The readout system has been in daily operation for two years with excellent results.

This paper summarizes the results of a psychometric research program of two parallel series of fifth and twelfth grade statistical analyses of critical reading, critical thinking, reading, scholastic aptitude and scholastic achievement, test and subtest scores. Correlational and factor analysis, item analysis, reliability estimation, first and second order partial correlation, canonical correlation, and multiple regression and part correlation were used. It was concluded that critical reading and critical thinking have little or no unique variances; that both critical reading and critical thinking can be accounted for almost in entirety by language ability, particularly vocabulary; that critical reading and critical thinking, in so far as they exist, overlap slightly, sharing variance which is not clear but probably is common verbal ability variance. The enhancement of students' critical reading and critical thinking has long been a goal of American education disciplines across elementary, secondary, and higher education. Unfortunately the definition of critical reading and the definition of critical thinking and their relationship have not been clear. There has been a plethora of definitions in opinion and/or theoretical articles but a paucity of empirical examination of these definitions. The consequence has been that ambiguity, obfuscation, confusion, and uncertainty have characterized the definitions of critical reading and critical thinking and their interrelationship. This ambiguity, obfuscation, confusion, and uncertainty have probably inhibited planned, systematic enhancement of students' critical reading and critical thinking. In order to attempt to clarify the ambiguity, obfuscation, confusion, and uncertainty characterizing the definitions of critical reading and critical thinking, a programmatic empirical investigation of critical reading and critical thinking was conducted. The research program consisted of two parallel series of three sets of statistical analyses of critical reading, critical thinking, reading, scholastic aptitude and achievement tests and subtests. One series was conducted on fifth grade pupils and the other on twelfth grade students. Each of the three * Appreciation is expressed to the Hillsborough County Public School System and Ballast Point Elementary and Robinson High School in particular for their splendid cooperation.