Realizing complex delayed intentions in young and old adults: The role of planning aids

Although it has been suggested that the delayed realization of intended actions should benefit from appropriate intention planning, empirical evidence on this issue is scarce. In three experiments, we examined whether and which planning aids provided in the intention formation phase affect delayed intention realization in young and old adults. One finding was that intention planning directly affected delayed intention realization: instructing participants to include the cue for appropriate intention initiation in their plans benefited delayed performance. Another finding was that older adults' performance was improved when they were guided in structuring their plan in combination with guidance in implementing this plan after a delay. In sum, the results point to the importance of plan-related factors for understanding the delayed realization of intended action

State Agencies

Dear Mr. Ellis: At your request we have reviewed the 2013 Ten-Year Site Plans ofthe electric utilities. The Department of Economic Opportunity's review focused on potential sites for future power generation, and the compatibility of those sites with the applicable local comprehensive plan, including the adopted future land use map, adjacent land uses, and natural resources on or adjacent to the potential sites. Our review ofthe 2013 Ten-Year Site Plans addressed ten potential power plant sites identified in the Ten-Year Site Plans ofthe following utilities: Florida Power & Light Company, Gulf Power Company, and Seminole Electric Cooperative. None of the potential sites were found to be incompatible with the applicable local comprehensive plan. Should you have any questions regarding these comments, please call Scott Rogers

Adult age differences in errand planning: the role of task familiarity and cognitive resources

This study examines the effects of age, cognitive resources and task familiarity on planning performance. 52 young and 52 old adults completed one of two errand planning tasks. The tasks were matched for structure, difficulty and format, but differed in content, such that one planning task required planning a real-world shopping tour whereas the other involved planning an unfamiliar space tour. In addition, we assessed participants' memory capacity, speed of processing, inhibition, and memory for relevant versus irrelevant task features. Results revealed no age differences for the real-world planning material. In contrast, old adults performed worse than young adults in the artificial planning task. Data are discussed in the context of old adults possibly being able to compensate for cognitive deficits in speed and inhibition by selectively allocating resources to relevant task elements, but only if they perform a planning task containing elements that approximate their real-world experience with errand planning problems

Creating symbolic cultures of consumption: an analysis of the content of sports wagering advertisements in Australia

Background: Since 2008, Australia has seen the rapid emergence of marketing for online and mobile sports wagering. Previous research from other areas of public health, such as tobacco and alcohol, has identified the range of appeal strategies these industries used to align their products with culturally valued symbols. However, there is very limited research that has investigated the tactics the sports wagering industry uses within marketing to influence the consumption of its products and services. Method: This study consisted of a mixed method interpretive content analysis of 85 sports wagering advertisements from 11 Australian and multinational wagering companies. Advertisements were identified via internet searches and industry websites. A coding framework was applied to investigate the extent and nature of symbolic appeal strategies within advertisements. Results: Ten major appeal strategies emerged from this analysis. These included sports fan rituals and behaviours; mateship; gender stereotypes; winning; social status; adventure, thrill and risk; happiness; sexualised imagery; power and control; and patriotism. Symbols relating to sports fan rituals and behaviours, and mateship, were the most common strategies used within the advertisements. Discussion/Conclusions: This research suggests that the appeal strategies used by the sports wagering industry are similar to those strategies adopted by other unhealthy commodity industries. With respect to gambling, analysis revealed that strategies are clearly targeted to young male sports fans. Researchers and public health practitioners should seek to better understand the impact of marketing on the normalisation of sports wagering for this audience segment, and implement strategies to prevent gambling harm

Probing the viability of oxo-coupling pathways in iridium-catalyzed oxygen evolution

[Image: see text] A series of Cp*Ir(III) dimers have been synthesized to elucidate the mechanistic viability of radical oxo-coupling pathways in iridium-catalyzed O(2) evolution. The oxidative stability of the precursors toward nanoparticle formation and their oxygen evolution activity have been investigated and compared to suitable monomeric analogues. We found that precursors bearing monodentate NHC ligands degraded to form nanoparticles (NPs), and accordingly their O(2) evolution rates were not significantly influenced by their nuclearity or distance between the two metals in the dimeric precursors. A doubly chelating bis-pyridine–pyrazolide ligand provided an oxidation-resistant ligand framework that allowed a more meaningful comparison of catalytic performance of dimers with their corresponding monomers. With sodium periodate (NaIO(4)) as the oxidant, the dimers provided significantly lower O(2) evolution rates per [Ir] than the monomer, suggesting a negative interaction instead of cooperativity in the catalytic cycle. Electrochemical analysis of the dimers further substantiates the notion that no radical oxyl-coupling pathways are accessible. We thus conclude that the alternative path, nucleophilic attack of water on high-valent Ir-oxo species, may be the preferred mechanistic pathway of water oxidation with these catalysts, and bimolecular oxo-coupling is not a valid mechanistic alternative as in the related ruthenium chemistry, at least in the present system

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival