Exploring Adverse Childhood Experiences and Bullying of Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and bullying can lead to psychological distress, causing both short- and long-term health and mental health problems. Children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN), including those who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), face a higher risk of ACEs and bullying, which can affect their well-being. This study builds on existing literature by (a) reviewing ACEs and bullying in CSHCN, especially those who are DHH, and (b) using data from the 2016-2022 National Survey of Children\u27s Health to analyze ACEs and bullying in children who are DHH, DHH+CSHCN, and CSHCN. The literature review found that disability is linked to a higher chance of experiencing ACEs, and more ACEs are connected to worse health, development, and education outcomes. The research also confirmed that CSHCN experience bullying more often than children without disabilities. This is also true for children who are DHH, especially those who use hearing aids or cochlear implants, or attend special education classes. The statistical analysis showed that children who are DHH, DHH+CSHCN, and CSHCN had higher rates of individual ACEs, total ACEs, and ACE accumulation than children without disabilities. These groups also faced bullying more often (e.g., 1-2 times per month, weekly, or almost daily). However, CSHCN had a higher prevalence of ACEs and bullying than children who are DHH, and children who are DHH+CSHCN had the highest rates of both. The study also explored whether ACEs influenced the relationship between disability and bullying, finding that a higher number of ACEs made bullying more likely for all disability groups. Social factors like race, ethnicity, poverty, geographic location, and gender were found to affect the relationship between disability, ACEs, and bullying. In conclusion, this study provides important insights into ACEs and bullying for children who are DHH, DHH+CSHCN, and CSHCN. It also highlights how social factors influence these challenges. These findings can help shape better prevention and support strategies, as well as public policies, to improve the health and well-being of these children

Summary of: Immersive Modeling of Water Banking Elicits Local Knowledge and Strategies to Get More Water to Great Salt Lake

Getting more water to the declining Great Salt Lake (GSL) is difficult. Strategies must address complex water rights, competing water needs, differing stakeholder priorities, historical legacies, lack of trust, and more arid and variable hydrology. Here we used immersive online collaborative modeling to explore water banking strategies to get more water to GSL. This 2-page brief describes the immersive modeling method, a Win-Win outcome, key results, new insights collaborators took from a model session, 2 new strategies to deliver water to GSL, and 3 next steps

Assessing Long-Term Changes in Aspen Forest Cover in Northern Yellowstone National Park Before and After Carnivore Recovery

The recovery of large carnivores (wolves, bears, cougars) in Yellowstone National Park and the subsequent decline of the area\u27s elk herd have raised key questions about ecosystem restoration—particularly for species such as aspen, which are heavily browsed by elk. Following wolf reintroduction in the mid-1990s, scientists began tracking changes in browsing intensity and height of young aspen within sampling plots, assuming reduced browsing and taller stems were signs of population recovery. However, no studies have measured whether the total area covered by aspen stands actually increased, as would be expected with broader recovery. Moreover, the potential influence of climate change was not always thoroughly investigated and was sometimes overlooked or minimized. My research addressed these issues by using aerial photographs to measure changes in aspen cover within 79 stands across northern Yellowstone from 1954-2022. I then examined whether cover changes from 1991–2022 were predicted by sampling plot measurements such as percent browse and stem height, and assessed the relative influence of percent browse compared to two climate variables—water deficit and monthly snowpack—on these changes. Overall, aspen cover declined significantly from 1954-2022. Surprisingly, the rate of cover loss accelerated after predator recovery (1991-2022), despite the elk population decreasing. Aspen recovery was patchy, with only 10% of aspen stands expanding. While plot measurements were slightly related to cover change, the variability in these relationships was high, indicating the influence of other factors. Percent browse had a stronger effect on cover than water deficit or snowpack, but that may change if the climate continues to warm. These findings demonstrate that the recovery of large carnivores does not guarantee widespread improvements for plants like aspen, particularly in a changing climate. The ecological effects are complex and vary significantly across the landscape; for example, stems may grow taller within localized refuges even as the overall stand cover contracts due to climate stress or browsing at its periphery. My study emphasizes the need to combine different types of information—broader-scale vegetation changes, small-scale plot data, and climate variables—to better understand how complex ecosystems respond to large predator recovery

The NourishEd Initiative: Lessons from a Pilot Program on Food Access and Education

NourishEd addresses food insecurity in Utah through nutrition education, community partnerships, and the distribution of fresh produce. This article highlights program outcomes, volunteer insights, and strategies for expanding impact and sustainability

Modeling Vulnerability of Juvenile June Sucker to the Piscivore Community in Utah Lake

Freshwater fish have experienced the highest extinction among all North American vertebrates, with interactions with introduced species among the leading factors of freshwater fish declines. In Utah Lake, effective hatchery stocking efforts have allowed the spawning abundance of threatened June sucker (Chasmistes liorus) to increase substantially over the past decade. Yet, recruitment of wild-spawned individuals remains very limited. A recent survivorship study of June sucker found individuals \u3c 300mm experienced exceptionally poor survival, indicating a recruitment bottleneck persists despite significant recovery efforts. Current recovery efforts of Utah Lake have broadly targeted habitat improvement; However, prior studies have shown that large predation pressures by nonnatives have achieved recruitment bottlenecks in closely related species, suggesting predation could be limiting recovery efforts. Therefore, failure to address these pressures, if present, would result in overall recovery failure. Furthermore, predator management has focused on targeting Invasive Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) for potential impacts on June sucker. However, the impacts of more abundant nonnative piscivores remain largely unspecified. Here, we use a simulation approach based on empirical data to examine the relative predation pressure on June sucker of different lengths from individual piscivore species as well as the piscivore community as a whole. We generated a distribution of the lengths of prey consumed by the piscivore community by (1) randomly selecting a piscivore species based on the observed relative abundance in catch data, (2) randomly selecting a piscivore length based on length-at-age from literature-derived estimates and age composition, and (3) randomly selecting prey lengths based on predator-specific quantile regressions of observed fish prey lengths as a function of predator length. We repeated the simulation 10,000 times to achieve a representative model. We found the overall distribution of prey items consumed was unimodal and right-skewed with a median prey length of 74mm (95% simulation interval: 13 – 238 mm) and a maximum prey length of 535mm. The third quartile (120mm) was roughly the same length as that of June Suckers at their first annulus (111mm), suggesting that most predation on June sucker is occurring during their first year. Abundant mesopredators, Channel catfish, White bass, and Black bullhead drove the vast majority of predation pressure, consuming \u3e 98% of prey items consumed, while high trophic level predators accounted for the remaining \u3c 2%. Together, these results suggest substantial predation pressure on age-0 June sucker, particularly from Channel Catfish and White Bass, may explain the limited recruitment of wild June sucker despite the steadily increasing abundance of spawning adults. Thus, predation on juvenile June Suckers presents a significant barrier to the establishment of a self-sustaining June Sucker population in Utah Lake

Digital Audience: The Bystander Effect on Social Media

In the United States, cyberbullying is a massive problem that shows no sign of slowing down. - Cyberbullying effects 46% of teens aged 13-17 (Vogels, 2022) - We are more connected than ever before - Cyberbullying will only increase as we become more connected over social medi

Fast Computation of the Friction Stir Welding Process With Model Order Reduction

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a manufacturing process used to join materials through intense heat and pressure. To better understand and optimize this FSW process, mathematical models incorporating non-Newtonian Navier-stokes equations for large plastic deformation and heat equation for the heat transfer are used to simulate the FSW process. However, solving these coupled and nonlinear equations with high accuracy requires significant computational power and time. This thesis has applied model order reduction, more precisely the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM), to efficiently solve the FSW system in low-dimensional space. Slight modifications are made regarding the POD and DEIM treatment: (1) preconditioner matrices are used on the original full model system before applied the POD and DEIM to avoid large condition number for the POD and DEIM low-dimensional coefficient matrices, and (2) indicator matrices are used in the full model system to deal with different regions and used to generate the nonlinear data for the DEIM. The results show that this approach dramatically reduces computation time, e.g., over 250 times smaller for the DEIM compared with full model, while maintaining accuracy. This makes simulations of friction stir welding more accessible and easily combined with other machine learning techniques in future study

Establishing Mixed-Biofilm Systems: To Transform Waste Into Value-Added Products

The bioeconomy, which leverages biological agents such as microbes to convert waste (e.g., agricultural waste, wastewater, etc.) into valuable resources (Fig 1.), offers a sustainable solution to global waste challenges while generating new economic opportunities

Unmasking the Threat: Utilization of Digital Health Communication Techniques in Addressing Smoking and Vaping-Induced Lung Cancer Amongst Youth

The correlation between cigarette sales and lung cancer mortality in the United States is going down. However, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer- related deaths globally, with high mortality rates among both men and women. The research will explore the direct and indirect causes of lung cancer, emphasizing early intervention to prevent the onset of the disease

Simulating Low Gravity Particle Dynamics

Vibrating motors prevent particle arches from forming and clogging nozzle. A metal mesh under the nozzle creates an evenly dispersed stream. Nozzle is static dissipative to ensure particles have consistent path through the charging section