Tough Cookies: Hands On Nutrition at Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center

Background: Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center provides a safe and secure environment to teenagers who have been remanded here by the court system for either short or long term care. We focused on nutrition at the center, particularly the evening snacks provided. The foods teens choose to eat are extremely important as total nutrient needs are higher in adolescence than during any other time in the life cycle. Little prior research on the nutritional beliefs or habits of institutionalized youth has been done. Our goal was to improve the provided snacks, as some staff members were concerned that these were not healthy. Nutritional value of food is not a priority for many teens, despite the fact that they are usually well informed about good nutrition. Rather than simply dictate a menu change, we also attempted to assess and possibly modify esident attitudes regarding healthy food. We hoped to both provide a more nutritionally healthy environment and to each knowledge and skills that would lead to long-term physical and emotional benefits in an at-risk population.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1045/thumbnail.jp

Large-scale detector testing for the GAPS Si(Li) Tracker

Lithium-drifted silicon [Si(Li)] has been used for decades as an ionizing radiation detector in nuclear, particle, and astrophysical experiments, though such detectors have frequently been limited to small sizes (few cm$^2$) and cryogenic operating temperatures. The 10-cm-diameter Si(Li) detectors developed for the General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) balloon-borne dark matter experiment are novel particularly for their requirements of low cost, large sensitive area (~10 m$^2$ for the full 1440-detector array), high temperatures (near -40\,^\circC), and energy resolution below 4 keV FWHM for 20--100-keV x-rays. Previous works have discussed the manufacturing, passivation, and small-scale testing of prototype GAPS Si(Li) detectors. Here we show for the first time the results from detailed characterization of over 1100 flight detectors, illustrating the consistent intrinsic low-noise performance of a large sample of GAPS detectors. This work demonstrates the feasibility of large-area and low-cost Si(Li) detector arrays for next-generation astrophysics and nuclear physics applications.Comment: Updated to version accepted in IEEE Trans Nucl Sci. Minor changes to text, fixed plotting error on Fig. 5. Conclusions unchange

Application of UV absorbance and fluorescence indicators to assess the formation of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon and bromate during ozonation

This study examined the significance of changes of UV absorbance and fluorescence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) as surrogate indicators for assessing the formation of bromate and biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) during the ozonation of surface water and wastewater effluent. Spectroscopic monitoring was carried out using benchtop UV/Vis and fluorescence spectrophotometers and a newly developed miniature LED UV/fluorescence sensor capable of rapidly measuring UVA280 and protein-like and humic-like fluorescence. With the increase of O3/DOC mass ratio, the plots of BDOC formation were characterized of initial lag, transition slope and final plateau. With the decrease of UV absorbance and fluorescence, BDOC concentrations initially increased slowly and then rose more noticeably. Inflection points in plots of BDOC versus changes of spectroscopic indicators were close to 35 e45% loss of UVA254 or UVA280 and 75e85% loss of humic-like fluorescence. According to the data from size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with organic carbon detection and 2D synchronous correlation analyses, DOM fractions assigned to operationally defined large biopolymers (apparent molecular weight, AMW>20 kDa) and medium AMW humic substances (AMW 5.5e20 kDa) were transformed into medium-size building blocks (AMW 3e5.5 kDa) and other smaller AMW species (AMW<3 kDa) associated with BDOC at increasing O3/DOC ratios. Appreciable bromate formation was observed only after the values of UVA254, UVA280 and humic-like fluorescence in O3-treated samples were decreased by 45 e55%, 50e60% and 86e92% relative to their respective initial levels. No significant differences in plots of bromate concentrations versus decreases of humic-like fluorescence were observed for surface water and wastewater effluent samples. This was in contrast with the plots of bromate concentration versus UVA254 and UVA280 which exhibited sensitivity to varying initial bromide concentrations in the investigated water matrixes. These results suggest that measurements of humic-like fluorescence can provide a useful supplement to UVA indices for characterization of ozonation processes

Depression symptomatology and diagnosis: discordance between patients and physicians in primary care settings

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To examine the agreement between depression symptoms using an assessment tool (PHQ-9), and physician documentation of the same symptoms during a clinic visit, and then to examine how the presence of these symptoms affects depression diagnosis in primary care settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Interviewer administered surveys and medical record reviews. A total of 304 participants were recruited from 2321 participants screened for depression at two large urban primary care community settings.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 2321 participants screened for depression 304 were positive for depression and of these 75.3% (n = 229) were significantly depressed (PHQ-9 score ≥ 10). Of these, 31.0% were diagnosed by a physician with a depressive disorder. A total of 57.6% (n = 175) of study participants had both significant depression symptoms and functional impairment. Of these 37.7% were diagnosed by physicians as depressed. Cohen's Kappa analysis, used to determine the agreement between depression symptoms elicited using the PHQ-9 and physician documentation of these symptoms showed only slight agreement (0.001–0.101) for all depression symptoms using standard agreement rating scales. Further analysis showed that only suicidal ideation and hypersomnia or insomnia were associated with an increased likelihood of physician depression diagnosis (OR 5.41 P sig < .01 and (OR 2.02 P sig < .05 respectively). Other depression symptoms and chronic medical conditions had no affect on physician depression diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Two-thirds of individuals with depression are undiagnosed in primary care settings. While functional impairment increases the rate of physician diagnosis of depression, the agreement between a structured assessment and physician elicited and or documented symptoms during a clinical encounter is very low. Suicidality, hypersomnia and insomnia are associated with an increase in the rate of depression diagnosis even when physician and self report of the symptom differ. Interventions that emphasize the use of routine structured screening of primary care patients might also improve the rate of diagnosis of depression in these settings. Further studies are needed to explore depression symptom assessment during physician patient encounter in primary care settings.</p

Minimizing Errors in RT-PCR Detection and Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA for Wastewater Surveillance

Wastewater surveillance for pathogens using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is an effective, resource-efficient tool for gathering additional community-level public health information, including the incidence and/or prevalence and trends of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may provide an early-warning signal of COVID-19 infections in a community. The capacity of the world’s environmental microbiology and virology laboratories for SARS-CoV-2 RNA characterization in wastewater is rapidly increasing. However, there are no standardized protocols nor harmonized quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. This paper is a technical review of factors that can lead to false-positive and -negative errors in the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, culminating in recommendations and strategies that can be implemented to identify and mitigate these errors. Recommendations include, stringent QA/QC measures, representative sampling approaches, effective virus concentration and efficient RNA extraction, amplification inhibition assessment, inclusion of sample processing controls, and considerations for RT-PCR assay selection and data interpretation. Clear data interpretation guidelines (e.g., determination of positive and negative samples) are critical, particularly during a low incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Corrective and confirmatory actions must be in place for inconclusive and/or potentially significant results (e.g., initial onset or reemergence of COVID-19 in a community). It will also be prudent to perform inter-laboratory comparisons to ensure results are reliable and interpretable for ongoing and retrospective analyses. The strategies that are recommended in this review aim to improve SARS-CoV-2 characterization for wastewater surveillance applications. A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the efficacy of wastewater surveillance was demonstrated during this global crisis. In the future, wastewater will play an important role in the surveillance of a range of other communicable diseases.Highlights: Harmonized QA/QC procedures for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance are lacking; Wastewater analysis protocols are not optimized for trace analysis of viruses; False-positive and -negative errors have consequences for public health responses; Inter-laboratory studies utilizing standardized reference materials and protocols are needed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of a High Energy, kHz, Mid-Infrared OPCPA Laser for keV High Harmonic Generation

Coherent keV photon energy x-rays have many applications for materials science at the shortest length and time scales. Unfortunately, there are relatively few options for coherent x-ray generation. One of the most promising methods is high harmonic generation, wherein a femtosecond driving laser pulse is coherently upconverted to the x-ray region of the spectrum. Recent work has shown that the maximum x-ray photon energy that can be generated via high harmonic generation scales favorably with the wavelength of the driving laser pulse. This has sparked an interest in using mid-infrared (3-5_m) lasers to drive high harmonic generation. However, high harmonic generation necessitates a mJ level, kHz repetition rate, femtosecond driving laser. At present, there are no such lasers in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum. This necessitates the development of new laser architectures for tabletop coherent x-ray generation. OPCPA technology is one of the most promising avenues for high energy, high repletion rate lasers in the mid-infrared. This thesis reports on the design and development of a mJ level, kHz repetition rate, femtosecond OPCPA laser running at 3μm, optimized for tabletop coherent x-ray generation. The system described here integrates and extends a variety of laser technologies towards this goal. The full laser is based upon an Yb:_ber oscillator and MgO:PPLN OPO front end. To pump our OPCPA system, we developed a four stage, cryogenic Yb:YAG laser running with \u3e35mJ of output energy at 1kHz. We then use this to a pump a three stage OPCPA system, likewise running at 1kHz. We demonstrate over 3.4mJ of output energy at 1.55_m, along with 1.4mJ at 3μm. We then show compression of the 3μm output to \u3c110fs. Finally, we conclude with the future directions for this laser, and discuss how it may be scaled to higher energies, shorter pulse lengths, and even further into the mid-infrared

An analysis of air-mass effects on rail ridership in three U.S. cities

This paper examines whether daily weather affects ridership in urban transportation systems. When examining human–weather relationships, it is often advantageous to examine air masses, which take into account the entire parcel of air over a region. Spatial synoptic classification characterizes air masses based upon numerous meteorological variables at a given location. Thus, rather than examining temperature or precipitation individually, here we compare daily ridership to synoptic air mass classifications for three urban rail systems: Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), and the Hudson–Bergen light-rail line in northern New Jersey. Air masses are found to have a significant impact on daily rail ridership, with usage typically increasing on dry, comfortable days and decreasing on moist, cool ones, particularly on weekends. Although the comfort of a particular air mass changes throughout the year, seasonality is not a significant factor with respect to the air mass–ridership relationship. The results of this study can benefit rail system managers who must predict daily ridership or in the development of cost-benefit analyses for station improvements

A identidade no espaço

No presente trabalho procurou-se elaborar uma proposta de Environmental Graphic Design que dinamizasse e valizasse a identidade arquitetural da Escola Superior de Artes e Design de Matosinhos. Percecionando o espaço, questionou-se em que medida as suas caraterísticas físicas exteriores refletiam a identidade da instituição, enquanto local privilegiado do ensino das Artes e do Design. Procurou-se explorar as potencialidades da comunicação visual no espaço tridimensional, suportada numa reflexão sobre a relação do Design de Comunicação com outras disciplinas projetuais, designadamente o Environmental Graphic Design, e do seu contributo para a valorização e reconhecimento da identidade dos espaços. Efetuou-se uma pesquisa e análise de exemplos de referência, dos quais são referenciados 4 exemplos que evidenciam soluções de comunicação contextualizada e integrada nos respetivos espaços. A tipografia, a cor, o layout, os materiais e a sua aplicação, assim como as potencialidades do espaço como suporte, são abordados na solução proposta