An Analysis of the Weight Watchers and Atkins Diets: The Effects of Calorie Restriction and Nutrition Levels

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a calorie-restricted diet versus one with restricted food groups. To accomplish this, a survey with 19 participants, age ranging from 25 to 74 years, was taken for people who attempted Weight Watchers, a calorie-restricted diet, and Atkins, a low-carbohydrate diet. The success rates of each of these diets will be compared and analyzed in this study. Participants reported short-term and long-term weight loss results. For the data analysis, descriptive statistics and two independent t-tests were performed. For short-term weight loss on Atkins, M = 20.25, and on Weight Watchers, M = 44.33. With net weight loss, Atkins averaged 11.25 pounds and Weight Watchers group averaged 44.33 pounds. Although the independent t-tests did not show a significant difference, research suggests that calorie restriction is more effective for long-term maintenance

The Role of Time Preferences in the Intergenerational Transfer of Smoking

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Active paper for active learning

Recent research into distance learning and the virtual campus has focused on the use of electronic documents and computer‐based demonstrations to replace or reinforce traditional learning material. We show how a computer‐augmented desk, the DigitalDesk, can provide the benefits of both paper and electronic documents using a natural interface based on real paper documents. Many electronic documents, particularly those created using the guidelines produced by the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), include detailed semantic and linguistic information that can be used to good effect in learning material. We discuss potential uses of TEI texts, and describe one simple application that allows a student's book to become an active part of a grammar lesson when placed on the DigitalDesk. The book is integrated into an interactive point‐and‐click interface, and feedback is related to the currently visible pages of the boo

Emotion Recognition and Traumatic Brain Injury

Emotion recognition through facial expression plays a critical role in communication.  Review of studies investigating individuals with TBI and emotion recognition indicates significantly poorer performance compared to controls. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of different media presentation on emotion recognition in individuals with TBI, and if results differ depending on severity of TBI.  Adults with and without TBI participated in the study and were assessed using the TASIT and the FEEST. Preliminary results indicate that emotion recognition abilities greatly differ between mild and severe and participants performed better with static presentation compared to dynamic presentation

Campaign Twitter update: Trump ignores the issues as Clinton continues to out tweet him

Heather Evans, Kayla Brown, and Tiffany Wimberly have been tracking how Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump use Twitter in this year’s presidential election campaign. In their latest update, they find that over the last two months, Clinton has not only out-tweeted Trump, but has also discussed the issues, including issues that affect women disproportionately as a group, to a greater degree

Devising and communicating public health alcohol guidance for expectant and new mothers: a scoping report.

Key findings: • The views of parents, antenatal teachers, midwives and policy makers differed on the value of the revised Chief Medical Officer guidance for expectant mothers. Some found a simple, clear ‘don’t drink’ message helpful and easy to communicate. Others felt that the guidance didn’t sufficiently reflect the evidence and could create anxiety. • There was concern that advice on pregnancy planning did not reflect the reality of women’s lives, and implied that all women of child-bearing age should avoid alcohol. • Some participants were concerned about ‘social shaming’ of women if they decided to have a drink at any point in their pregnancy. • Participants felt public health messages should also encourage partners, family and society at large to be more supportive of women’s decisions

Not always for richer or poorer: The effects of income shocks and house price changes on marital dissolution

There has been much informal speculation on how changes in economic circumstances contribute to partnership dissolution; however there has been little empirical work testing these speculations. This paper aims to shed light on how micro level factors such as receiving a financial windfall and changes in investment income as well as macro level changes such as changes in house prices at the regional level impact on the likelihood of divorce. We use information from 18 waves (1991-2008) of the British Household Panel Survey. The long panel allows us to control for both upturns and downturns in the economic cycle. The estimation strategy employs a discrete time duration model. The results suggest that windfalls and changes in investment income may be pathways through which financial surprises or new information impacts on the likelihood of partnership dissolution. Specifically we find a positive and significant effect on partnership dissolution of a wife receiving an inheritance and a husband having a positive change in his income from interests and dividends. This finding is consistent with much of the theoretical literature suggesting a positive shock will reduce the benefits of the current marriage and increase the likelihood of an individual finding a ?better? partner. Interaction models for changes in regional house prices and housing tenure show a small positive significant increase in the likelihood of divorce for couples in mortgaged property and private rented accommodation when house prices rise by 1% compared to those in social housing. A rise in house prices for couples with mortgages may increase the pay-offs for divorce reducing the returns to remaining in the current partnership. For couples, in private rented accommodation, a rise in house prices may signify an inability to get on the housing ladder reducing the benefits of the current partnership leading individuals to seek a partner with more capital or a homeowner

Communicating the Needs of Climate Change Policy Makers to Scientists

This chapter will describe the challenges that earth scientists face in developing science data products relevant to decision maker and policy needs, and will describe strategies that can improve the two-way communication between the scientist and the policy maker. Climate change policy and decision making happens at a variety of scales - from local government implementing solar homes policies to international negotiations through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Scientists can work to provide data at these different scales, but if they are not aware of the needs of decision makers or understand what challenges the policy maker is facing, they are likely to be less successful in influencing policy makers as they wished. This is because the science questions they are addressing may be compelling, but not relevant to the challenges that are at the forefront of policy concerns. In this chapter we examine case studies of science-policy partnerships, and the strategies each partnership uses to engage the scientist at a variety of scales. We examine three case studies: the global Carbon Monitoring System pilot project developed by NASA, a forest biomass mapping effort for Silvacarbon project, and a forest canopy cover project being conducted for forest management in Maryland. In each of these case studies, relationships between scientists and policy makers were critical for ensuring the focus of the science as well as the success of the decision-making

Hillary Clinton is tweeting more than Donald Trump and attacks him more often than he does her.

One of the major battlegrounds of the 2016 presidential election is Twitter, with both candidates slugging it out using 140 characters or fewer. Heather Evans, Kayla Brown, and Tiffany Wimberly have been studying both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s tweets. They find that, in line with findings from previous studies on how women candidates tweet, in June Clinton out tweeted the Republican nominee, attacked him more often than he did her, and tweeted about political issues far more often

Do the nearby BHB stars belong to the Thick Disk or the Halo?

We study the Milky Way region Z<3.0 kpc, where the thick disk and inner halo overlap, by using the kinematics of local blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars (within 1 kpc) and new samples of BHB stars and A-type stars from the Century Survey. We derive Galactic U,V,W velocities for these BHB and A-type star samples using proper motions from the NOMAD catalog. The mean velocities and the velocity dispersions of the BHB samples (Z<3 kpc) are characteristic of the halo, while those of the Century Survey A-type stars are characteristic of the thick disk. There is no evidence from our samples that the BHB stars rotate with the thick disk in the region Z<3 kpc. Nearly a third of the nearby local RR Lyrae stars have disk kinematics and are more metal-rich than [Fe/H]~-1. Only a few percent of the Century Survey BHB stars have these properties. Only one nearby BHB star (HD 130201) is likely to be such a disk star but selection based on high proper motions will have tended to exclude such stars from the local sample. The scale height derived from a sample of local RR Lyrae stars agrees with that of the Century Survey BHB stars. The local samples of BHB stars and metal-weak red giants are too incomplete for a similar comparison.Comment: 14 pages, accepted to A