How parents perceive and feel about participation in community activities: The comparison between parents of preschoolers with and without autism spectrum disorders

The present study compared how parents of preschoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) perceived and felt about participation in community activities. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 380 Hong Kong parents of preschoolers with ASD and 214 Hong Kong parents of preschoolers without ASD. The two groups were not different in their willingness and frequency of participation in community activities. However, the psychological processes underneath their willingness were very different. Among the parents of preschoolers with ASD, their willingness was associated with how they perceived the difficulty and importance of the participation and what emotions they experienced during the activities. This pattern of association was not evident among the parents of preschoolers without ASD. Copyright © The Author(s), 2010.published_or_final_versio

Analyses of SRS waste glass buried in granite in Sweden and salt in the United States

Simulated Savannah River Site (SRS) waste glass forms have been buried in the granite geology of the Stirpa mine in Sweden for two years. Analyses of glass surfaces provided a measure of the performance of the waste glasses as a function of time. Similar SRS waste glass compositions have also been buried in salt at the WIPP facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico for a similar time period. Analyses of the SRS waste glasses buried in-situ in granite will be presented and compared to the performance of these same compositions buried in salt at WIPP

Racial discrimination, the superwoman schema, and allostatic load: exploring an integrative stress-coping model among African American women

Racial discrimination has been linked to allostatic load (i.e., cumulative biological stress) among African American women. However, limited attention has been given to psychosocial processes involved in the stress response—critical for understanding biological pathways to health—in studies examining racial discrimination as a social determinant of health. We examined whether the superwoman schema (SWS), a multidimensional culture-specific framework characterizing psychosocial responses to stress among African American women, modifies the association between racial discrimination and allostatic load. We used purposive sampling to recruit a community sample of African American women ages 30–50 from five San Francisco Bay Area counties (n = 208). Path analysis was used to test for interactions while accounting for the covariance among SWS subscales using both linear and quadratic models. Significant interactions were observed between racial discrimination and four of the five SWS subscales. Feeling obligated to present an image of strength and an obligation to suppress emotions were each protective whereas feeling an intense motivation to succeed and feeling an obligation to help others exacerbated the independent health risk associated with experiencing racial discrimination. Our findings affirm the need to consider individual variability in coping and potentially other psychosocial processes involved in the stress response process, and offer several insights that may help elucidate the mechanisms by which racial discrimination gets “under the skin.

Velocity prediction errors related to flow model calibration uncertainty

At the Savannah River Site (SRS), a United States Department of Energy facility in South Carolina, a three-dimensional, steady-state numerical model has been developed for a four aquifer, three aquitard groundwater flow system. This model has been used for numerous predictive simulation applications at SRS, and since the initial calibration, the model has been refined several times. Originally, calibration of the model was accomplished using a nonlinear least-squares inverse technique for a set of 50 water-level calibration targets non-uniformly distributed in the four aquifers. The estimated hydraulic properties from this calibration generally showed reasonable agreement with values estimated from field tests. Subsequent model refinements and application of this model to field problems have shown that uncertainties in the model parameterization become much more apparent in the prediction of the velocity field than in the simulation of the distribution of hydraulic heads. The combined use of three types of information (hydraulic head distributions, geologic framework models, and velocity field monitoring) provide valuable calibration data for flow modeling investigations; however, calibration of a flow model typically relies upon measured water levels. For a given set of water-level calibration targets, the uncertainties associated with imperfect knowledge of physical system parameters or groundwater velocities may not be discernable in the calibrated hydraulic head distribution. In this paper, modeling results from studies at SRS illustrate examples of model inadequacy resulting from calibrating only on observed water levels, and the effects of these inadequacies on velocity field prediction are discussed. 14 refs., 6 figs

A Conceptual Approach to Partitioning a Vertical Profile of Phytoplankton Biomass Into Contributions From Two Communities

We describe an approach to partition a vertical profile of chlorophyll-a concentration into contributions from two communities of phytoplankton: one (community 1) that resides principally in the turbulent mixed-layer of the upper ocean and is observable through satellite visible radiometry; the other (community 2) residing below the mixed-layer, in a stably stratified environment, hidden from the eyes of the satellite. The approach is tuned to a time-series of profiles from a Biogeochemical-Argo float in the northern Red Sea, selected as its location transitions from a deep mixed layer in winter (characteristic of vertically well-mixed systems) to a shallow mixed layer in the summer with a deep chlorophyll-a maximum (characteristic of vertically stratified systems). The approach is extended to reproduce profiles of particle backscattering, by deriving the chlorophyll-specific backscattering coefficients of the two communities and a background coefficient assumed to be dominated by non-algal particles in the region. Analysis of the float data reveals contrasting phenology of the two communities, with community 1 blooming in winter and 2 in summer, community 1 negatively correlated with epipelagic stratification, and 2 positively correlated. We observe a dynamic chlorophyll-specific backscattering coefficient for community 1 (stable for community 2), positively correlated with light in the mixed-layer, suggesting seasonal changes in photoacclimation and/or taxonomic composition within community 1. The approach has the potential for monitoring vertical changes in epipelagic biogeography and for combining satellite and ocean robotic data to yield a three-dimensional view of phytoplankton distribution. © 2022. The Authors

Application of probabilistic risk assessment methods to incinerator design and permitting

The Consolidated Incineration Facility at the Savannah River Site is designed without emergency flue gas vents. The main components of this 18 million btu/hr facility are a rotary kiln and secondary combustion chamber, each with a code allowable internal pressure of 15 psig. The facility is designed to treat mixed waste. During the early stages of design it was judged on a qualitative basis that potential eventsthat might produce damaging overpressures were not credible. When these findings were questioned during subsequent design reviews, a probabilistic risk assessment was undertaken to provide a quantitative basis for decision making. The result was identification of design conditions leading to relatively high frequencies for a few event sequences in which the allowable pressure might be exceeded. Risk assessment assumptions and results were reviewed with design engineers and relatively simple improvements were identified that collectively reduced the frequency of overpressure to an acceptable level. This experience showed that the use of formalized risk assessment techniques can provide valuable insight leading to timely and cost-effective improvements in facility design and operating procedures. In this case, the program of analysis and follow-on improvements provided justification for incinerator operation without thermal relief devices