Message Matters: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Increase Household Hazardous Waste Program Participation

Removing household hazardous waste (HHW) from the municipal solid waste stream is important to protect health, safety and the environment. Communities across the U.S. separate HHW from regular trash for disposal with hazardous waste, however nationally, participation rates are low with only five to ten percent of households estimated to participate in any given collection. This two-part study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to understand individuals’ beliefs and attitudes toward HHW collections, and to develop a print message intervention to increase participation. In Study 1, respondents (N = 983) completed a survey administered to homeowners in the Connecticut River Estuary region. Correlational and regression mediation analyses showed that the TPB significantly predicted self-reported attendance at an HHW collection. Despite wide use of the TPB in studies designed to predict intention and behavior, application in behavior change interventions is not common. Thus in Study 2, an experiment was conducted in which the sample comprised of survey respondents and non-respondents (N = 2,409) was randomly assigned to receive one of the following intervention print message treatments: (1) only factual information about the HHW collections; (2) factual information plus positive attitudes toward HHW collection participation; (3) factual and normative messages about HHW participation; and (4) factual, attitudinal and normative messages. The control condition was single-family households in the region that received neither the survey nor treatment. Results of the experiment were mixed. The information-only card showed a 15% participation rate while the card that provided information and appealed to both attitudes and norms, showed a 22.5% participation rate, compared to the control group with 8.7% participation. Two conditions hypothesized to show significant increases in participation, an information and attitude message card and an information and normative message card did not significantly differ from the control. The results of this research imply that direct-mailed print messages with program information and appeals to both attitudes and norms can be an effective tool for motivating HHW collection participation

Message Matters: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Increase Household Hazardous Waste Program Participation

Removing household hazardous waste (HHW) from the municipal solid waste stream is important to protect health, safety and the environment. Communities across the U.S. separate HHW from regular trash for disposal with hazardous waste, however nationally, participation rates are low with only five to ten percent of households estimated to participate in any given collection. This two-part study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to understand individuals’ beliefs and attitudes toward HHW collections, and to develop a print message intervention to increase participation. In Study 1, respondents (N = 983) completed a survey administered to homeowners in the Connecticut River Estuary region. Correlational and regression mediation analyses showed that the TPB significantly predicted self-reported attendance at an HHW collection. Despite wide use of the TPB in studies designed to predict intention and behavior, application in behavior change interventions is not common. Thus in Study 2, an experiment was conducted in which the sample comprised of survey respondents and non-respondents (N = 2,409) was randomly assigned to receive one of the following intervention print message treatments: (1) only factual information about the HHW collections; (2) factual information plus positive attitudes toward HHW collection participation; (3) factual and normative messages about HHW participation; and (4) factual, attitudinal and normative messages. The control condition was single-family households in the region that received neither the survey nor treatment. Results of the experiment were mixed. The information-only card showed a 15% participation rate while the card that provided information and appealed to both attitudes and norms, showed a 22.5% participation rate, compared to the control group with 8.7% participation. Two conditions hypothesized to show significant increases in participation, an information and attitude message card and an information and normative message card did not significantly differ from the control. The results of this research imply that direct-mailed print messages with program information and appeals to both attitudes and norms can be an effective tool for motivating HHW collection participation

Choosing to be Childfree: Research on the Decision Not to Parent

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless-by-choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women and gay and heterosexual men, greater diversity within studies of adults without children is one suggested focus for future work in this area

Choosing to be Childfree: Research on the Decision Not to Parent

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless-by-choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women and gay and heterosexual men, greater diversity within studies of adults without children is one suggested focus for future work in this area

Top ten technologies for academic libraries

Paper completed for Emerging Technologies, 9410 Seminar in Information Science and Learning Technology, Fall 2015, School of Information Science & Technologies, University of Missouri."December 7, 2015."It is becoming increasingly important for libraries to keep up in the rough and tumble world of emerging technologies. This is especially true for academic libraries that often work with professors and students utilizing new and advanced technologies to achieve their professional or academic goals. However, finding the time to locate these technologies can be difficult. The following list has been compiled to help ease this process and to inform our fellow librarians on some of these technologies.Includes bibliographical references (page 4)

Versatile, Cheap, Readily Modifiable Sample Delivery Method for Analysis of Air-/Moisture-Sensitive Samples Using Atmospheric Pressure Solids Analysis Probe Mass Spectrometry

A cheap, versatile, readily modified, and reusable glass probe system enabling delivery of solid air-/moisture-sensitive samples for mass spectrometric (MS) analysis using an Atmospheric pressure Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP) is described. The simplicity of the design allows quick and easy ASAP MS analyses of sensitive solid and liquid samples without the need for any modifications to commercially available vertically loaded ASAP mass spectrometers. A comparison of ASAP mass spectra obtained for metal complexes under air and an inert atmosphere is given

A crossover intervention trial evaluating the efficacy of a chlorhexidine-impregnated sponge in reducing catheter-related bloodstream infections among patients undergoing hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Catheter-related bloodstream infections (BSI) account for the majority of hemodialysis-related infections. There are no published data on the efficacy of the chlorhexidine-impregnated foam dressing at reducing catheter-related BSI in hemodialysis patients. DESIGN: Prospective non-blinded cross-over intervention trial to determine the efficacy of a chlorhexidine-impregnated foam dressing (Biopatch®) to reduce catheter-related BSI in hemodialysis patients. SETTING: Two outpatient dialysis centers PATIENTS: A total of 121 patients who were dialyzed through tunneled central venous catheters received the intervention during the trial. METHODS: The primary outcome of interest was the incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections. A nested cohort study of all patients who received the Biopatch® Antimicrobial Dressing was also conducted. Backward stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to determine independent risk factors for development of BSI. RESULTS: 37 bloodstream infections occurred in the intervention group for a rate of 6.3 BSIs/1000 dialysis sessions and 30 bloodstream infections in the control group for a rate of 5.2 BSIs/1000 dialysis sessions and [RR 1.22, CI (0.76, 1.97); P=0.46]. The Biopatch® Antimicrobial Dressing was well-tolerated with only two patients (<2%) experiencing dermatitis that led to its discontinuation. The only independent risk factor for development of BSI was dialysis treatment at one dialysis center [aOR 4.4 (1.77, 13.65); P=0.002]. Age ≥ 60 years [aOR 0.28 (0.09, 0.82); P=0.02] was associated with lower risk for BSI. CONCLUSION: The use of a chlorhexidine-impregnated foam dressing (Biopatch®) did not decrease catheter-related BSIs among hemodialysis patients with tunneled central venous catheters

Role for SUR2A ED Domain in Allosteric Coupling within the KATP Channel Complex

Allosteric regulation of heteromultimeric ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels is unique among protein systems as it implies transmission of ligand-induced structural adaptation at the regulatory SUR subunit, a member of ATP-binding cassette ABCC family, to the distinct pore-forming K+ (Kir6.x) channel module. Cooperative interaction between nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) of SUR is a prerequisite for KATP channel gating, yet pathways of allosteric intersubunit communication remain uncertain. Here, we analyzed the role of the ED domain, a stretch of 15 negatively charged aspartate/glutamate amino acid residues (948–962) of the SUR2A isoform, in the regulation of cardiac KATP channels. Disruption of the ED domain impeded cooperative NBDs interaction and interrupted the regulation of KATP channel complexes by MgADP, potassium channel openers, and sulfonylurea drugs. Thus, the ED domain is a structural component of the allosteric pathway within the KATP channel complex integrating transduction of diverse nucleotide-dependent states in the regulatory SUR subunit to the open/closed states of the K+-conducting channel pore

Benchmarking Relatedness Inference Methods with Genome-Wide Data from Thousands of Relatives

Inferring relatedness from genomic data is an essential component of genetic association studies, population genetics, forensics, and genealogy. While numerous methods exist for inferring relatedness, thorough evaluation of these approaches in real data has been lacking. Here, we report an assessment of 12 state-of-the-art pairwise relatedness inference methods using a data set with 2485 individuals contained in several large pedigrees that span up to six generations. We find that all methods have high accuracy (92–99%) when detecting first- and second-degree relationships, but their accuracy dwindles to \u3c43% for seventh-degree relationships. However, most identical by descent (IBD) segment-based methods inferred seventh-degree relatives correct to within one relatedness degree for \u3e76% of relative pairs. Overall, the most accurate methods are Estimation of Recent Shared Ancestry (ERSA) and approaches that compute total IBD sharing using the output from GERMLINE and Refined IBD to infer relatedness. Combining information from the most accurate methods provides little accuracy improvement, indicating that novel approaches, such as new methods that leverage relatedness signals from multiple samples, are needed to achieve a sizeable jump in performance