Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center To the Urban Fringe

Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center To the Urban Fringe is prepared by the Urban Agriculture Committee of the Community Food Security Coalition to raise awareness of the ways that urban agriculture can respond to food insecurity. The document advocates for policies that promote small-scale urban and peri-urban farming, and thereby prepare the next generation of urban farming leaders

HDLalert – a healthcare DL alerting system: from user needs to implementation

In the health domain, there are many circumstances where clinicians (i.e. doctors, nurses, allied health professionals) and patients wish to track changes in medical knowledge. However, existing 'news' or 'alert' services provide relatively limited means for selecting which information to receive. The result is that clinicians and patients often receive information that is inappropriate, irrelevant or simply too much. In this paper, we detail alert-relevant findings from several international user studies (e.g. UK, Germany and New Zealand) incorporating both clinical staff (across several hospitals) and patients' perceptions. These findings demonstrate the importance of context, in terms of both the user's task and immediate environment. We introduce a novel alerting architecture that can provide a finely tailored stream of alerts to the user, and provides further support to assist the interpretation of received material

The use of Ububele persona dolls in an emotional literacy programme with pre-school children

Ububele is a resource and training centre located in the greater Alexandra Township of Johannesburg. One of Ububele’s projects, the Ububele Persona Doll project, is a programme that is aimed at developing emotional literacy in pre-school children using a life-size handmade doll in a group setting. This research has sought to explore the use of the Ububele Persona Dolls. The sample consisted of eighteen Grade R children at the Ububele Therapeutic Nursery School and their teacher. They were video recorded during six regular Ububele Persona Doll sessions. The use of the dolls in developing emotional literacy in pre-school children, as well as their potential for use in group therapy was assessed in three different stages. Firstly, the presence of emotional material in the form of emotional adjectives was assessed. The teacher’s response patterns and level of empathy, as well as the effectiveness of the responses in terms of the goals of emotional literacy development were analysed. Lastly, the transcripts were examined for the presence of material, with regard to thematic content that could be used in group therapy. The presence of emotional adjectives suggested that there was useful emotional material present, although the material was mainly brought up by the teacher and the range of the material was limited. The teacher’s responses were most frequently informative, didactive or directive responses and questioning responses. However, she did make use of paraphrases and restatements, reflections and verbal encouragers to a lesser degree. With regards to the empathic levels of the responses, most of the responses involved exact replications of what was said by the child and no empathic responses requiring an understanding of human behaviour were given. The goals of emotional literacy training were all being achieved within the sessions. A number of themes, including physical discipline, abuse and neglect, broken or non-nuclear families, and death and dying, emerged. These themes could be concentrated on by a group facilitator

Early maritime Scotland

This thesis provides a general view of maritime Scotland from c. 10.000BP, the retreat of the last glacier of the Loch Lomond Stadial, until 1018AD, the first formal agreement upon the River Tweed as Scotland's southern border following the Battle of Carham. The thesis shows the importance of water upon the physical landscape and man's dependence upon water, and his ability to travel on it, to facilitate survival, social development, development of trade and to aid immigration throughout prehistoric and early mediaeval Scotland. Emphasis is given to the geomorphology of Scotland and the development of water transport throughout the time period covered

Impaired glucose tolerance or newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus diagnosed during admission adversely affects prognosis after myocardial infarction: An observational study

Objective To investigate the prognostic effect of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus (NDM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) post myocardial infarction (MI). Research Design and Methods Retrospective cohort study of 768 patients without preexisting diabetes mellitus post-MI at one centre in Yorkshire between November 2005 and October 2008. Patients were categorised as normal glucose tolerance (NGT n = 337), IGT (n = 279) and NDM (n = 152) on predischarge oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Primary end-point was the first occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including cardiovascular death, non-fatal MI, severe heart failure (HF) or non-haemorrhagic stroke. Secondary end-points were all cause mortality and individual components of MACE. Results Prevalence of NGT, impaired fasting glucose (IFG), IGT and NDM changed from 90%, 6%, 0% and 4% on fasting plasma glucose (FPG) to 43%, 1%, 36% and 20% respectively after OGTT. 102 deaths from all causes (79 as first events of which 46 were cardiovascular), 95 non fatal MI, 18 HF and 9 non haemorrhagic strokes occurred during 47.2 ± 9.4 months follow up. Event free survival was lower in IGT and NDM groups. IGT (HR 1.54, 95% CI: 1.06–2.24, p = 0.024) and NDM (HR 2.15, 95% CI: 1.42–3.24, p = 0.003) independently predicted MACE free survival. IGT and NDM also independently predicted incidence of MACE. NDM but not IGT increased the risk of secondary end-points. Conclusion Presence of IGT and NDM in patients presenting post-MI, identified using OGTT, is associated with increased incidence of MACE and is associated with adverse outcomes despite adequate secondary prevention

Strain-Dependent Variation in Developmental TGFbeta1 Knockout Phenotypes

The transforming growth factors Beta (TGP?) comprise three closely-related polypeptides with non-overlapping functions in vivo. On a mixed genetic background, a proportion of mice homozygous null and heterozygous for a targeted disruption in their TGFbeta1 gene die pre-natally with defects in yolk sac haematopoiesis and vasculogenesis (Dickson et al., 1995). In this project, the variable penetrance of lethality in TGFbeta1 knockouts was investigated. The TGFbeta1 null allele was bred to 93.75% purity in different inbred strains of mice, and the gross morphology and histology of TGFbeta1+/- intercross litters from these backgrounds was examined at different pre- and post-natal stages. Molecular aspects of the abnormal mid-gestation phenotype were analysed. The lethal phenotype of the TGFbeta1 knockout was clearly strain-dependent - and the variable expressivity and penetrance of the observed phenotypes in TGFbeta1+/- and TGFbeta1-/- conceptuses suggested three critical stages when TGFbeta1 is essential: a) preorganogenesis; b) in the establishment of a stable extra-embryonic vasculature and during haemoglobinisation of primitive erythroid precursors; c) post-natally as an immunomodulator. This study shows that a combination of genetic and environmental factors interact to produce the TGFbeta1 knockout phenotypes

Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy of Young Portuguese Water Dogs

A novel dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in 12 related Portuguese Water Dogs was identified by retrospective analysis of postmortem and biopsy case records. Male and female puppies born to clinically healthy parents typically died at 13 (± 7.3) weeks of age (range, 2–32 weeks) because of congestive heart failure. Puppies died suddenly without previous signs or with mild depression followed by clinical signs of congestive heart failure 1–5 days before death. There was no sex predilection. The hearts were enlarged and rounded, with marked left ventricular and atrial dilation. No other significant structural cardiac defects were noted. The histologic changes in the myocardium were diffuse and characterized by myofibers of irregular sizes separated by an edematous interstitium. The myofibers had multifocal swollen, cleared segments often involving perinuclear areas that contained granular, phosphotungstic-acid-hematoxylin-positive material consistent with mitochondria. There was loss of the cross-striation pattern, and intercalated discs were difficult to identify. There was no evidence of concurrent myocardial fibrosis; rare chronic inflammatory infiltrates were noted in one dog. Noncardiac skeletal muscles were not affected. The underlying cause is unknown. From the pedigree analysis, an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance is suspected. Based on the histologic findings, this DCM is most likely due to an underlying molecular (biochemical or structural) defect. The early onset and rapid progression of the disease makes this a clinically distinctive form of canine DCM

Teacher retention and attrition: Views of early career teachers

The provision and maintenance of quality teachers is a matter of priority for the profession. Moreover, teacher attrition is costly to the profession, to the community and to those teachers who leave feeling disillusioned. There is a need to investigate the experiences of early career teachers to consider how these issues contribute to decisions about staying in or leaving the profession. This paper reports on an aspect of a larger study on teacher retention. It describes and analyses the experiences of teachers participating in the study and highlights implications for teacher retention. The study proposes the notion of ‘resilient stayers’, and how beginning teachers’ resilience might be strengthened and supported. It asks what combination of circumstances in the school and the system, and individual resources of resilience on the part of early career teachers, might maximise the chances of teachers choosing to remain in the profession

The Ursinus Weekly, October 6, 1958

Helfferich succeeds McClure as President • Dr. Allan L. Rice has new Swedish book published • Messiah begins; Students register on Tues. and Wed. • New look in uniforms brightens band this year • APO holds open meeting Tues. evening, October 7 • Presidents speak: Welcome class of 1962 • Y starts program; Commissions meet • New jazz magazine hits the market • Spirit Committee plans dance • Doctor C. N. Parkinson to address Forum Tues. • Student teachers receive positions • Pre-medical society views symposium at Pennsylvania • New senators hold first meeting of Fall semester • Editorial: Entertainment • Letters to the editor • Selecting a house • Amigo speaks • Lantern chooses Miller, McCabe as new editors • Hockey squad to meet Swarthmore for first game • Soccermen begin practice; Season opens October 15 • Crusader\u27s early TD edges Bear eleven 6-0 • Middle Atlantic Conference opens season Oct. 2nd • Fall intramurals offer speedball • Danforth releases applications for graduate study • Dr. E. H. Miller appears on television program • But still try... • Former basketball coach dies of polio in Virginia • Last season • Cadaverism • Engagement • J. Von Koppenfels • Beta Sigma Lambda frat. holds dance Sat. at L.A.M. • Curtain Club reception planned for October 9https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1367/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of the State of Tennessee Immunization Policy Change of 2011 - 2012 on Vaccination Uptake in East Tennessee

In the United States, funding for the purchase of vaccines depend on annual Congressional allocations. These allocations fluctuate from year to year as Congress responds to changes in national needs for immunizations. The Affordable Care Act requires first dollar coverage of immunizations and other preventive care, allowing a reduction in federal funding for vaccine purchase and a reallocation of funds to other uses such as infrastructure development. In fiscal year 2012, the loss of funds allocated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act required action by states to ensure appropriate use of remaining funds. In Tennessee, the response was a policy change that redefined the population who would receive immunizations at health departments