Determining the Efficiency of Disposable Baby Diapers through Data Envelopment Analysis

Following the patent of the disposable diaper in the late 1940s, the popularity of the disposable diaper drastically increased. Various companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Proctor & Gamble, continuously compete with each other to create the “best” disposable diaper product. This project compares 12 of the most popular brands of disposable diapers to determine the efficiency of each diaper and what changes could be made to increase efficiency, when applicable

‘We just thought everyone else is going so we might as well’:Middle-class parenting and franchised baby/toddler swimming

In this paper, we examine the continual and rapid growth of privatised baby/toddler swimming franchises (birth to 4 years) as part of a wider trend and market growth of baby/toddler sports, for example, Rugby Tots, Baby Ballet, and Little Kickers (football). Throughout the paper, we apply Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and habitus to understand parents’ motivations for taking their baby/toddler to organised swimming classes. These sporting activities are expensive for parents with each session costing between £6-20 for a baby/toddler to participate which means that only parents with economic capital can afford to consume these activities. Our findings suggest that consuming these activities reflect views on good parenting, support the development of physical and social capital and forms of family class distinction which start in the early years. We argue this is significant as such early formative experiences support the development of leisure and sporting habitus which have value and may influence future leisure choices and opportunities

Assessment of Anemia Levels in Infants and Children in High Altitude Peru

When prevalence rates of anemia exceed 40%, the World Health Organization recognizes this as a severe public health problem. In Peru, approximately 43.5% (urban) and 51.1% (rural) of children between the ages of 6 and 36 months have anemia. Currently, limited data exists regarding prevalence rates in many of the high altitude regions of Peru. The main purpose of this pilot study was to establish evidence of anemia in infants and children (7 months through 5 years of age) living in the rural, mountainous region of Ollantaytambo District. This pilot study utilized a quantitative, cross-sectional design to assess the presence of anemia in infants and children. Hemoglobin levels were collected from 160 children across 12 villages where elevations ranged from 2800 to 4100 meters above sea level. Chi Square tests compared anemia with age ranges, altitude, anthropometric measures, breastfeeding patterns, and types of communities. Adjusted hemoglobin levels established 47.5% of the 160 participants were anemic. Chi Square results indicated children aged 25-36 months and children living in communities at 3100 and 4100 meters displayed higher than expected rates of anemia. Results confirmed high rates of anemia and the need for education related to dietary factors

Wading through Space and Time: Leveraging Geospatial Methods to Better Understand Recreation Behavior, Experience, and Impacts within a Densely Used Lake Destination

In the last decade, many U.S. parks and protected areas (PPA) experienced record breaking visitation levels. Managers of these PPAs face the challenging task of providing a range of quality and accessible outdoor experiences without compromising the integrity and health of surrounding ecosystems. Understanding how PPA visitors move and interact with one another throughout a landscape serves as a foundational tenant toward informing adaptive and effective visitor use management frameworks. Spatial data representing recreationist movement patterns provides critical information on visitor use and flow, and can highlight areas that may be prone to resource degradation, crowding, or user conflicts. More powerfully, spatial data can be leveraged with social, managerial, and biophysical information to provide an inter-disciplinary understanding of the drivers and consequences of recreation use. Multi-use destinations in PPAs that offer a mix of land and water-based activities represent some of the most sought-after recreation sites, particularly in the summer months. These sites often contain lakes, rivers, and coastal areas with open shorelines and adjacent trail networks. Despite the prevalence of these mixed-use sites, the majority of integrative spatial research efforts have occurred solely within terrestrial recreation settings. Very few spatial studies have examined mixed-use aquatic recreation locations. This type of research is greatly needed as water-users often produce distinctive impacts to ecological resources and develop unique outdoor experiences and outcomes. Furthermore, to date, there has been no empirical investigation of an emergent, yet highly popular, water-based activity: stand-up paddleboarding. This Master’s thesis employed cross-disciplinary, mixed-method approaches to explore the spatial behaviors, experiences, and impacts of land and water-based recreationists at a popular PPA lake destination in Grand Teton National Park, WY, USA. During the summer of 2018, a random sample of visitors were asked to participate in a pre- and post-survey and carry a handheld GPS unit throughout their day-visit to the recreation site. To obtain biophysical data, this research utilized a high resolution GPS device to identify and map recreation-related resource impacts within study site. In total, 577 GPS tracks were collected with corresponding survey and biophysical information. The first empirical chapter explored density dependent factors influencing visitor spatiotemporal behavior between two primary user groups: land-based recreationists and water-based recreationists. Results showed that despite having the ability to disperse, behavior became more concentrated at medium and high-use times. Additionally, findings indicated that water-users and land-users utilized the system differently at varying use levels. This chapter serves as one of the first to examine and compare spatiotemporal response to visitor densities across multiple activity types. Furthermore, findings provide insights into the implications of crowding, displacement, and dispersal within a densely populated PPA recreation site. The second empirical chapter compared the spatial behaviors of non-motorized, paddlesport users: stand-up paddleboarders, canoers, and kayakers. Statistical classification procedures built a typology of water-users based on observed spatiotemporal behaviors. Findings identified distinctions in behavior across paddling activity types, highlighting implications for resource protection and visitor flow. Integrating spatial data with survey and biophysical information revealed numerous drivers and impacts of spatial movement. For example, the motivation to escape and experience natural beauty corresponded to traveling further distances, while higher group sizes and prolonged shoreline exposure aligned with concentrated movement near parking lots and facilities. These findings contribute novel information on paddlesport spatial behavior and experience in PPAs, especially given the emergence of stand-up paddleboarding. Ultimately, the methods and findings from both research chapters responds to a growing call in PPA research to incorporate spatial approaches to research designs, particularly within aquatic recreation settings. Results contribute to theoretical and practical knowledge of recreationist movement and experience across a more representative range of PPAs

Genomic analysis of a sexually-selected character: EST sequencing and microarray analysis of eye-antennal imaginal discs in the stalk-eyed fly Teleopsis dalmanni (Diopsidae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many species of stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae) possess highly-exaggerated, sexually dimorphic eye-stalks that play an important role in the mating system of these flies. Eye-stalks are increasingly being used as a model system for studying sexual selection, but little is known about the genetic mechanisms producing variation in these ornamental traits. Therefore, we constructed an EST database of genes expressed in the developing eye-antennal imaginal disc of the highly dimorphic species <it>Teleopsis dalmanni</it>. We used this set of genes to construct microarray slides and compare patterns of gene expression between lines of flies with divergent eyespan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We generated 33,229 high-quality ESTs from three non-normalized libraries made from the developing eye-stalk tissue at different developmental stages. EST assembly and annotation produced a total of 7,066 clusters comprising 3,424 unique genes with significant sequence similarity to a protein in either <it>Drosophila melanogaster </it>or <it>Anopheles gambiae</it>. Comparisons of the transcript profiles at different stages reveal a developmental shift in relative expression from genes involved in anatomical structure formation, transcription, and cell proliferation at the larval stage to genes involved in neurological processes and cuticle production during the pupal stages. Based on alignments of the EST fragments to homologous sequences in <it>Drosophila </it>and <it>Anopheles</it>, we identified 20 putative gene duplication events in <it>T. dalmanni </it>and numerous genes undergoing significantly faster rates of evolution in <it>T. dalmanni </it>relative to the other Dipteran species. Microarray experiments identified over 350 genes with significant differential expression between flies from lines selected for high and low relative eyespan but did not reveal any primary biological process or pathway that is driving the expression differences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The catalogue of genes identified in the EST database provides a valuable framework for a comprehensive examination of the genetic basis of eye-stalk variation. Several candidate genes, such as <it>crooked legs</it>, <it>cdc2</it>, <it>CG31917 </it>and <it>CG11577</it>, emerge from the analysis of gene duplication, protein evolution and microarray gene expression. Additional comparisons of expression profiles between, for example, males and females, and species that differ in eye-stalk sexual dimorphism, are now enabled by these resources.</p

Cortical tau deposition follows patterns of entorhinal functional connectivity in aging.

Tau pathology first appears in the transentorhinal and anterolateral entorhinal cortex (alEC) in the aging brain. The transition to Alzheimer's disease (AD) is hypothesized to involve amyloid-β (Aβ) facilitated tau spread through neural connections. We contrasted functional connectivity (FC) of alEC and posteromedial EC (pmEC), subregions of EC that differ in functional specialization and cortical connectivity, with the hypothesis that alEC-connected cortex would show greater tau deposition than pmEC-connected cortex. We used resting state fMRI to measure FC, and PET to measure tau and Aβ in cognitively normal older adults. Tau preferentially deposited in alEC-connected cortex compared to pmEC-connected or non-connected cortex, and stronger connectivity was associated with increased tau deposition. FC-tau relationships were present regardless of Aβ, although strengthened with Aβ. These results provide an explanation for the anatomic specificity of neocortical tau deposition in the aging brain and reveal relationships between normal aging and the evolution of AD

Skagit Delta alternatives analysis: using output from the Salish Sea hydrodynamic model to quantify benefits and impacts of restoration project concepts

The Skagit Hydrodynamic Model Project was initiated by the Farms, Fish, and Flood Initiative (3FI) to conduct a landscape-scale alternative analysis in the Skagit River delta region. Twenty-three proposed restoration projects were assessed based on a number of quantitative indicators identified by representatives from each interest (Farm, Fish, and Flood). The study area focused on the Skagit River delta downstream of Mount Vernon, Washington. This reach of the Skagit River is tidally influenced and includes both the North Fork and South Fork distributaries, Skagit Bay, Padilla Bay, and the Swinomish Channel. The study area indirectly included approximately 55,000 acres of highly productive sub-tidal farmland. Several indicators were developed for the alternatives analysis to evaluate restoration concepts under a variety of flow and tidal conditions and under a climate change scenario. These indicators were directly informed using output from the Salish sea hydrodynamic model (HDM) using a normalized scoring methodology. This presentation will provide detail about how our team used output from the HDM to quantify indicators. It will also present how our team evaluated potential system- wide changes to water surface elevation, the balance of flow between the major distributaries, and salinity due to implementation of large restoration concepts, groups of projects and how we accounted for these system wide changes in our indicators. Finally, results from the climate change analysis and how we evaluated potential future impacts to habitat and agricultural practices will be presented

Tau deposition is associated with functional isolation of the hippocampus in aging.

The tau protein aggregates in aging and Alzheimer disease and may lead to memory loss through disruption of medial temporal lobe (MTL)-dependent memory systems. Here, we investigated tau-mediated mechanisms of hippocampal dysfunction that underlie the expression of episodic memory decline using fMRI measures of hippocampal local coherence (regional homogeneity; ReHo), distant functional connectivity and tau-PET. We show that age and tau pathology are related to higher hippocampal ReHo. Functional disconnection between the hippocampus and other components of the MTL memory system, particularly an anterior-temporal network specialized for object memory, is also associated with higher hippocampal ReHo and greater tau burden in anterior-temporal regions. These associations are not observed in the posteromedial network, specialized for context/spatial information. Higher hippocampal ReHo predicts worse memory performance. These findings suggest that tau pathology plays a role in disconnecting the hippocampus from specific MTL memory systems leading to increased local coherence and memory decline

Dendritic Cell Phagocytosis in C57BL/6 IL-10-/- and C57BL/6 Wild Type Mice and Implications for Guillain-Barré Syndrome Pathology

Poster presentation abstract

Kinetics and Identities of Extracellular Peptidases in Subsurface Sediments of the White Oak River Estuary, North Carolina

Anoxic subsurface sediments contain communities of heterotrophic microorganisms that metabolize organic carbon at extraordinarily low rates. In order to assess the mechanisms by which subsurface microorganisms access detrital sedimentary organic matter, we measured kinetics of a range of extracellular peptidases in anoxic sediments of the White Oak River Estuary, NC. Nine distinct peptidase substrates were enzymatically hydrolyzed at all depths. Potential peptidase activities (Vmax) decreased with increasing sediment depth, although Vmax expressed on a per-cell basis was approximately the same at all depths. Half-saturation constants (Km) decreased with depth, indicating peptidases that functioned more efficiently at low substrate concentrations. Potential activities of extracellular peptidases acting on molecules that are enriched in degraded organic matter (d-phenylalanine and l-ornithine) increased relative to enzymes that act on l-phenylalanine, further suggesting microbial community adaptation to access degraded organic matter. Nineteen classes of predicted, exported peptidases were identified in genomic data from the same site, of which genes for class C25 (gingipain-like) peptidases represented more than 40% at each depth. Methionine aminopeptidases, zinc carboxypeptidases, and class S24-like peptidases, which are involved in single-stranded-DNA repair, were also abundant. These results suggest a subsurface heterotrophic microbial community that primarily accesses low-quality detrital organic matter via a diverse suite of well-adapted extracellular enzymes. IMPORTANCE Burial of organic carbon in marine and estuarine sediments represents a long-term sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Globally, ∼40% of organic carbon burial occurs in anoxic estuaries and deltaic systems. However, the ultimate controls on the amount of organic matter that is buried in sediments, versus oxidized into CO2, are poorly constrained. In this study, we used a combination of enzyme assays and metagenomic analysis to identify how subsurface microbial communities catalyze the first step of proteinaceous organic carbon degradation. Our results show that microbial communities in deeper sediments are adapted to access molecules characteristic of degraded organic matter, suggesting that those heterotrophs are adapted to life in the subsurface