Derrick Bell: Oregon Trailblazer

Tribute to Professor Derrick Bel

A Fresh Look at Energy, Materials, and Labor in Agriculture

An understanding of agriculture's energy, material, and labor requirements is essential for achieving economic and ecological sustainability, and for assessing the effectiveness of relevant policy decisions (biofuel subsidies, regulations, labeling, etc.). Previous studies of energy, materials, and labor use in farming have been based on either unverified voluntary reporting or test plots, rather than on the high-resolution measurements of mass and energy flows. Here we present a recursive analysis of 1.25 million data points describing in unprecedented detail the resource transactions on a 60 ha farm functioning for over 6 years. This analysis highlights the importance of accounting for all types of materials, as well as capital equipment, non-field labor, and commuting. The superior energy efficiency of the farm's energy-saving methods, including green manure, crop rotation, composting, and short-duration grazing -- compared with conventional methods -- persists even when the higher labor requirements are taken into account. One of the farm's methods, however -- the use of horses for traction -- is shown to be highly inefficient compared with mechanical tractors

A near infrared frequency comb for Y+J band astronomical spectroscopy

Radial velocity (RV) surveys supported by high precision wavelength references (notably ThAr lamps and I2 cells) have successfully identified hundreds of exoplanets; however, as the search for exoplanets moves to cooler, lower mass stars, the optimum wave band for observation for these objects moves into the near infrared (NIR) and new wavelength standards are required. To address this need we are following up our successful deployment of an H band(1.45-1.7{\mu}m) laser frequency comb based wavelength reference with a comb working in the Y and J bands (0.98-1.3{\mu}m). This comb will be optimized for use with a 50,000 resolution NIR spectrograph such as the Penn State Habitable Zone Planet Finder. We present design and performance details of the current Y+J band comb.Comment: Submitted to SPIE, conference proceedings 845

Use of RE-AIM to develop a multi-media facilitation tool for the patient-centered medical home

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Much has been written about how the medical home model can enhance patient-centeredness, care continuity, and follow-up, but few comprehensive aids or resources exist to help practices accomplish these aims. The complexity of primary care can overwhelm those concerned with quality improvement.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The RE-AIM planning and evaluation model was used to develop a multimedia, multiple-health behavior tool with psychosocial assessment and feedback features to facilitate and guide patient-centered communication, care, and follow-up related to prevention and self-management of the most common adult chronic illnesses seen in primary care.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The <it>Connection to Health </it>Patient Self-Management System, a web-based patient assessment and support resource, was developed using the RE-AIM factors of reach (<it>e.g</it>., allowing input and output via choice of different modalities), effectiveness (<it>e.g</it>., using evidence-based intervention strategies), adoption (<it>e.g</it>., assistance in integrating the system into practice workflows and permitting customization of the website and feedback materials by practice teams), implementation (<it>e.g</it>., identifying and targeting actionable priority behavioral and psychosocial issues for patients and teams), and maintenance/sustainability (<it>e.g</it>., integration with current National Committee for Quality Assurance recommendations and clinical pathways of care). <it>Connection to Health </it>can work on a variety of input and output platforms, and assesses and provides feedback on multiple health behaviors and multiple chronic conditions frequently managed in adult primary care. As such, it should help to make patient-healthcare team encounters more informed and patient-centered. Formative research with clinicians indicated that the program addressed a number of practical concerns and they appreciated the flexibility and how the <it>Connection to Health </it>program could be customized to their office.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This primary care practice tool based on an implementation science model has the potential to guide patients to more healthful behaviors and improved self-management of chronic conditions, while fostering effective and efficient communication between patients and their healthcare team. RE-AIM and similar models can help clinicians and media developers create practical products more likely to be widely adopted, feasible in busy medical practices, and able to produce public health impact.</p

The PTF Orion Project: a Possible Planet Transiting a T-Tauri Star

We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 +- 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV observations with the Hobby-Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit center by approximately -0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV variations is 2.4 km/s and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of M_p sin i_orb < 4.8 +- 1.2 M_Jup; when combined with the orbital inclination, i orb, of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of M_p < 5.5 +- 1.4 M_Jup. This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside, its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass loss and evaporation.Comment: Corrected typos, minor clarifications; minor updates/corrections to affiliations and bibliography. 35 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted to Ap

A qualitative evaluation of a novel intervention using insight into tobacco industry tactics to prevent the uptake of smoking in school-aged children

Background: Evidence from the US Truth campaign suggests that interventions focusing on tobacco industry tactics can be effective in preventing smoking uptake by children. Operation Smoke Storm is the first school-based intervention based on this premise and comprises three classroom sessions in which students act as secret agents uncovering tobacco industry tactics through videos, quizzes, discussions, and presentations. We report a qualitative evaluation of its acceptability. Methods: We conducted eight focus groups with 79 students aged 11-12 who participated in Operation Smoke Storm at two UK schools in Autumn 2013, and 20 interviews with teachers who delivered the intervention. These were digitally audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using the framework method. Results: Students enjoyed the secret agent scenario and reported acquiring new knowledge about smoking and the tobacco industry, which seemed to strengthen their aversion to smoking. Teachers felt confident delivering the ‘off the shelf’ resource, although they would have welcomed more background information about the topic and guidance on steering discussions. Teachers highlighted a need for the resource to be flexible and not dependent on lesson length, teacher confidence, or expertise. Students and teachers endorsed the idea of developing a booster component for older students and supported the development of printed information complementing the resource to encourage parents to support their child not to smoke. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that Operation Smoke Storm can be delivered by teachers to raise awareness about smoking-related issues. The ideas and issues raised are now being used to improve and extend the resource for further evaluation

Digital methods for ethnography: analytical concepts for ethnographers exploring social media environments

The aim of this article is to introduce some analytical concepts suitable for ethnographers dealing with social media environments. As a result of the growth of social media, the Internet structure has become a very complex, fluid, and fragmented space. Within this space, it is not always possible to consider the 'classical' online community as the privileged field site for the ethnographer, in which s/he immerses him/herself. Differently, taking inspiration from some methodological principles of the Digital Methods paradigm, I suggest that the main task for the ethnographer moving across social media environments should not be exclusively that of identifying an online community to delve into but of mapping the practices through which Internet users and digital devices structure social formations around a focal object (e.g., a brand). In order to support the ethnographer in the mapping of social formations within social media environments, I propose five analytical concepts: community, public, crowd, self-presentation as a tool, and user as a device

Stellar Spectroscopy in the Near-infrared with a Laser Frequency Comb

The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around nearby stars is driven by profound scientific questions about the uniqueness of Earth and our Solar System, and the conditions under which life could exist elsewhere in our Galaxy. Doppler spectroscopy, or the radial velocity (RV) technique, has been used extensively to identify hundreds of exoplanets, but with notable challenges in detecting terrestrial mass planets orbiting within habitable zones. We describe infrared RV spectroscopy at the 10 m Hobby-Eberly telescope that leverages a 30 GHz electro-optic laser frequency comb with nanophotonic supercontinuum to calibrate the Habitable Zone Planet Finder spectrograph. Demonstrated instrument precision <10 cm/s and stellar RVs approaching 1 m/s open the path to discovery and confirmation of habitable zone planets around M-dwarfs, the most ubiquitous type of stars in our Galaxy