Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School Postcard (NPS student heads home from the library, with a stack of books, ca. 1971)

Some things never change! A student heads home from the library, ca. 1971. Today's students use a rich collection of electronic resources, including ejournals, databases, and...books

River monitoring from satellite radar altimetry in the Zambezi River basin

Satellite radar altimetry can be used to monitor surface water levels from space. While current and past altimetry missions were designed to study oceans, retracking the waveforms returned over land allows data to be retrieved for smaller water bodies or narrow rivers. The objective of this study is the assessment of the potential for river monitoring from radar altimetry in terms of water level and discharge in the Zambezi River basin. Retracked Envisat altimetry data were extracted over the Zambezi River basin using a detailed river mask based on Landsat imagery. This allowed for stage measurements to be obtained for rivers down to 80m wide with an RMSE relative to in situ levels of 0.32 to 0.72m at different locations. The altimetric levels were then converted to discharge using three different methods adapted to different data-availability scenarios: first with an in situ rating curve available, secondly with one simultaneous field measurement of cross-section and discharge, and finally with only historical discharge data available. For the two locations at which all three methods could be applied, the accuracies of the different methods were found to be comparable, with RMSE values ranging from 4.1 to 6.5% of the mean annual in situ gauged amplitude for the first method and from 6.9 to 13.8% for the second and third methods. The precision obtained with the different methods was analyzed by running Monte Carlo simulations and also showed comparable values for the three approaches with standard deviations found between 5.7 and 7.2% of the mean annual in situ gauged amplitude for the first method and from 8.7 to 13.0% for the second and third methods

The effects of driving style and vehicle performance on the real-world fuel consumption of U.S. light-duty vehicles

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and, (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-128).Even with advances in vehicle technology, both conservation and methods for reducing the fuel consumption of existing vehicles are needed to decrease the petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of the U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet. One way to do this is through changes in driving style, specifically through reductions in driving aggressiveness. The role of vehicle performance is particularly interesting because of the recognized tradeoff between vehicle performance and certified fuel consumption and because more powerful vehicles are capable of more aggressive driving. This thesis analyzes the effects of driving style and vehicle performance on the real-world fuel consumption of conventional vehicles though two parts. First, vehicle simulations assess the sensitivity of fuel consumption to a wide range of driving patterns. From these results, three aggressiveness factors were developed for quantifying driving aggressiveness. Each aggressiveness factor, although based only on the speed trace and vehicle characteristics, is proportional to fuel consumption in one of three specific speed ranges: neighborhood, city, or highway speeds. These aggressiveness factors provide a tool for comparing drive cycles and evaluating the real-world driving patterns. Second, driving data from two U.S. sources was used to 1) provide illustrative examples of real world driving and 2) assess the relationship between driving aggressiveness and vehicle performance. The distribution of aggressiveness among the driving data follows a lognormal shape. The average aggressiveness is either below or near the aggressiveness of the U.S. drive cycles developed in the 1990s. Moderate performance vehicles, the most common type of vehicle, are driven most aggressively. Low performance vehicles are driven least aggressively. The results suggest that, for the illustrative data analyzed in this work, reducing velocities during highway driving would save roughly the same amount of fuel as reducing accelerations during all driving. However, on an individual basis, the fuel savings achieved from these behaviors would vary significantly. Aggressive drivers should focus on reducing accelerations, while less aggressive drivers should focus on driving at lower speeds on the highway. And the greatest fuel savings can be attained if the most aggressive drivers, those who drive moderate performance vehicles, drove with lower accelerations.by Irene Michelle Berry.S.M

Patient Experiences in a Linguistically Diverse Safety Net Primary Care Setting: Qualitative Study

Background: The patient-centered medical home model intends to improve patient experience and primary care quality. Within an urban safety net setting in Northern California, United States, these desired outcomes are complicated by both the diversity of the patient community and the care continuity implications of a residency program. Objective: The objective of our study was to understand the patient experience beyond standardized satisfaction measures. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study, interviewing 19 patients from the clinic (English-, Spanish-, or Mien-speaking patients). Results: Some themes, such as the desire to feel confident in their doctor, emerged across language groups, pointing to institutional challenges. Other themes, such as distrust in care being provided, were tied distinctly to speaking a language different from one’s provider. Still other themes, such as a sense of powerlessness, were related to cultural differences and to speaking a language (Mien) not spoken by staff. Conclusions: Findings illuminate the need to understand cultural behaviors and interactional styles in a diverse patient population to create a high-quality medical home

Do children with neurological disabilities use more inpatient resources: an observational study.

BACKGROUND: Advances in healthcare have improved the survival of children with neurological disabilities (ND). Studies in the US have shown that children with ND use a substantial proportion of resources in children's hospitals, however, little research has been conducted in the UK. We aimed to test the hypothesis that children with neurological disabilities use more inpatient resources than children without neurological disabilities, and to quantify any significant differences in resource use. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted, looking at the number of hospital admissions, total inpatient days and the reason for admissions for paediatric inpatients from January 1st to March 31st 2015. Inpatients were assigned into one of three groups: children without ND, children with one ND, and children with more than one ND. RESULTS: The sample population included 942 inpatients (mean age 6y 6mo). Children with at least one ND accounted for 15.3% of the inpatients, 17.7% of total hospital inpatient admission episodes, and 27.8% of the total inpatients days. Neurological disability had a statistically significant effect on total hospital admissions (p < 0.001). Neurological disability also had a statistically significant effect on total inpatient days (p < 0.001). Neurological disability increased the length of inpatient stay across medicine, specialties, and surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Children with ND had more frequent hospital admission episode and longer inpatient stays. We identified a smaller group within this population, with arguably more complex neurological disabilities, children with more than one ND. This group had the highest number of admissions and longest inpatient stays. More frequent hospital admissions and longer inpatient stays may place children with ND at greater risk of the adverse effects of hospitalisations. We recommend further investigations looking at each the effects of the different categories of ND on inpatient resource use, and repeat of this study at a national level and over a longer period of time

Biophysical and sociocultural factors underlying spatial trade-offs of ecosystem services in semiarid watersheds

Biophysical and social systems are linked to form social-ecological systems whose sustainability depends on their capacity to absorb uncertainty and cope with disturbances. In this study, we explored the key biophysical and socio-cultural factors underlying ecosystem service supply in two semiarid watersheds of southern Spain. These included variables associated with the role that freshwater flows and biodiversity play in securing the system’s capacity to sustain essential ecosystem services and their relationship with social demand for services, local water governance, and land-use intensification. Our results reveal the importance of considering the invisible dimensions of water and biodiversity, i.e. green freshwater flows and trait-based indicators, because of their relevance to the supply of ecosystem services. Furthermore, they uncover the importance of traditional irrigation canals, a local water governance system, in maintaining the ecosystems’ capacity to supply services. The study also highlights the complex trade-offs that occur because of the spatial mismatch between ecosystem service supply (upstream) and ecosystem service demand (downstream) in watersheds. Finally, we found that land-use intensification generally resulted in losses of the biophysical factors that underpin the supply of some ecosystem services, increases in social demand for less diversified services, and the abandonment of local governance practices. Attempts to manage social-ecological systems toward sustainability at the local scale should identify the key biophysical and socio-cultural factors that are essential for maintaining ecosystem services and should recognize existing interrelationships between them. Land-use management should also take into account ecosystem service trade-offs and the consequences resulting from land-use intensificationFunding for the development of this research was provided by a postdoctoral grant from the Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), which is cofunded by the Social European Fund; the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7, 2007-2013) under the BESAFE project (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Arguments for our Future Environment, Contract No. 282743; http://www.besafe-project. net); and the OpenNESS Project (Operationalisation of Natural capital and Ecosystem Services: From Concepts to Real-World Applications, Contract No. 308428

Early childhood education in differing contexts:The impact of the COVID-19 global health pandemic within four countries

The recent Covid‐19 global health pandemic has negatively affected the political and economic development of communities around the world. This article shares the lessons from our multi‐country project Safe, Inclusive Participative Pedagogy: Improving Early Childhood Education in Fragile Contexts (UKRI GCRF) on how children in communities in Brazil, Eswatini, South Africa, and Scotland have experienced the effects of the pandemic. This article benefits from having co‐authors from various countries, bringing their own located knowledge to considerations of children’s rights and early childhood education in the wake of the pandemic. The authors discuss different perspectives on children’s human rights within historical, social, and cultural contexts and, by doing so, will discuss how the global pandemic has placed a spotlight on the previous inequalities within early years education and how the disparity of those with capital (economic and social) have led to an even greater disproportion of children needing health and educational support

Antimalarial activity of cupredoxins: the interaction of Plasmodium Merozoite Surface Protein 119 (MSP119) and Rusticyanin

Background: The interaction of MSP119 with the cupredoxin azurin inhibits the growth of Plasmodium falciparum in red blood cells. Results: Rusticyanin forms a well-defined complex with MSP119 upon binding at the same surface area than inhibitory antibodies. Conclusion: Rusticyanin becomes an excellent therapeutic agent for malaria. Significance: Knowing the rusticyanin- MSP119 interface will allow the design of novel anti-malarial drugsJunta de Andalucía P08-CVI-3876, BIO198Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SAF2011- 26611Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia 15354/PI/10Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación BFU2010-19451Medical Research Council U117574558, U11753206

Adoption of the ecosystem services concept in EU policies

The concept of ecosystem services has gained a strong political profile during the last 15 years. However, there is no specific EU policy devoted to governing ecosystem services. This article shows that the ecosystem services concept is already embedded in recent EU (environmentally-related) policies, such as the Biodiversity Strategy 2020 and the Invasive Alien Species Regulation. Our review of 12 policies shows that, overall, the coherence between existing policies and the ecosystem services concept is moderate. Policies showing very high coherence are confined to the policy arenas that address natural ecosystems, forestry, or agriculture. Given the sectoral nature of most EU policies and the limited options for revision in the near future, opportunities for improving coherence are most apparent in furthering the integration of the ecosystem services concept in the implementation of existing EU policies at national and regional levels