Southeast Asian Refugees in Western Massachusetts: Seen but Not Heard

The United States has a long and valued tradition of receiving people from other lands as a result of social and political turmoil. This policy has been reaffirmed frequently in the last quarter century with the arrival of refugees from such geographically diverse locations as Eastern Europe, Cuba, Southeast Asia, and Central America. Perhaps, Southeast Asians have experienced greater national and personal tragedy than any other group of refugees arriving in this country in recent memory. It is specifically this population and their resettlement and adjustment to life in Western Massachusetts which is the subject of this report. These issues are discussed in six separate sections. The introduction provides a general background for Southeast Asian refugee resettlement and the goals and methods of the IRNA project; Section II presents a brief outline of refugee resettlement at the national, state and local levels with more specific details on the geographic and demographic aspects of this population in Western Massachusetts. An assessment of refugee adjustment and needs is profiled in Section III followed by evaluations of these general issues from the perspective of service providers and community-level refugee resettlement organizations in Section IV. Policy and Program Implications and concluding remarks are provided in the final section

Physician Anxiety and Burnout: Symptom Correlates and a Prospective Pilot Study of App-Delivered Mindfulness Training

BACKGROUND: Physician burnout is on the rise, yet little is known about its relationship to anxiety. Mindfulness-based stress reduction has demonstrated decreases in anxiety, yet physicians have reported reluctance to engage in it due to significant time commitments. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study are to assess whether app-based mindfulness training can reduce anxiety in physicians and to explore if anxiety and burnout are correlated, thus leading to a reduction in both anxiety and burnout. METHODS: This was a nonrandomized pilot study comprised of 34 physicians who worked in a large US health care network and reported having anxiety. The intervention was an app-based mindfulness program. The main outcome measure was anxiety, measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). The secondary outcome measures assessed burnout: cynicism and emotional exhaustion items from the Maslach Burnout Inventory. RESULTS: GAD-7 scores decreased significantly at posttreatment (1 month after treatment initiation, 48% reduction, P \u3c .001) and at the 3-month follow-up (57% reduction, P \u3c .001). There was a significant correlation between anxiety and burnout (cynicism: r=.43; P=.01; emotional exhaustion: r=.71; P \u3c .001). There was also a significant decrease in cynicism (50% reduction, P=.003 at posttreatment; 50% reduction, P=.009 at follow-up) and emotional exhaustion at both time points (20% reduction, P \u3c .001 at posttreatment; 20% reduction, P=.003 at follow-up). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study is the first to test an app-based mindfulness training program targeted at reducing anxiety with physicians and to demonstrate that in physicians, anxiety is correlated with burnout. These findings suggest that this may be an effective tool to reduce anxiety and burnout in physicians. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04137081; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04137081. published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 01.04.2020

Controls on soil carbon sequestration and dynamics: lessons from land-use change

Includes bibliographical references (pages 82-83).Soil carbon (C) dynamics and sequestration are controlled by interactions of chemical, physical and biological factors. These factors include biomass quantity and quality, physical environment and the biota. Management can alter these factors in ways that alter C dynamics. We have focused on a range of managed sites with documented land use change from agriculture or grassland to forest. Our results suggest that interactions of soil type, plant and environment impact soil C sequestration. Above and below ground C storage varied widely across sites. Results were related to plant type and calcium on sandy soils in our Northern sites. Predictors of sequestration were more difficult to detect over the temperature range of 12.4°C in the present study. Accrual of litter under pines in the moist Mississippi site limited C storage in a similar manner to our dry Nebraska site. Pre-planting heterogeneity of agricultural fields such as found in Illinois influences C contents. Manipulation of controls on C sequestration such as species planted or amelioration of soil quality before planting within managed sites could increase soil C to provide gains in terrestrial C storage. Cost effective management would also improve soil C pools positively affecting soil fertility and site productivity.Publisher version: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3380508

Preparing for a Northwest Passage: A Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic

Preparing for a Northwest Passage: A Workshop on the Role of New England in Navigating the New Arctic (March 25 - 27, 2018 -- The University of New Hampshire) paired two of NSF\u27s 10 Big Ideas: Navigating the New Arctic and Growing Convergence Research at NSF. During this event, participants assessed economic, environmental, and social impacts of Arctic change on New England and established convergence research initiatives to prepare for, adapt to, and respond to these effects. Shipping routes through an ice-free Northwest Passage in combination with modifications to ocean circulation and regional climate patterns linked to Arctic ice melt will affect trade, fisheries, tourism, coastal ecology, air and water quality, animal migration, and demographics not only in the Arctic but also in lower latitude coastal regions such as New England. With profound changes on the horizon, this is a critical opportunity for New England to prepare for uncertain yet inevitable economic and environmental impacts of Arctic change

Cool-edge populations of the kelp Ecklonia radiata under global ocean change scenarios:strong sensitivity to ocean warming but little effect of ocean acidification

Kelp forests are threatened by ocean warming, yet effects of co-occurring drivers such as CO2 are rarely considered when predicting their performance in the future. In Australia, the kelp Ecklonia radiata forms extensive forests across seawater temperatures of approximately 7-26°C. Cool-edge populations are typically considered more thermally tolerant than their warm-edge counterparts but this ignores the possibility of local adaptation. Moreover, it is unknown whether elevated CO2 can mitigate negative effects of warming. To identify whether elevated CO2 could improve thermal performance of a cool-edge population of E. radiata, we constructed thermal performance curves for growth and photosynthesis, under both current and elevated CO2 (approx. 400 and 1000 µatm). We then modelled annual performance under warming scenarios to highlight thermal susceptibility. Elevated CO2 had minimal effect on growth but increased photosynthesis around the thermal optimum. Thermal optima were approximately 16°C for growth and approximately 18°C for photosynthesis, and modelled performance indicated cool-edge populations may be vulnerable in the future. Our findings demonstrate that elevated CO2 is unlikely to offset negative effects of ocean warming on the kelp E. radiata and highlight the potential susceptibility of cool-edge populations to ocean warming.</p

Manual / Issue 5 / Unfinished

Manual, a journal about art and its making. Unfinished.The fifth issue. Loose threads unknotted. Ideas unrealized. Outlines left bare. Function unperformed. Patterns uncut. Luster removed with time and wear. We rarely examine unfinished things. The unfinished is easily overlooked in favor of the fully rendered and complete, but consider those sketchy lines, those fraying ends: the unfinished has potency. The unfinished offers evidence of process, reveals traces of technique, trembles with latent possibility. The essays, images, and projects presented in the fifth issue of Manual attend to the fluid potential of objects that are in some way incomplete. Softcover, 68 pages. Published 2015 by the RISD Museum. Manual 5 (Unfinished) contributors include Jen Bervin, Jean Blackburn, Gina Borromeo, Laurie Brewer, A. Will Brown, Bolaji Campbell, Dennis Congdon, Jeremy Deller, Jan Howard, Kate Irvin, Maureen C. O’Brien, Emily J. Peters, Siebren Versteeg, Elizabeth A. Williams, and C. D. Wright.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/risdmuseum_journals/1004/thumbnail.jp

Beta-strength and anti-neutrino spectra from total absorption spectroscopy of a decay chain \u3csup\u3e142\u3c/sup\u3eCs→\u3csup\u3e142\u3c/sup\u3e Ba →\u3csup\u3e142\u3c/sup\u3eLa

Beta decays of mass A = 142 isobaric chain starting from 142Cs have been investigated by means of Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer (MTAS) and on-line mass separation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The beta strength distribution derived for 142Cs decay from MTAS spectra is showing significant differences in β-feeding pattern when compared to the values listed at nuclear databases. MTAS results are shifting the associated anti-neutrino energy spectrum towards lower energies. A decay pattern deduced for 142Ba is similar to earlier reported results

LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE acts in the final stages of strigolactone biosynthesis inArabidopsis

Strigolactones are a group of plant compounds of diverse but related chemical structures. They have similar bioactivity across a broad range of plant species, act to optimize plant growth and development, and promote soil microbe interactions. Carlactone, a common precursor to strigolactones, is produced by conserved enzymes found in a number of diverse species. Versions of the MORE AXILLARY GROWTH1 (MAX1) cytochrome P450 from rice and Arabidopsis thaliana make specific subsets of strigolactones from carlactone. However, the diversity of natural strigolactones suggests that additional enzymes are involved and remain to be discovered. Here, we use an innovative method that has revealed a missing enzyme involved in strigolactone metabolism. By using a transcriptomics approach involving a range of treatments that modify strigolactone biosynthesis gene expression coupled with reverse genetics, we identified LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE (LBO), a gene encoding an oxidoreductase-like enzyme of the 2-oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenase superfamily. Arabidopsis lbo mutants exhibited increased shoot branching, but the lbo mutation did not enhance the max mutant phenotype. Grafting indicated that LBO is required for a graft-transmissible signal that, in turn, requires a product of MAX1. Mutant lbo backgrounds showed reduced responses to carlactone, the substrate of MAX1, and methyl carlactonoate (MeCLA), a product downstream of MAX1. Furthermore, lbo mutants contained increased amounts of these compounds, and the LBO protein specifically converts MeCLA to an unidentified strigolactone-like compound. Thus, LBO function may be important in the later steps of strigolactone biosynthesis to inhibit shoot branching in Arabidopsis and other seed plants

Structural issues affecting mixed methods studies in health research: a qualitative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health researchers undertake studies which combine qualitative and quantitative methods. Little attention has been paid to the structural issues affecting this mixed methods approach. We explored the facilitators and barriers to undertaking mixed methods studies in health research.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 20 researchers experienced in mixed methods research in health in the United Kingdom.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Structural facilitators for undertaking mixed methods studies included a perception that funding bodies promoted this approach, and the multidisciplinary constituency of some university departments. Structural barriers to exploiting the potential of these studies included a lack of education and training in mixed methods research, and a lack of templates for reporting mixed methods articles in peer-reviewed journals. The 'hierarchy of evidence' relating to effectiveness studies in health care research, with the randomised controlled trial as the gold standard, appeared to pervade the health research infrastructure. Thus integration of data and findings from qualitative and quantitative components of mixed methods studies, and dissemination of integrated outputs, tended to occur through serendipity and effort, further highlighting the presence of structural constraints. Researchers are agents who may also support current structures - journal reviewers and editors, and directors of postgraduate training courses - and thus have the ability to improve the structural support for exploiting the potential of mixed methods research.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The environment for health research in the UK appears to be conducive to mixed methods research but not to exploiting the potential of this approach. Structural change, as well as change in researcher behaviour, will be necessary if researchers are to fully exploit the potential of using mixed methods research.</p