Assessing Educational Materials Using Cognitive Interviews Can Improve and Support Lesson Design

We used cognitive interviews to assess the reactions of a sample of low-income men (n=4) and women (n=4) to a model nutrition education lesson designed to increase functional vegetable intake. Participant comments on the lesson\u27s wording, slide titles, format, graphics, and message clarity and relevance enabled us to improve a functional vegetable lesson series from which the model lesson was drawn by simplifying unfamiliar wording and recipe instructions, using preferred slide titles and format, replacing problematic graphics, and clarifying advice on intake recommendations

County Agent Views About Facilitating Public Education and Discussion of Genetic Engineering Use in Agriculture

We conducted seven focus groups with Extension agents from three northeast states in Spring 2000 to learn what agents knew about genetic engineering (GE) applications in agriculture, their view of Extension\u27s role in public discussion and education, and the training needed to assume such a role. While participating agents together knew a fair amount about their target audiences\u27 perceptions of GE, they felt unprepared to deal with the challenges of public issues education in light of the current public debate, the publics\u27 low science literacy, and their own science background. Their expressed training needs reflected these challenges

Evaluating Alternatives for Communicating About Food Risk

This article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of model materials designed as one-step in helping consumers understand how scientists assess food risk, how that information is used in food safety policy decisions and what individuals can do to protect themselves from residual risks

Family Members\u27 Influence on Family Meal Vegetable Choices

Objective—Characterize the process of family vegetable selection (especially cruciferous, deep orange, and dark green leafy vegetables); demonstrate the usefulness of Exchange Theory (how family norms and past experiences interact with rewards and costs) for interpreting the data. Design—Eight focus groups, two with each segment (men/women vegetable-likers/dislikers based on a screening form). Participants completed a vegetable intake form. Setting—Rural Appalachian Pennsylvania. Participants—61 low-income, married/cohabiting men (n=28) and women (n=33). Analysis—Thematic analysis within Exchange Theory framework for qualitative data. Descriptive analysis, t-tests and chi-square tests for quantitative data. Results—Exchange Theory proved useful for understanding that regardless of sex or vegetable liker/ disliker status, meal preparers see more costs than rewards to serving vegetables. Past experience plus expectations of food preparer role and of deference to family member preferences supported a family norm of serving only vegetables acceptable to everyone. Emphasized vegetables are largely ignored due to unfamiliarity; family norms prevented experimentation and learning through exposure. Conclusions and Implications—Interventions to increase vegetable consumption of this audience could 1) alter family norms about vegetables served, 2) change perceptions of past experiences, 3) reduce social and personal costs of serving vegetables and 4) increase tangible and social rewards of serving vegetables

Direct Measurement of Interstellar Extinction toward Young Stars Using Atomic Hydrogen Lyα Absorption

Interstellar reddening corrections are necessary to reconstruct the intrinsic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of accreting protostellar systems. The stellar SED determines the heating and chemical processes that can occur in circumstellar disks. Measurement of neutral hydrogen absorption against broad Lyα emission profiles in young stars can be used to obtain the total H i column density (N(H i)) along the line of sight. We measure N(H i) with new and archival ultraviolet observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) of 31 classical T Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars. The H i column densities range from log_10(N(H i)) ≈19.6–21.1, with corresponding visual extinctions of A_V =0.02–0.72 mag, assuming an RV of 3.1. We find that the majority of the H i absorption along the line of sight likely comes from interstellar rather than circumstellar material. Extinctions derived from new HST blue-optical spectral analyses, previous IR and optical measurements, and new X-ray column densities on average overestimate the interstellar extinction toward young stars compared to the N(H i) values by ~0.6 mag. We discuss possible explanations for this discrepancy in the context of a protoplanetary disk geometry

Ample evidence for fish sentience and pain

The majority of commentaries are supportive of our position on the scepticism that muddies the waters surrounding fish pain and sentience. There is substantial empirical evidence for pain in fish. Animals’ experience of pain cannot be compared to artificial intelligence (AI) because AI can only mimic responses to nociceptive input on the basis of human observations and programming. Accepting that fish are sentient would not be detrimental to the industries reliant on fish. A more proactive discussion between scientists and stakeholders is needed to improve fish welfare for the benefit of all

2006 SQ372: A Likely Long-Period Comet from the Inner Oort Cloud

We report the discovery of a minor planet (2006 SQ372) on an orbit with a perihelion of 24 AU and a semimajor axis of 796 AU. Dynamical simulations show that this is a transient orbit and is unstable on a timescale of 200 Myrs. Falling near the upper semimajor axis range of the scattered disk and the lower semimajor axis range of the Oort Cloud, previous membership in either class is possible. By modeling the production of similar orbits from the Oort Cloud as well as from the scattered disk, we find that the Oort Cloud produces 16 times as many objects on SQ372-like orbits as the scattered disk. Given this result, we believe this to be the most distant long-period comet ever discovered. Furthermore, our simulation results also indicate that 2000 OO67 has had a similar dynamical history. Unaffected by the "Jupiter-Saturn Barrier," these two objects are most likely long-period comets from the inner Oort Cloud

Simple oxidation of pyrimidinylhydrazones to triazolopyrimidines and their inhibition of Shiga toxin trafficking

The oxidative cyclisation of a range of benzothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine hydrazones (7a–j) to the 1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-c]pyrimidines (8a–j) catalysed by lithium iodide or to the 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidines (10a–j) with sodium carbonate is presented. A complementary synthesis of the 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidines starting from the amino imine 11 is also reported. The effect of these compounds on Shiga toxin (STx) trafficking in HeLa cells and comparison to the previously reported Exo2 is also detailed

Minor Illnesses, Temperament, and Toddler Social Functioning

Minor illnesses, such as upper respiratory infections, stomachaches, and fevers, have been associated with children’s decreased activity and increased irritability. Mothers of children who are frequently ill report more child behavior problems; however, previous research in this area has yet to simultaneously examine children’s temperament. This investigation examined whether experience with recurrent, minor illnesses and negative emotionality worked together to predict young children’s social functioning. This multi-method study utilized a sample of 110 daycare-attending children. Nurses went to the daycare centers weekly to perform health screens on the participating children. Minor illness experience was represented using a proportion created by dividing the number of illness diagnoses by the total number of health screenings completed from the time the child was enrolled in the study through his or her second birthday. Toddlers’ negative emotionality and social behavior were assessed using mothers’ and fathers’ reports. The two dimensions of negative emotionality and minor illness experience operated in different ways such that anger worked additively with minor illness experience and fearfulness interacted with minor illness experience to predict social behavior. Children who were described as more temperamentally angry displayed less social competence especially when they also experienced high proportions of minor illness. Temperamentally fearful children exhibited more externalizing problems when they experienced a higher frequency of illness whereas fearfulness was not associated to externalizing problems for children who experienced low proportions of illness