Does a group-based self-esteem enhancement program improve students’ self-esteem as they transition into middle school?

St. Germaine, Harrington, and Dimmitt present a brief overview and analysis of the article, Effects of a self-esteem intervention program on school-age children, originally published in Pediatric Nursing. The authors present a summary of the key components of the article including the introduction, method and results of the study. They offer an additional analysis of implications for future practice, including a discussion of the positive impacts of self-esteem programs during transitional periods for students

Do dietary choices alone alter the risk of developing metabolic syndrome?

In studies of patient populations controlled for differences in dietary content alone, independent of weight loss or exercise changes, diets with high glycemic index foods, low whole grain and fiber content, and low fruit and vegetable content are associated with an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B, multiple large cohort studies). In the short term, however, switching patients at high risk for metabolic syndrome from a high- to low-glycemic index diet doesn't improve serum markers of metabolic syndrome (SOR: C, a small randomized controlled trial)

Floodplains by Design: Accelerating integrated floodplain management across Puget Sound

Floodplains support a tremendous wealth of goods and services, including fisheries, water filtration, flood storage, rich agricultural soils, flat ground for building, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, etc. While society has discussed the ideal of integrated floodplain management for many years, the shift to this ideal has been hampered by the reality of the narrowly defined programs and policies established to meet singular goals. Rather than maximizing the goods and services we derive from our floodplains, this “stove-piped” approach to floodplain management leads to unintended consequences, inefficiency and conflict. In Puget Sound salmon runs remain on the brink, flood risks continue to rise, and conflicts between competing goals persist. Those involved in the Puget Sound Floodplains by Design partnership – including The Nature Conservancy, Puget Sound Partnership, Washington Department of Ecology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Environmental Project Agency, and US Geological Survey – believe that we can do better. The term “Floodplains by Design” infers a shift away from the conflict and unintended consequences of single-objective projects to integrated floodplain management for multiple benefits. It infers a move toward better floodplain design, where decisions are made in an integrated fashion considering a broader variety of the functions, values, and risks associated with floodplains. Projects within the multiple benefits paradigm can have a larger extent and scope when they both improve ecological functions of floodplains and reduce flood risk projects as they are more likely to garner the needed political support and public funding. Many have been trying to integrate multiple benefits at the local level. The Floodplains by Design partnership is accelerating these on-the-ground efforts through a comprehensive regional effort focused on aligning programs, resources and politics with a multiple benefits ideal. This presentation will describe the FbD partnership’s approach to addressing the financial, social, policy and technical issues that have hampered both Salish Sea ecosystem recovery and integrated floodplain management, share our results to date, and discuss our plans for the future. We will share insights from an innovative regional effort to make room for floods and fish that is clearly gaining momentum and has recently succeeded in securing $50M in new state funding for multiple benefit floodplain projects

L-infinity algebra connections and applications to String- and Chern-Simons n-transport

We give a generalization of the notion of a Cartan-Ehresmann connection from Lie algebras to L-infinity algebras and use it to study the obstruction theory of lifts through higher String-like extensions of Lie algebras. We find (generalized) Chern-Simons and BF-theory functionals this way and describe aspects of their parallel transport and quantization. It is known that over a D-brane the Kalb-Ramond background field of the string restricts to a 2-bundle with connection (a gerbe) which can be seen as the obstruction to lifting the PU(H)-bundle on the D-brane to a U(H)-bundle. We discuss how this phenomenon generalizes from the ordinary central extension U(1) -> U(H) -> PU(H) to higher categorical central extensions, like the String-extension BU(1) -> String(G) -> G. Here the obstruction to the lift is a 3-bundle with connection (a 2-gerbe): the Chern-Simons 3-bundle classified by the first Pontrjagin class. For G = Spin(n) this obstructs the existence of a String-structure. We discuss how to describe this obstruction problem in terms of Lie n-algebras and their corresponding categorified Cartan-Ehresmann connections. Generalizations even beyond String-extensions are then straightforward. For G = Spin(n) the next step is "Fivebrane structures" whose existence is obstructed by certain generalized Chern-Simons 7-bundles classified by the second Pontrjagin class.Comment: 100 pages, references and clarifications added; correction to section 5.1 and further example to 9.3.1 adde

Probing ultrafast carrier dynamics and nonlinear absorption and refraction in core-shell silicon nanowires

We investigate the relaxation dynamics of photogenerated carriers in silicon nanowires consisting of a crystalline core and a surrounding amorphous shell, using femtosecond time-resolved differential reflectivity and transmission spectroscopy at photon energies of 3.15 eV and 1.57 eV. The complex behavior of the differential transmission and reflectivity transients is the mixed contributions from the crystalline core and the amorphous silicon on the nanowire surface and the substrate where competing effects of state filling and photoinduced absorption govern the carrier dynamics. Faster relaxation rates are observed on increasing the photo-generated carrier density. Independent experimental results on crystalline silicon-on-sapphire help us in separating the contributions from the carrier dynamics in crystalline core and the amorphous regions in the nanowire samples. Further, single beam z-scan nonlinear transmission experiments at 1.57 eV in both open and close aperture configurations yield two-photon absorption coefficient \$beta$ (~3 cm/GW) and nonlinear refraction coefficient \$gamma$ (-2.5x10^-4 cm2/GW).Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Key features of palliative care service delivery to Indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States: A comprehensive review

Background: Indigenous peoples in developed countries have reduced life expectancies, particularly from chronic diseases. The lack of access to and take up of palliative care services of Indigenous peoples is an ongoing concern. Objectives: To examine and learn from published studies on provision of culturally safe palliative care service delivery to Indigenous people in Australia, New Zealand (NZ), Canada and the United States of America (USA); and to compare Indigenous peoples’ preferences, needs, opportunities and barriers to palliative care. Methods: A comprehensive search of multiple databases was undertaken. Articles were included if they were published in English from 2000 onwards and related to palliative care service delivery for Indigenous populations; papers could use quantitative or qualitative approaches. Common themes were identified using thematic synthesis. Studies were evaluated using Daly’s hierarchy of evidence-for-practice in qualitative research. Results: Of 522 articles screened, 39 were eligible for inclusion. Despite diversity in Indigenous peoples’ experiences across countries, some commonalities were noted in the preferences for palliative care of Indigenous people: to die close to or at home; involvement of family; and the integration of cultural practices. Barriers identified included inaccessibility, affordability, lack of awareness of services, perceptions of palliative care, and inappropriate services. Identified models attempted to address these gaps by adopting the following strategies: community engagement and ownership; flexibility in approach; continuing education and training; a whole-of-service approach; and local partnerships among multiple agencies. Better engagement with Indigenous clients, an increase in number of palliative care patients, improved outcomes, and understanding about palliative care by patients and their families were identified as positive achievements. Conclusions: The results provide a comprehensive overview of identified effective practices with regards to palliative care delivered to Indigenous populations to guide future program developments in this field. Further research is required to explore the palliative care needs and experiences of Indigenous people living in urban areas

Responding by exclusion in temporal discrimination tasks

Responding by exclusion, one of the most robust phenomena in Experimental Psychology, consists of choosing an undefined comparison stimulus given an undefined sample, when the comparison stimulus is presented next to other experimentally defined stimuli. The goal of the present study was to determine whether responding by exclusion could be obtained using samples that varied along a single dimension. Using a double temporal bisection task, ten university students learned to choose visual comparisons (colored circles) based on the duration of a tone. In tests of exclusion, sample stimuli with new durations were followed by comparison sets that included one previously trained, defined comparison (colored circle) and one previously untrained, undefined comparison (geometric shape). Subjects preferred the defined comparisons following the defined samples and the undefined comparisons following the undefined samples, the choice pattern typical of responding by exclusion. The use of samples varying along a single dimension allows us to study the interaction between stimulus generalization gradients and exclusion in the control of conditional responding.The first author was supported by a master's degree fellowship by the Ministry of Education (CAPES). Armando Machado was supported by grant PTDC/MHC-PCN/3540/2012 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. Camila Domeniconi had a post-doctoral fellowship from the Foundation for Research Support in the State of Sao Paulo (FAPESP, 2009/18479-5). She is currently affiliated with the National Institute of Science and Technology on Behavior, Cognition and Teaching. Grants: FAPESP (08/57705-8) and CNPq (573972/2008-7). She has a research productivity fellowship by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, 301623/2012-0)

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available

Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Stimulates Muscle Glucose Uptake by a PI3-Kinase–Dependent Pathway That Is Impaired With Obesity

OBJECTIVE: Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) reverses muscle insulin resistance by increasing fatty acid oxidation through gp130-LIF receptor signaling to the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). CNTF also increases Akt signaling in neurons and adipocytes. Because both Akt and AMPK regulate glucose uptake, we investigated muscle glucose uptake in response to CNTF signaling in lean and obese mice. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Mice were injected intraperitoneally with saline or CNTF, and blood glucose was monitored. The effects of CNTF on skeletal muscle glucose uptake and AMPK/Akt signaling were investigated in incubated soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from muscle-specific AMPKalpha2 kinase-dead, gp130(DeltaSTAT), and lean and obese ob/ob and high-fat-fed mice. The effect of C2-ceramide on glucose uptake and gp130 signaling was also examined. RESULTS: CNTF reduced blood glucose and increased glucose uptake in isolated muscles in a time- and dose-dependent manner with maximal effects after 30 min with 100 ng/ml. CNTF increased Akt-S473 phosphorylation in soleus and EDL; however, AMPK-T172 phosphorylation was only increased in soleus. Incubation of muscles from AMPK kinase dead (KD) and wild-type littermates with the PI3-kinase inhibitor LY-294002 demonstrated that PI3-kinase, but not AMPK, was essential for CNTF-stimulated glucose uptake. CNTF-stimulated glucose uptake and Akt phosphorylation were substantially reduced in obesity (high-fat diet and ob/ob) despite normal induction of gp130/AMPK signaling--effects also observed when treating myotubes with C2-ceramide. CONCLUSIONS: CNTF acutely increases muscle glucose uptake by a mechanism involving the PI3-kinase/Akt pathway that does not require AMPK. CNTF-stimulated glucose uptake is impaired in obesity-induced insulin resistance and by ceramide