Parity and diabetes risk among Hispanic women from Colombia: Cross-sectional evidence

Objective The association between parity and type 2 diabetes has been studied in developed countries and in Singapore and Chinese women but not in Hispanics. Herein we evaluated the association between parity (number of live births) with diabetes in a group of Hispanic postmenopausal women from Colombia. Research design and methods Herein we evaluated the association between parity and diabetes in a population of 1,795 women from Colombia. Women were divided in birth categories (0 [referent], 1 or 2, 3–5, 6 or \u3e births). Medical history of diabetes and anthropometric characteristics were recorded. Logistic regressions were performed in order to find the association between parity and diabetes in bivariable and multivariable models after controlling for age, body mass index (BMI), waist hip ratio (WHR) and diabetes family history, among other variables. Results In our study, there was an association between parity and diabetes after adjusting for age, BMI and diabetes family history in the multiparous women groups when compared to the women with no births (Referent group) [1–2 births vs. referent OR 5.2 (95 CI 1.2–22.9), 3–5 births vs. referent OR 5.5 (1.3–23.0) and ≥6 births vs. referent OR 7.5 (1.8–31.8), respectively]. The association was maintained in two of the groups in the multivariable analysis [OR 5.0 (1.1–22.9) and 5.3 (1.2–23.5)], for 1 or 2 births and 6 or \u3e births versus 0 births, respectively. Positive diabetes family history and WHR were also associated with an increased risk of diabetes [OR 4.6 (3.0–7.0) and 4.1 (2.0–8.1), respectively]. Conclusions In postmenopausal Hispanic women, multiparity, as well as a positive family history of diabetes and a high waist-hip ratio were associated with higher diabetes risk

East Texas Council of Governments: GoBus Fare Collection

The purpose of this research paper is to provide the decision makers at the East Texas Council of Governments GoBus rural transit system with information as a basis for the future of how fares are collected, and to look for ways to resolve problems in our current fare collection method. The main issue involves accepting cash and checks because of the large service region GoBus Transit covers. GoBus depends on the bus operators to collect fares and make deposits, which becomes a major problem with accounting. As listed on the official website of SWARCO, an Austrian technology company, an “Automated Fare Collection (AFC) is a generic term for a ticketing system in public transport where the fare is no longer paid directly but via ticket vending machines, online services or other methods.”[i] The goal is to implement a new fare collection method by September 1, 2020 that eliminates monetary cash and check collection

Fuera del mapa: aprendiendo de la ciudad informal. Estudio de caso de las Flores, Colombia

Most of the urban dwellers live in communities that, while composed of buildings that range from simple shacks to permanent structures, belong to an urban geography that is literally “off the map”: undocumented, illegal, mobile, ephemeral, and generally beyond the reach of government services and infrastructure. Lacking even an agreed-upon descriptive term- they are variously referred to as slums, informal settlements, shantytowns, or unplanned cities – they are often seen as nothing but undifferentiated pockets of misery, wracked by poverty, crime and unsanitary conditions: in other words, an unfortunate but inevitable waste product of the uncontrolled urban growth that characterizes our time. This view is as unfortunate as it is misguided. While undeniably precarious in construction, informal cities exhibit underlying urban and architectural patterns of remarkable resilience, and that moreover reflect their inhabitants’ enduring cultural values. Built without the assistance of architects and/or planners, they are folkloric expressions of a given people worthy of study. To date, the informal city has largely been described in social, political and economic terms. Very little scholarship has been devoted to the study of these cities as works of architecture; and questions of representation- or how to map and record these sites- seem to be missing from the debate. While it is undeniable that Architecture represents only one aspect of a more complex reality; we believe that it the ultimate and verifiable expression of any given reality. To this end, the paper will present the work of the studio entitled: Off the Map: Learning from the Informal City. The group initially visited the ‘Las Flores’ informal settlement in Barranquilla, Colombia to learn from its existing landscape and see firsthand how it works. Students were asked to look nonjudgmentally at this environment by studying, mapping, and documenting its existing conditions.La mayoría de los habitantes de las ciudades viven en comunidades que, aunque compuesta de edificios que van desde chozas simples a estructuras permanentes, pertenecen a una geografía urbana que es, literalmente, “fuera del mapa”: indocumentado, ilegal, móvil, efímero, y generalmente fuera del alcance de los servicios públicos y la infraestructura. No existe un acuerdo sobre un término descriptivo, sin embargo, comúnmente se les conoce indistintamente como barrios marginales, asentamientos informales, villas miseria o ciudades no planificadas, que a menudo son vistos como nada más que los bolsillos no diferenciadas de la miseria, azotados por la pobreza, el crimen y las condiciones insalubres: en otras palabras, un producto de desecho lamentable pero inevitable del crecimiento urbano descontrolado que caracteriza a nuestro tiempo. Este punto de vista es tan lamentable, ya que es un error. Aunque innegablemente precaria en la construcción, ciudades informales exhiben patrones urbanos y arquitectónicos subyacentes de la notable capacidad de recuperación, y que además reflejan perdurables valores culturales de sus habitantes. Construido sin la ayuda de arquitectos y/o planificadores, son expresiones folclóricas de un determinado pueblo digno de estudio. Hasta la fecha, la ciudad informal en gran parte ha sido descrita en términos sociales, políticos y económicos. Muy pocos estudios se han dedicado al análisis de estas ciudades como obras de arquitectura. Si bien es innegable que la arquitectura representa sólo un aspecto de una realidad más compleja; creemos que la expresión última y verificable de cualquier realidad dada. Con este fin, el documento presentará el trabajo del estudio titulado: Off the Map: Learning from the Informal City. El grupo inicialmente visitó el asentamiento informal ‘Las Flores’ en Barranquilla - Colombia, para aprender de su paisaje existente y ver de primera mano cómo funciona. Los investigadores analizaron este entorno mediante el estudio, la cartografía, y la documentación de sus actuales condiciones

Baring It All

This collection of creative nonfiction encapsulates the author’s career as a burlesque performer in New Orleans. The goal of this thesis is to tell her story using the techniques of creative nonfiction – specifically, the memoir. This is not merely a story of her career – it is a piece about her relationships, the author conquering her fears, and how she rises up to meet her goals. Part I tells of how the author discovers this new world and how she finds her place in it. Part II is the author’s personal narrative of her revelation to her family. This story will introduce those who are unfamiliar with burlesque to a world of theatrics, sparkle, erotic subtexts, and this story needs the techniques of creative nonfiction to do it justice

A method to deconvolve stellar rotational velocities

Rotational speed is an important physical parameter of stars and knowing the distribution of stellar rotational velocities is essential for the understanding stellar evolution. However, it cannot be measured directly but the convolution of the rotational speed and the sine of the inclination angle, $v \sin i$. We developed a method to deconvolve this inverse problem and obtain the cumulative distribution function (CDF) for stellar rotational velocities extending the work of Chandrasekhar & M\"unch (1950). This method is applied a) to theoretical synthetic data recovering the original velocity distribution with very small error; b) to a sample of about 12.000 field main--sequence stars, corroborating that the velocity distribution function is non--Maxwellian, but is better described by distributions based on the concept of maximum entropy, such as Tsallis or Kaniadakis distribution functions. This is a very robust and novel method that deconvolve the rotational velocity cumulative distribution function from a sample of $v \sin i$ data in just one single step without needing any convergence criteria.Comment: Accepted in A&

Analytical Methods for Planning and Scheduling Daily Work in Inpatient Care Settings: Opportunities for Research and Practice

This article identifies current challenges in the planning and execution of daily work in inpatient care settings. Inadequate planning of the processes and resources associated with inpatient care services may negatively affect their effectiveness. It may also lead to burnout of healthcare workers when the resulting work plan is unknowingly infeasible or does not incorporate the necessary human factors considerations. This paper provides with an overview of current research on inpatient care workflow planning, as well as with directions for researchers and practitioners to advance this problem using a combination of human factors engineering and analytical methods

Cultures of Rejection in the COVID-Crisis

“Cultures of Rejection” set out to investigate the social and cultural conditions in which right-wing authoritarian movements operate and thrive, and conducted systematically coordinated research along the transnational space created by migration movements in 2015: in Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Germany and Sweden. This volume summarises the group's research findings regarding the mobilisations against the COVID-19 measures (such as lockdowns, mandatory face masks and vaccinations) and on the relationship between these mobilisations and the media responses to them to date. Each contribution focuses on the specifics of the developments in the individual countries, assembling a panorama of the political dynamics during the pandemic beyond the five specific constellations

Usefulness of Medication Scanners in Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review

Thousands of people die each year due to preventable medication errors. Barcode medication administration (BCMA) systems can reduce medication errors at the point of care, thus increasing patient safety. The purpose of the project was to gather evidence regarding BCMA usefulness in reducing medication errors. Kurt Lewin\u27s 3-step change theory was used to guide this project. The nature of this project was a systematic review of the literature pertaining to the effectiveness of using BCMA systems to reduce medication errors in at the point of care in the hospital setting. The Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice model and tool kit was used to evaluate each article. The review comprised one systematic review, one integrative review, and 6 before-and-after observational studies. The results of each study indicated that the use of a BCMA system could reduce medication errors but not completely eliminate them. The findings of this project contribute evidence that BCMA systems can assist the clinician in safely administering medication. Dissemination of the evidence will contribute to a positive change by promoting greater understanding of the effectiveness of using BCMA systems in all areas that administer medication

Antagonistic interactions can stabilise fixed points in heterogeneous linear dynamical systems

We analyse the stability of large, linear dynamical systems of variables that interact through a fully connected random matrix and have inhomogeneous growth rates. We show that in the absence of correlations between the coupling strengths, a system with interactions is always less stable than a system without interactions. Contrarily to the uncorrelated case, interactions that are antagonistic, i.e., characterised by negative correlations, can stabilise linear dynamical systems. In particular, when the strength of the interactions is not too strong, systems with antagonistic interactions are more stable than systems without interactions. These results are obtained with an exact theory for the spectral properties of fully connected random matrices with diagonal disorder.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

Gyne and drone production in bombus atratus (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

For over a decade, our research group has studied the biology of the native bumblebee, Bombus atratus, to investigate the feasibility of using it to pollinate crops such as tomato, strawberry, blackberry and peppers. Traditionally, captive breeding has depended on the use of captured wild queens to initiate the colonies. The goal of the current work is to investigate conditions required to produce new queens and drones in captivity. In this study, 31 colonies were evaluated under either greenhouse or open field conditions over a 15 month period. A total of 1492 drones (D) and 737 gynes (G, i.e., virgin queens) were produced by all colonies, with 16 colonies producing both drones and gynes (D&G), 11 producing only drones (D) and 4 producing neither. Some of the D&G colonies had more than one sexual phase, but no colonies produced exclusively gynes. More drones and fewer gynes were produced per colony under greenhouse conditions with the highest number of drones produced by D&G colonies. The numbers of immature stages per cell declined in colonies as increasingly more resources were allocated to the production of gynes and the maintenance of increased nest temperature