Resignation

I have struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my life. At first, I didn\u27t understand it. Then, I was embarrassed by it. I chose to hide my struggle. It became my own silent battle. A battle I was slowly losing. In March of 2020, the world shut down. A dark, suffocating cloud began to settle over all of us. Life as we knew it, completely changed. At first, I thought I was handling the drastic life changes. I thought I was simply adapting. Then it happened, I lost control. My body physically prevented me from sleeping. It was like I was at war with myself. Every attempt at sleep ended with a jolt of adrenaline and my heart racing. I felt completely helpless. I was stuck in fight or flight with no end in sight. I am beyond thankful for my friends and family. I have an incredible support system, but I realized I needed more. I returned to therapy and I found a great doctor who helped guide me through other options to assist me with my anxiety. I took a deep dive into understanding the root of my anxiety, my triggers, and creating tools for managing it. This poem is about my experience with anxiety. It\u27s about the internal battle and the struggle to ask for help. The aftermath of my experience ended up being transformational. I now put my mental health first. This allows me to have the capacity to care for others without getting burnt out. It\u27s not easy and I work on it daily, but it is a commitment I made to myself. Remember, we are all dealing with our own internal battles. Be kind, be respectful and be empathetic

A Battle for Hope

I have friends and family members working in all aspects of the medical system. They are PAs, PTs, nurses, doctors, caregivers, and support staff. They are on the frontline in the brutal battle against Covid-19. This is their story. It is a story about fear, duty, strength, and finding hope. While we adapt to this new normal and cope with the ever-changing landscape, we have to remember that we are all in this fight together

Trauma Scale

Every single human has a past. We have all suffered our own share of trauma. Throughout the physical therapy program, we have discussed trauma-informed care. During our first semester, we reviewed the Advanced Childhood Experience (ACE) scale and took down our own scores. For those who have experienced a more traumatic childhood, their ACE scores are higher. A high ACE score indicates a higher risk for later health problems as an adult. As future and current clinicians, we need to take this score into consideration during evaluations and when we develop a plan of care. Trauma does not disappear. I have worked on my own for many years, but it continues to be a process. I am proud of the work I have done, but it has not been easy

Protection from Metabolic Dysregulation, Obesity, and Atherosclerosis by Citrus Flavonoids: Activation of Hepatic PGC1α-Mediated Fatty Acid Oxidation

Studies in a multitude of models including cell culture, animal and clinical studies demonstrate that citrus-derived flavonoids have therapeutic potential to attenuate dyslipidemia, correct hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia, and reduce atherosclerosis. Emerging evidence suggests the metabolic regulators, PPARα and PGC1α, are targets of the citrus flavonoids, and their activation may be at least partially responsible for mediating their metabolic effects. Molecular studies will add significantly to the concept of these flavonoids as viable and promising therapeutic agents to treat the dysregulation of lipid homeostasis, metabolic disease, and its cardiovascular complications

Three-dimensional in situ observations of compressive damage mechanisms in syntactic foam using X-ray microcomputed tomography

Royal Society Grant number RG140680 Lloyd's Register Foundation (GB) Oil and Gas Academy of Scotland Open access via Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Operational reliability assessment of the GEOS A spacecraft

Decision theory application to GEOS A spacecraft operational reliability assessmen

Influence of emulsifier type on the spray-drying properties of model infant formula emulsions

The objective of this study was to compare the drying performance and physicochemical properties of model infant formula (IF) emulsions containing 43, 96 and 192 g L−1 protein, oil and maltodextrin (MD), respectively, prepared using different emulsifier systems. Emulsions were stabilised using either whey protein isolate (WPI), whey protein hydrolysate (WPH; DH 8%), WPH + CITREM (9 g L−1), WPH + lecithin (5 g L−1) or WPH conjugated with maltodextrin (DE 12) (WPH-MD). Homogenised emulsions had 32% solids content and oil globules with mean volume diameter WPH + LEC > WPH > WPH- MD > WPI, WPI > WPH > WPH- MD > WPH + LEC > WPH + CIT and WPH- MD > WPI > WPH > WPH + LEC > WPH + CIT, respectively. Additionally, differences in wettability, surface topography and oil globule distribution within the powder matrix and in reconstituted powders were linked to the emulsifier system used. Inclusion of the WPH-MD conjugate in the formulation of IF powder significantly improved drying behaviour and physicochemical properties of the resultant powder, as evidenced by lowest powder build-up during drying and greatest emulsion quality on reconstitution, compared to the other model formula systems

Symmetry of high-piezoelectric Pb-based complex perovskites at the morphotropic phase boundary I. Neutron diffraction study on Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 -9%PbTiO3

The symmetry was examined using neutron diffraction method on Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 -9%PbTiO3 (PZN/9PT) which has a composition at the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 and PbTiO3. The results were compared with those of other specimens with same composition but with different prehistory. The equilibrium state of all examined specimens is not the mixture of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases of the end members but exists in a new polarization rotation line Mc# (orthorhombic-monoclinic line). Among examined specimens, one exhibited tetragonal symmetry at room temperature but recovered monoclinic phase after a cooling and heating cycle

Friction of flat and micropatterned interfaces with nanoscale roughness

The dry friction of surfaces with nanoscale roughness and the possibility of using micropatterning to tailor friction by manipulating contact area is investigated. Square wave patterns produced on samples from silicon wafers (and their unstructured equivalent) were slid against unstructured silicon counter surfaces. The width of the square wave features was adjusted to vary the apparent feature contact area. The existence of nanoscale roughness was sufficient to ensure Amontons’ first law (F = μP) on both structured & unstructured samples. Somewhat counterintuitively, friction was independent of the apparent feature contact area making it difficult to tailor friction via the feature contact area. This occurred because, even though the apparent feature contact area was adjusted, the surface roughness and nominal flatness at the contact interface was preserved ensuring that the real contact area and thereby the friction, were likewise preserved. This is an interesting special case, but not universally applicable: friction can indeed be adjusted by structuring provided the intervention leads to a change in real contact area (or interlocking)– and this depends on the specific surface geometry and topography

Neutron Diffraction Study of Field Cooling Effects on Relaxor Ferroelectrics Pb[(Zn_{1/3} Nb_{2/3})_{0.92} Ti_{0.08}] O_{3}

High-temperature (T) and high-electric-field (E) effects on Pb[(Zn_{1/3} Nb_{2/3})_{0.92} Ti_{0.08}]O_3 (PZN-8%PT) were studied comprehensively by neutron diffraction in the ranges 300 <= T <= 550 K and 0 <= E <= 15 kV/cm. We have focused on how phase transitions depend on preceding thermal and electrical sequences. In the field cooling process (FC, E parallel [001] >= 0.5 kV/cm), a successive cubic (C) --> tetragonal (T) --> monoclinic (M_C) transition was observed. In the zero field cooling process (ZFC), however, we have found that the system does not transform to the rhombohedral (R) phase as widely believed, but to a new, unidentified phase, which we call X. X gives a Bragg peak profile similar to that expected for R, but the c-axis is always slightly shorter than the a-axis. As for field effects on the X phase, we found an irreversible X --> M_C transition via another monoclinic phase (M_A) as expected from a previous report [Noheda et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3891 (2001)]. At a higher electric field, we confirmed a c-axis jump associated with the field-induced M_C --> T transition, which was observed by strain and x-ray diffraction measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, revise