A survey and evaluation of the breakfast habits of junior high school children.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Gravity waves in the winter stratosphere over the Southern Ocean: high-resolution satellite observations and 3-D spectral analysis.

Atmospheric gravity waves play a key role in the transfer of energy and momentum between layers of the Earth's atmosphere. However, nearly all Global Circulation Models (GCMs) seriously under-represent the momentum fluxes of gravity waves at latitudes near 60° S. This can result in modelled winter stratospheres that are unrealistically cold – a significant bias known as the "cold-pole problem". There is thus a need for measurements of gravity-wave fluxes near 60S to test and constrain GCMs. Such measurements are notoriously difficult, because they require 3-D observations of wave properties if the fluxes are to be estimated without using significant limiting assumptions. Here we use 3-D satellite measurements of stratospheric gravity waves from NASA's AIRS/Aqua instrument. We present the first extended application of a 3-D Stockwell transform (3DST) method to determine localised gravity-wave amplitudes, wavelengths and directions of propagation around the entire region of the Southern Ocean near 60° S during austral winter 2010. We first validate our method using a synthetic wave field and two case studies of real gravity waves over the Southern Andes and the island of South Georgia. A new technique to overcome wave amplitude attenuation problems in previous methods is also presented. We then characterise large-scale gravity-wave occurrence frequencies, directional momentum fluxes and short-timescale intermittency over the entire Southern Ocean. Our results show that highest wave-occurrence frequencies, amplitudes and momentum fluxes are observed in the stratosphere over the mountains of the Southern Andes and Antarctic Peninsula. However, we find that around 60–80 % of total zonal-mean momentum flux is located over the open Southern Ocean during June–August, where a large "belt" of increased wave-occurrence frequencies, amplitudes and fluxes is observed. Our results also suggest significant short-timescale variability of fluxes from both orographic and non-orographic sources in the region. A particularly striking result is a widespread convergence of gravity-wave momentum fluxes towards latitudes around 60° S from the north and south. We propose that this convergence, which is observed at nearly all longitudes during winter, accounts for a significant part of the under-represented flux in GCMs at these latitudes

Home enteral nutrition: Use of photo‐elicitation to capturepatient and caregiver experiences

Background Despite the importance of home enteral nutrition (HEN), there is a lack of understanding within the medical and general community of how HEN impacts the lives of patients and caregivers. Using a theoretical orientation that attends to the materiality of both everyday and medical objects, we explored patients' and family caregivers' everyday experiences of administering feeds during HEN.This project received an internal funding from the Care Experience Program within Mayo Clinic's Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery

Impact of Industrial Practices on the Microbial and Quality Attributes of Fresh Vacuum-Packed Lamb Joints

The impact of different industrial practices at lamb export abattoirs in Ireland on the microbial and quality attributes of fresh vacuum-packed (VP) lamb leg joints, including Clean Livestock Policy (CLP), fleece clipping, carcass chilling times and vacuum pack storage, at typical chill and retail display temperatures was investigated. Five separate slaughter batches of lamb (ranging in size from 38 to 60 lambs) were followed at two lamb export plants over a two-year period, accounting for seasonal variation. In general, fleece clipping resulted in significantly lower microbial contamination on the fleece than the use of CLP alone. Lamb from carcasses chilled for 24 h had significantly lower psychrophilic total viable counts and Brochothrix thermosphacta and pseudomonad counts than carcasses chilled for 72 h. Following vacuum-packed (VP) storage of meat from these carcasses at 1.7 1.6 C for 23 days in the meat plant followed by retail display at 3.9 1.7 C (up to day 50), the dominant microorganisms were lactic acid bacteria, Br. thermosphacta, Enterobacteriaceae and pseudomonads, and all had reached maximum population density by storage day 34. Aligned with this, after day 34, the quality of the raw meat samples also continued to deteriorate, with off-odors and color changes developing. While the mean values for cooked meat eating quality attributes did not change significantly over the VP storage period, high variability in many attributes, including off-flavors and off-odors, were noted for lamb meat from all storage times, highlighting inconsistences in lamb quality within and between slaughter batches

Transportation — A Vehicle or Roadblock to Cancer Care for VA Patients With Colorectal Cancer?

Patients must have transportation to the treatment site before they can access appropriate cancer care. This paper describes factors associated with patients experiencing transportation-related barriers to accessing cancer care

Utilization of Hospital-Based Chaplain Services Among Newly Diagnosed Male Veterans Affairs Colorectal Cancer Patients

Examine utilization of chaplain services among Veterans Affairs (VA) patients with colorectal cancer (CRC)

Objective burden, resources, and other stressors among informal cancer caregivers: a hidden quality issue?

A great deal of clinical cancer care is delivered in the home by informal caregivers (e.g. family, friends), who are often untrained. Caregivers' context varies widely, with many providing care despite low levels of resources and high levels of additional demands

Getting It Right: Being Smarter about Clinical Trials

A major NIH meeting led to recommendations for conducting better clinical trials

Patient-Reported Quality of Supportive Care Among Patients With Colorectal Cancer in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System

High-quality supportive care is an essential component of comprehensive cancer care. We implemented a patient-centered quality of cancer care survey to examine and identify predictors of quality of supportive care for bowel problems, pain, fatigue, depression, and other symptoms among 1,109 patients with colorectal cancer

Sinking Jelly-Carbon Unveils Potential Environmental Variability along a Continental Margin

Particulate matter export fuels benthic ecosystems in continental margins and the deep sea, removing carbon from the upper ocean. Gelatinous zooplankton biomass provides a fast carbon vector that has been poorly studied. Observational data of a large-scale benthic trawling survey from 1994 to 2005 provided a unique opportunity to quantify jelly-carbon along an entire continental margin in the Mediterranean Sea and to assess potential links with biological and physical variables. Biomass depositions were sampled in shelves, slopes and canyons with peaks above 1000 carcasses per trawl, translating to standing stock values between 0.3 and 1.4 mg C m2 after trawling and integrating between 30,000 and 175,000 m2 of seabed. The benthopelagic jelly-carbon spatial distribution from the shelf to the canyons may be explained by atmospheric forcing related with NAO events and dense shelf water cascading, which are both known from the open Mediterranean. Over the decadal scale, we show that the jelly-carbon depositions temporal variability paralleled hydroclimate modifications, and that the enhanced jelly-carbon deposits are connected to a temperature-driven system where chlorophyll plays a minor role. Our results highlight the importance of gelatinous groups as indicators of large-scale ecosystem change, where jelly-carbon depositions play an important role in carbon and energy transport to benthic systems