“The Other Hangover”: Implementing and Evaluating an Original, Student-Designed Campaign to Curb Binge Drinking

Binge drinking is a serious health and safety issue that has continued to plague college campuses, despite decades of education campaigns promoting moderation towards alcohol. As part of a student advertising competition, undergraduates were asked to develop an integrated marketing campaign focused on reducing binge drinking among college students which would successfully capture attention and resonate with their peers. The campaign the students created, called “The Other Hangover,” takes a unique approach to the binge-drinking issue—focusing attention on the social consequences of overconsumption, such as damage to one’s reputation and the loss of friendships. This case study examines the strategic development and implementation of the campaign, a process which was largely managed by undergraduate students connected to the project. In addition results of the evaluation effort which was conducted to measure the campaign’s success are reported, along with discussion questions designed for students and educators to further explore the relevant issues related to the project

Bound excitons in time-dependent density-functional-theory: optical and energy-loss spectra

A robust and efficient frequency dependent and non-local exchange-correlation $f_{xc}(r,r';\omega)$ is derived by imposing time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) to reproduce the many-body diagrammatic expansion of the Bethe-Salpeter polarization function. As an illustration, we compute the optical spectra of LiF, \sio and diamond and the finite momentum transfer energy-loss spectrum of LiF. The TDDFT results reproduce extremely well the excitonic effects embodied in the Bethe-Salpeter approach, both for strongly bound and resonant excitons. We provide a working expression for $f_{xc}$ that is fast to evaluate and easy to implement.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Surgical Resection of Lung Metastases: Results from 529 Patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine clinical, pathological, and treatment-relevant variables associated with long-term (90-month) overall survival in patients with lung metastases undergoing pulmonary metastasectomy. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of patients who were admitted with lung metastases, and who underwent thoracotomy for resection, after treatment of a primary tumor. Data were collected regarding demographics, tumor features, treatment, and outcome. RESULTS: Patients (n = 529) were submitted to a total of 776 thoracotomies. Median follow-up time across all patients was 21.6 months (range: 0-192 months). The postoperative complication rate was 9.3%, and the 30-day mortality rate was 0.2%. The ninety-month overall survival rate for all patients was 30.4%. Multivariate analysis identified the number of pulmonary nodules detected on preoperative CT-scan, the number of malignant nodules resected, and complete resection as the independent prognostic factors for overall survival. CONCLUSION: These results confirm that lung metastasectomy is a safe and potentially curative procedure for patients with treated primary tumors. A select group of patients can achieve long-term survival after resection

Membrane distillation: Solar and waste heat driven demonstration plants for desalination

The development of small to medium size, autonomous and robust desalination units is needed to establish an independent water supply in remote areas. This is the motivation for research on alternative desalination processes. Membrane distillation (MD) seems to meet the specific requirements very well. This work is focused on experimental studies on full scale demonstration systems, utilizing a parallel multi MD-module setup. Three different plant concepts are introduced, one of them is waste heat driven and two of them are powered by solar thermal collectors. Design parameters and system design are presented. After the analysis of plant operation a comparison among the plants as well as a comparison with laboratory experiments is carried out and discussed. Impact of different feed flow rates, salinities, operating hours and process temperatures are taken into consideration and put into relation. GOR values and specific thermal heat demand are derived and compared. Energy balances of all three plants are given, uncovering heat losses and identifying room for improvemen

Universal Behavior of Lyapunov Exponents in Unstable Systems

We calculate the Lyapunov exponents in a classical molecular dynamics framework. The system is composed of few hundreds particles interacting either through Yukawa (Nuclear) or Slater-Kirkwood (Atomic) forces. The forces are chosen to give an Equation of State that resembles the nuclear and the atomic $^4He$ Equation Of State respectively near the critical point for liquid-gas phase transition. We find the largest fluctuations for an initial "critical temperature". The largest Lyapunov exponents $\lambda$ are always positive and can be very well fitted near this "critical temperature" with a functional form $\lambda\propto |T-T_c|^{-\omega}$, where the exponent $\omega=0.15$ is independent of the system and mass number. At smaller temperatures we find that $\lambda\propto T~ ^{0.4498}$, a universal behavior characteristic of an order to chaos transition.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 3 figures not included available upon reques

A Description of Parent Input in IEP Development Through Analysis of IEP Documents

Parent input in Individualized Education Program (IEP) development is the clear expectation in U.S. education law. Every IEP team must include parents, and their input must be equally considered when developing IEPs. The present study used content analysis of 88 IEPs of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to explore team membership, concerns parents raised during IEP meetings, and evidence that parent concerns and priorities are reflected in IEP goals and supplementary aids and services. Findings reveal that while parents express a range of concerns and priorities, these are translated into goals or services only two-thirds of the time. We provide implications of these findings for research and practice

Types of Supplementary Aids and Services for Students with Significant Support Needs

Supplementary aids and services have been a provision in special education law since PL 94- 142, however, almost no guidance has been provided to help teams make decisions about their appropriate selection and use. In this exploratory study, we explore the types of supplementary aids and services selected for students with significant support needs using a conventional content analysis of Individual Education Program (IEPs) from 88 students in grades K-12. Results illustrate the wide variation in types of supplementary aids and services chosen for students overall. Curricular accommodations and personnel supports were the most commonly identified supports, while supports to assist students to communicate and make meaning of curriculum (e.g., curricular modifications) were less common, as were less intrusive supports such as peer assisted learning. Implications for policy, practice, and research are provided

Radio-guided Surgery for Non-131 I-avid Thyroid Cancer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63206/1/thy.2006.16.1105.lowlink.pdf_v03.pd

On the stationary points of the TAP free energy

In the context of the p-spin spherical model, we introduce a method for the computation of the number of stationary points of any nature (minima, saddles, etc.) of the TAP free energy. In doing this we clarify the ambiguities related to the approximations usually adopted in the standard calculations of the number of states in mean field spin glass models.Comment: 11 pages, 1 Postscript figure, plain Te

Action leveraging evidence to reduce perinatal mortality and morbidity (ALERT): study protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda

Background: Insufficient reductions in maternal and neonatal deaths and stillbirths in the past decade are a deterrence to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3. The majority of deaths occur during the intrapartum and immediate postnatal period. Overcoming the knowledge-do-gap to ensure implementation of known evidence-based interventions during this period has the potential to avert at least 2.5 million deaths in mothers and their offspring annually. This paper describes a study protocol for implementing and evaluating a multi-faceted health care system intervention to strengthen the implementation of evidence-based interventions and responsive care during this crucial period. Methods: This is a cluster randomised stepped-wedge trial with a nested realist process evaluation across 16 hospitals in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. The ALERT intervention will include four main components: i) end-user participation through narratives of women, families and midwifery providers to ensure co-design of the intervention; ii) competency-based training; iii) quality improvement supported by data from a clinical perinatal e-registry and iv) empowerment and leadership mentoring of maternity unit leaders complemented by district based bi-annual coordination and accountability meetings. The trial\u27s primary outcome is in-facility perinatal (stillbirths and early neonatal) mortality, in which we expect a 25% reduction. A perinatal e-registry will be implemented to monitor the trial. Our nested realist process evaluation will help to understand what works, for whom, and under which conditions. We will apply a gender lens to explore constraints to the provision of evidence-based care by health workers providing maternity services. An economic evaluation will assess the scalability and cost-effectiveness of ALERT intervention. Discussion: There is evidence that each of the ALERT intervention components improves health providers\u27 practices and has modest to moderate effects. We aim to test if the innovative packaging, including addressing specific health systems constraints in these settings, will have a synergistic effect and produce more considerable perinatal mortality reductions