Harnessing the Power of Digital Platforms to Accelerate Adoption Rates of Emerging Technologies and Innovations

Symposium PresentationApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Determining The Cost Effectiveness Of Solutions To Diffuse Pollution: Developing A Model To Assess In-Field Mitigation Options for Phosphorous and Sediment Loss

The European Union Water Framework Directive requires governments to set water quality objectives based on good ecological status. This includes specific requirements to control diffuse pollution. Diffuse phosphorous (P) pollution plays a pivotal role in influencing water quality with losses of P associated with soil particles often linked to soil erosion. The Mitigation Options for Phosphorus and Sediment (MOPS) project, using three case study sites, is investigating the cost effectiveness of specific control measures in terms of mitigating sediment and P loss from combinable crops. The analysis is conducted at the farm level using a simple spreadsheet model. Further development of the model will allow the results to be extrapolated to generic regional farm typologies. Results from the initial farm level analysis suggest that some mitigation options may not be cost effective in reducing diffuse pollution, however, that other options may be very cost effective.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The effects of minimal tillage, contour cultivation and in-field vegetative barriers on soil erosion and phosphorus loss.

Runoff, sediment, total phosphorus and total dissolved phosphorus losses in overland flow were measured for two years on unbounded plots cropped with wheat and oats. Half of the field was cultivated with minimum tillage (shallow tillage with a tine cultivator) and half was conventionally ploughed. Within each cultivation treatment there were different treatment areas (TA). In the first year of the experiment, one TA was cultivated up and down the slope, one TA was cultivated on the contour, with a beetle bank acting as a vegetative barrier partway up the slope, and one had a mixed direction cultivation treatment, with cultivation and drilling conducted up and down the slope and all subsequent operations conducted on the contour. In the second year, this mixed treatment was replaced with contour cultivation. Results showed no significant reduction in runoff, sediment losses or total phosphorus losses from minimum tillage when compared to the conventional plough treatment, but there were increased losses of total dissolved phosphorus with minimum tillage. The mixed direction cultivation treatment increased surface runoff and losses of sediment and phosphorus. Increasing surface roughness with contour cultivation reduced surface runoff compared to up and down slope cultivation in both the plough and minimum tillage treatment areas, but this trend was not significant. Sediment and phosphorus losses in the contour cultivation treatment followed a very similar pattern to runoff. Combining contour cultivation with a vegetative barrier in the form of a beetle bank to reduce slope length resulted in a non-significant reduction in surface runoff, sediment and total phosphorus when compared to up and down-slope cultivation, but there was a clear trend towards reduced losses. However, the addition of a beetle bank did not provide a significant reduction in runoff, sediment losses or total phosphorus losses when compared to contour cultivation, suggesting only a marginal additional benefit. The economic implications for farmers of the different treatment options are investigated in order to assess their suitability for implementation at a field scale

“I Didn’t Have to Prove to Anybody That I Was a Good Candidate”: A Case Study Framing International Bariatric Tourism by Canadians as Circumvention Tourism

Background  Medical tourism is a practice where patients travel internationally to purchase medical services. Medical tourists travel abroad for reasons including costly care, long wait times for care, and limited availability of desired procedures stemming from legal and/or regulatory restrictions. This paper examines bariatric (weight loss) surgery obtained abroad by Canadians through the lens of ‘circumvention tourism’ – typically applied to cases of circumvention of legal barriers but here applied to regulatory circumvention. Despite bariatric surgery being available domestically through public funding, many Canadians travel abroad to obtain these surgeries in order to circumvent barriers restricting access to this care. Little, however, is known about why these barriers push some patients to obtain these surgeries abroad and the effects of this circumvention. Methods  Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with 20 former Canadian bariatric tourists between February and May of 2016. Interview questions probed patients’ motivations for seeking care abroad, as well as experiences with attempting to obtain care domestically and internationally. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then thematically analyzed. Results  Three key barriers to access were identified: (1) structural barriers resulting in limited locally available options; (2) strict body mass index cut-off points to qualify for publicly-funded surgery; and (3) the extended wait-time and level of commitment required of the mandatory pre-operative program in Canada. It was not uncommon for participants to experience a combination, if not all, of these barriers. Conclusions  Collectively, these barriers restricting domestic access to bariatric care in Canada may leave Canadian patients with a sense that their health care system is not adequately addressing their specific health care needs. In circumventing these barriers, patients may feel empowered in their health care opportunities; however, significant concerns are raised when patients bypass protections built into the health system. Given the practical limitations of a publicly funded health care system, these barriers to care are likely to persist. Health professionals and policy makers in Canada should consider these barriers in the future when examining the implications medical tourism for bariatric surgery holds for Canadians

Recycling Team Project Summary

Students and staff at the University of South Dakota have demanded a recycling program for years, and finally the university has responded. In 2015, USD hired Verdis Group, a sustainability consulting agency based out of Omaha, to help the campus assess its waste profile and develop a recycling program. Throughout this process, six students from the sustainability capstone course were present to supplement Verdis Group’s work wherever possible and necessary.https://red.library.usd.edu/sustainability-projects/1004/thumbnail.jp

Women’s lived experience of recovery from childhood sexual abuse, and their perception of the role of mental health services.

Background: The scale of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in the UK is larger than previously believed. Evidence shows a lack of research surrounding women’s experience of recovery from CSA. Furthermore, the role of mental health services within this experience has largely been ignored. The aim of this research was to explore how women who were sexually abused as children understand their experience of recovery and the role they perceived mental health services to have had throughout. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven women who had experienced CSA and accessed support from statutory mental health services. Interviews elicited narratives regarding perceptions of recovery and the role of mental health services. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to identify themes. Results: Four superordinate themes were identified: ‘the on-going, unfinished journey of recovery’- capturing the nature of the process of recovery; ‘the power of being silenced by others’- encompassing the influence of others inhibiting their ability to speak out and the related consequences; ‘acknowledging the past and uniting it with my life’– describing vital internal processes experienced during recovery; ‘I can’t do this alone: ingredients for connections with others’– specifying that recovery is better experienced in unison with a supportive other. Conclusion: Results were considered in light of existing evidence and psychological theory. This provided an evidence-base to inform the development of services for women who have experienced CSA, and outline a number of clinical recommendations that could aid recovery. Recommendations for future research, and dissemination approaches are also discussed. Key words: Child sexual abuse; Women; Recovery; Qualitative; Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis; UK

Harnessing the Power of Digital Platforms to Accelerate Adoption Rates of Emerging Technologies and Innovations

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe recent Overmatch championed Artificial Intelligence and Networks (AINet) Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) demonstrated an alternative all-digital ANTX format enabled by integrated Rapid Innovation Labs (iRILs). This resulted in shortened ANTX planning and execution timelines, increased focus on technologies of interest, earlier integration into naval architectures, sharing of relevant operational data with participants, and meaningful feedback to developers throughout integration phases, informing research and development (R&D) and program acquisitions. An iRIL is a digital environment and an acquisition tool used to address priority Fleet needs, evaluate technologies and prototypes, and inform and influence external partner R&D investments. An all-digital iRIL can facilitate faster, smaller cycles of iterative experimentation of component technologies of interest within representative Fleet architectures and simulated operational environments. Future applications of iRILs could fundamentally change the way we acquire systems. The use of open competitive events such as an ANTX Prize Challenge could yield component level, containerized technologies of interest that are matured throughout the event process and can be assessed as well-behaved. Such well-behaved software containers or component technologies may enter the Overmatch Software Armory (OSA) or Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) pipelines, achieving rapid authorities to operate (ATO), cycling to a ship within days.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited