The Development of a New Scale to Measure Food Insecurity Among Older Adults Using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) Framework

Background: Older adults face different barriers to accessing adequate food, and none of the current food security scales address the unique issues that aging could present to food security among this population. Purpose: This study aims to understand the components of nutrition functioning in relation to food insecurity among older adults to develop a food insecurity screening tool specific to the older adult population. Methods: Cross-sectional qualitative study with semi-structured interviews. The interviews occurred via Google Voice and were simultaneously recorded using Zoom. Two researchers coded transcriptions from interview audio recordings separately, and thematic analysis based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) was used to analyze the data. The findings were deliberated between all the researchers, and the final themes, subthemes, and representative quotes were mutually agreed upon. Results: Twenty-three older adults living in independent senior living facilities were interviewed. Nine themes (transportation, access/variety, housing, mobility & aging, preparing food, interpersonal relationship, food assistance, dentition/ingestion/digestion, health conditions) and twenty-two subthemes were identified. The results demonstrated that lack of transportation, interpersonal relationships, health-related conditions, and financial constraints were this population\u27s principal barriers to accessing and preparing adequate food. Discussion: Food insecurity among older adults is a multi-dimension issue. A new scale to measure food insecurity among older adults was created to provide a more accurate assessment of food security risk in this population. Future research should validate this scale in different settings

The Multi-Object, Fiber-Fed Spectrographs for SDSS and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

We present the design and performance of the multi-object fiber spectrographs for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and their upgrade for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Originally commissioned in Fall 1999 on the 2.5-m aperture Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the spectrographs produced more than 1.5 million spectra for the SDSS and SDSS-II surveys, enabling a wide variety of Galactic and extra-galactic science including the first observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in 2005. The spectrographs were upgraded in 2009 and are currently in use for BOSS, the flagship survey of the third-generation SDSS-III project. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.35 million massive galaxies to redshift 0.7 and Lyman-alpha absorption of 160,000 high redshift quasars over 10,000 square degrees of sky, making percent level measurements of the absolute cosmic distance scale of the Universe and placing tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy. The twin multi-object fiber spectrographs utilize a simple optical layout with reflective collimators, gratings, all-refractive cameras, and state-of-the-art CCD detectors to produce hundreds of spectra simultaneously in two channels over a bandpass covering the near ultraviolet to the near infrared, with a resolving power R = \lambda/FWHM ~ 2000. Building on proven heritage, the spectrographs were upgraded for BOSS with volume-phase holographic gratings and modern CCD detectors, improving the peak throughput by nearly a factor of two, extending the bandpass to cover 360 < \lambda < 1000 nm, and increasing the number of fibers from 640 to 1000 per exposure. In this paper we describe the original SDSS spectrograph design and the upgrades implemented for BOSS, and document the predicted and measured performances.Comment: 43 pages, 42 figures, revised according to referee report and accepted by AJ. Provides background for the instrument responsible for SDSS and BOSS spectra. 4th in a series of survey technical papers released in Summer 2012, including arXiv:1207.7137 (DR9), arXiv:1207.7326 (Spectral Classification), and arXiv:1208.0022 (BOSS Overview

Predicting Landscape-Genetic Consequences of Habitat Loss, Fragmentation and Mobility for Multiple Species of Woodland Birds

Inference concerning the impact of habitat fragmentation on dispersal and gene flow is a key theme in landscape genetics. Recently, the ability of established approaches to identify reliably the differential effects of landscape structure (e.g. land-cover composition, remnant vegetation configuration and extent) on the mobility of organisms has been questioned. More explicit methods of predicting and testing for such effects must move beyond post hoc explanations for single landscapes and species. Here, we document a process for making a priori predictions, using existing spatial and ecological data and expert opinion, of the effects of landscape structure on genetic structure of multiple species across replicated landscape blocks. We compare the results of two common methods for estimating the influence of landscape structure on effective distance: least-cost path analysis and isolation-by-resistance. We present a series of alternative models of genetic connectivity in the study area, represented by different landscape resistance surfaces for calculating effective distance, and identify appropriate null models. The process is applied to ten species of sympatric woodland-dependant birds. For each species, we rank a priori the expectation of fit of genetic response to the models according to the expected response of birds to loss of structural connectivity and landscape-scale tree-cover. These rankings (our hypotheses) are presented for testing with empirical genetic data in a subsequent contribution. We propose that this replicated landscape, multi-species approach offers a robust method for identifying the likely effects of landscape fragmentation on dispersal

Measurement of the Positive Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment to 0.46 ppm

We present the first results of the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment for the positive muon magnetic anomaly $a_\mu \equiv (g_\mu-2)/2$. The anomaly is determined from the precision measurements of two angular frequencies. Intensity variation of high-energy positrons from muon decays directly encodes the difference frequency $\omega_a$ between the spin-precession and cyclotron frequencies for polarized muons in a magnetic storage ring. The storage ring magnetic field is measured using nuclear magnetic resonance probes calibrated in terms of the equivalent proton spin precession frequency ${\tilde{\omega}'^{}_p}$ in a spherical water sample at 34.7$^{\circ}$C. The ratio $\omega_a / {\tilde{\omega}'^{}_p}$, together with known fundamental constants, determines $a_\mu({\rm FNAL}) = 116\,592\,040(54)\times 10^{-11}$ (0.46\,ppm). The result is 3.3 standard deviations greater than the standard model prediction and is in excellent agreement with the previous Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) E821 measurement. After combination with previous measurements of both $\mu^+$ and $\mu^-$, the new experimental average of $a_\mu({\rm Exp}) = 116\,592\,061(41)\times 10^{-11}$ (0.35\,ppm) increases the tension between experiment and theory to 4.2 standard deviationsComment: 10 pages; 4 figure

A Community-University Partnership to Improve Access to Fresh Produce among Homebound Seniors

Accessing fresh produce is often difficult for homebound seniors, leading to under-consumption and increased risk of chronic disease. Current Meals on Wheels (MOW) programs do not include fresh produce delivery. A MOW agency collaborated with a large non-profit university to design and evaluate the impact of a monthly produce delivery program to homebound seniors. The produce delivery program was systematically designed based on the constructs of the Health Belief Model. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected. The results of the monthly delivery of fresh produce to homebound seniors demonstrated an increased produce intake and increased perceived health value of fruits and vegetables. A processes evaluation was conducted with results used to make immediate improvement in program methods. The university-community partnership strengthened program development and provided expertise for program evaluation. The produce delivery program was an effective way of decreasing barriers to accessing produce and increasing consumption

The Impact of a Food Recovery-Meal Delivery Program on Homebound Seniors\u27 Food Security, Nutrition, and Well-Being

Food insecurity is a growing problem among seniors. A novel program was established to help mitigate the problem of food insecurity among seniors who are homebound. Volunteers recover unused prepared food donated by area hospitals, repack it into healthy meals which are delivered to program participants. To evaluate the impact of our intervention, seniors\u27 nutritional health and social well-being were measured at enrollment and after three to five months using the following: Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), 24-hour recall, USDA 6-Item Food Security Survey, WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the 3-Item Loneliness Scale. Statistical analysis indicated a significant improvement in nutritional health, well-being, and loneliness; participants also increased their consumption of protein and calories. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the self-perceived impact of the program. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that meal recipients perceive that food recovery-meal delivery programs may improve their nutrition health, food security, and well-being

Systematic Reviews in the Engineering Literature: A Scoping Review

A systematic review is a specialized type of literature review used to collect and synthesize all the available evidence related to a research question. The methods for systematic reviews should be transparent and reproducible so that other researchers can use, replicate, and build upon the findings. Systematic reviews have been published for decades in medical literature where it is necessary to bring together all the studies related to a particular disease or condition for healthcare professionals to make evidence-based recommendations. Conducting systematic reviews has expanded to other disciplines, including education, business, and engineering. The authors of this study conducted a scoping review to investigate how prevalent systematic reviews are in engineering and to what extent engineering authors are following published reporting guidelines. To conduct this study, the authors searched the databases Compendex, Inspec, and ERIC and retrieved 11,588 records. After removing duplicates and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 3,066 articles remained in the final data set. The authors then used a checklist of bibliographic and quality-related items to extract data from each of these studies. The findings show that systematic reviews are a popular and rapidly growing methodology in engineering, internationally, but the quality of the studies, in terms of how authors construct and report their methods, is often low, resulting in many studies that are irreproducible and may fall short of the goal of gathering all the available evidence on a topic. The authors include recommendations for engineering authors, higher education administrators, and publishers