A comparison of video conferencing and in-person health coaching approaches in combination with mHealth devices on weight loss, physical activity, and glycemic control

Background: Compare health coaching efficacy on weight loss, physical activity, and glycemic control between individualized video conferencing (VC), in-person (IP) and control (CG) groups of adults with high BMI. Methods: Thirty adults (BMI≥30 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to create three groups of 10 members each. Participants received a wireless accelerometer watch and weight scale to sync with their personal smartphones and downloaded apps. Participants assigned to VC and IP received weekly health coaching individualized based on data uploaded over the 12-wk intervention. Steps/day and weight loss were analyzed via analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). Between-group ANOVAs analyzed post-intervention changes in weight (kg), glucose, HbA1c, and HOMA-IR. Results: Weight loss (8.23±4.5kg; 7.7%) was greater (pp≤.05); VC consistently had the higher step/day averages. No between-group differences were found for any glycemic control markers. Conclusion: Our innovative, multidisciplinary, telemedicine health coaching delivered through video conferencing led to favorable changes in weight loss, physical activity, and HOMA-IR that surpassed changes when health coaching was delivered in person or was absent. Future studies using video conferencing to investigate health coaching delivered in group and individualized formats and for other population subgroups are needed as are studies investigating the impact of weight loss on other health outcomes (e.g. lipid profile, glycemic control, and inflammatory markers)

Evaluating Blast Wave Overpressure From Non-spherical Charges Using Time Of Arrival From High-speed Video

Scaled distance is used to predict blast wave overpressure surrounding the detonation of a known mass of explosive under the assumption that the charge geometry is spherical. Altering charge geometry from spherical overdrives regions of the blast wave resulting in areas of higher overpressures than predicted by scaled distance calculations. Empirical data can be used to scale the blast wave overpressure to cylindrical charges, but available overpressure data for more complex geometries is not available in published literature. In the present study the time of arrival of the blast wave was measured from high-speed video and the Rankine-Hugoniot relationship used to measure blast wave overpressure for varied explosive geometries. The radial overpressure of prismatic charges with cross-sectional shapes of triangle, rectangle, and 5-point star isotropic were compared to the radially isotropic overpressure distribution produced by a cylindrical explosive charge. The rectangle produced the highest overpressure measuring 3.5 times that of the cylinder while the triangular charge had the greatest presented surface area and was only overdriven 3.0 times. From the high-speed video the fireball of detonation products surrounding the star appears significantly overdriven from the internal angle, but this orientation was underdriven at 2.0 meters. The blast wave overpressure downstream from the outside corners of the rectangular and triangular prismatic charges were similar to that of the cylinder at 1.5 meters but trended higher at increasing distance

Identifying Slope Failure Deposits from a Potentially Mixed Magnetic Susceptibility Signal in Gas Hydrate Bearing Regions

The marine gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) occurs in the slope environment along many active and passive continental margins. In this environment, slope failures are common and can occur near the shelf slope break, within submarine canyons, or on the flanks of bathymetric highs, resulting in a spectrum of slope failure deposits from landslides to turbidites. On the Cascadia margin, the GHSZ occurs within the bathymetric thrust ridges and slope basins of the accretionary wedge. Here, the ridges are composed of uplifted abyssal plain deposits associated with submarine fans and/or paleoslope basin deposits formed during the evolution of the accretionary wedge (Johnson et al., 2006; Torres et al., 2008). The adjoining slope basins contain the deposits from slope failure of the ridges. Both ridges and slope basins offshore Central Oregon and Vancouver Island were sampled by drilling during ODP Leg 204 and IODP Expedition 311, respectively (Figure 1). The recovered cores document the distribution and abundance of gas hydrate in these regions within a stratigraphy that is dominated by silt and sand turbidites, debris flows, and intervals of silty clay, separated by hemipelagic clay

Ecophysiology of coral reef primary producers across an upwelling gradient in the tropical central Pacific

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Johnson, M. D., Fox, M. D., Kelly, E. L. A., Zgliczynski, B. J., Sandin, S. A., & Smith, J. E. Ecophysiology of coral reef primary producers across an upwelling gradient in the tropical central Pacific. Plos One, 15(2), (2020): e0228448, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228448.Upwelling is an important source of inorganic nutrients in marine systems, yet little is known about how gradients in upwelling affect primary producers on coral reefs. The Southern Line Islands span a natural gradient of inorganic nutrient concentrations across the equatorial upwelling region in the central Pacific. We used this gradient to test the hypothesis that benthic autotroph ecophysiology is enhanced on nutrient-enriched reefs. We measured metabolism and photophysiology of common benthic taxa, including the algae Porolithon, Avrainvillea, and Halimeda, and the corals Pocillopora and Montipora. We found that temperature (27.2–28.7°C) was inversely related to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (0.46–4.63 μM) and surface chlorophyll a concentrations (0.108–0.147 mg m-3), which increased near the equator. Contrary to our prediction, ecophysiology did not consistently track these patterns in all taxa. Though metabolic rates were generally variable, Porolithon and Avrainvillea photosynthesis was highest at the most productive and equatorial island (northernmost). Porolithon photosynthetic rates also generally increased with proximity to the equator. Photophysiology (maximum quantum yield) increased near the equator and was highest at northern islands in all taxa. Photosynthetic pigments also were variable, but chlorophyll a and carotenoids in Avrainvillea and Montipora were highest at the northern islands. Phycobilin pigments of Porolithon responded most consistently across the upwelling gradient, with higher phycoerythrin concentrations closer to the equator. Our findings demonstrate that the effects of in situ nutrient enrichment on benthic autotrophs may be more complex than laboratory experiments indicate. While upwelling is an important feature in some reef ecosystems, ancillary factors may regulate the associated consequences of nutrient enrichment on benthic reef organisms.This work was supported by funding from the Moore Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Scripps family, and anonymous donors. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the manuscript

Examining Culturally Responsive Understandings within an Undergraduate Teacher Education Program

This article examines how a group of elementary and secondary preservice teachers engaged in understanding “culture” and culturally responsive teaching while enrolled in an early program course. We analyze how culturally-related experiences, emotions, and perspectives contribute to the overall understanding of cultural competency training in teacher education. Preservice teachers varied in their use of individual- and structural-orientations, in isolation and in combination, as they developed and progressed as socially just teachers. These findings reveal that despite attempts to develop and shift toward asset-based perspectives, far more culturally embedded coursework and practicum experiences are necessary. This paper includes a reflection on the effectiveness of posing meaningful, reflective questions for preservice teachers as they experienced the concept of “culture” based on their own funds of knowledge

Effects of a Caffeine-Containing Transdermal Energy Patch on Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise Performance

The use of caffeine-containing (74-mg) energy patches (EnP) offers a novel mode of caffeine delivery that may alleviate stomach discomfort associated with oral caffeine use. The purpose of this study was to use four separate tests to evaluate the effects of EnP use on aerobic and anaerobic exercise performance. Three separate moderately active college-aged sample populations performed either 1) cycle time-to-exhaustion, 2) Wingate (WIN), or 3) repeated sprints and one repetition maximum bench press using EnP and placebo patches (PlP). No statistical differences were found between EnP and PlP for all dependent variables (p \u3e 0.05) except for WIN peak power, which showed a statistically significant decrease (p = 0.04). The dose of caffeine topically applied via an EnP may not have been enough to elicit an ergogenic effect on exercise performance. A dose greater than 74-mg caffeine may be needed to produce an ergogenic effect. Further research is needed to investigate the delivery kinetics of transdermal caffeine in large dosages along with blood caffeine concentrations during and after exercise

Influence of blade aerodynamic model on the prediction of helicopter high-frequency airloads

Brown’s vorticity transport model has been used to investigate the influence of the blade aerodynamic model on the accuracy with which the high-frequency airloads associated with helicopter blade–vortex interactions can be predicted. The model yields an accurate representation of the wake structure yet allows significant flexibility in the way that the blade loading can be represented. A simple lifting-line model and a somewhat more sophisticated liftingchord model, based on unsteady thin aerofoil theory, are compared. A marked improvement in the accuracy of the predicted high-frequency airloads of the higher harmonic control aeroacoustic rotor is obtained when the liftingchord model is used instead of the lifting-line approach, and the quality of the prediction is affected less by the computational resolution of the wake. The lifting-line model overpredicts the amplitude of the lift response to blade–vortex interactions as the computational grid is refined, exposing the fundamental deficiencies in this approach when modeling the aerodynamic response of the blade to interactions with vortices that are much smaller than its chord. The airloads that are predicted using the lifting-chord model are relatively insensitive to the resolution of the computation, and there are fundamental reasons to believe that properly converged numerical solutions may be attainable using this approach

Building an Improved Drought Climatology Using Updated Drought Tools: A New Mexico Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Systems Focus

Drought is a familiar climatic phenomenon in the United States Southwest, with complex human-environment interactions that extend beyond just the physical drought events. Due to continued climate variability and change, droughts are expected to become more frequent and/or severe in the future. Decision-makers are charged with mitigating and adapting to these more extreme conditions and to do that they need to understand the specific impacts drought has on regional and local scales, and how these impacts compare to historical conditions. Tremendous progress in drought monitoring strategies has occurred over the past several decades, with more tools providing greater spatial and temporal resolutions for a variety of variables, including drought impacts. Many of these updated tools can be used to develop improved drought climatologies for decision-makers to use in their drought risk management actions. In support of a Food-Energy-Water (FEW) systems study for New Mexico, this article explores the use of updated drought monitoring tools to analyze data and develop a more holistic drought climatology applicable for New Mexico. Based upon the drought climatology, droughts appear to be occurring with greater frequency and magnitude over the last two decades. This improved drought climatology information, using New Mexico as the example, increases the understanding of the effects of drought on the FEW systems, allowing for better management of current and future drought events and associated impacts