Building an EMPOWERed Classroom: examining the impact of a two-session virtual workshop on mental health literacy and self-efficacy to recommend mental health resources among postsecondary course instructors

Postsecondary students are a population at elevated risk for mental health concerns due to the unique stressors they face regularly compounded by pandemic induced barriers to support. With an increase in both the prevalence of mental health difficulties and the demand for related services, postsecondary wellness centres are overwhelmed, suggesting that mental health on campus can no longer be the responsibility of one entity. By engaging other sectors of the institution, more students can be reached and supported. Given the likelihood that they are addressing health-related concerns indirectly and more frequently than ever, educators are in a unique position that may allow for early detection of mental health difficulties and support for their students. To date, research has demonstrated the importance of mental health literacy training for educators, but few studies have evaluated a program designed to improve it. By evaluating training designed to increase mental health literacy and self-efficacy to recommend resources among educators, it may be possible to assist more students with receiving mental health support and information. An education-focused approach has been identified as a successful avenue for supporting the wellbeing of primary and secondary students as well as those outside the field of education; however postsecondary instructors have yet to be the focus of such work. [...

Development of a diagnostic sensor for measuring blood cell concentrations during haemoconcentration

Background: HemoSep® is a commercial ultrafiltration and haemoconcentration device for the concentration of residual bypass blood following surgery. This technology is capable of reducing blood loss in cardiac and other types of "clean site" procedures, including paediatric surgery. Clinical feedback suggested that the device would be enhanced by including a sensor technology capable of discerning the concentration level of the processed blood product. We sought to develop a novel sensor that can, using light absorption, give an accurate estimate of packed cell volume (PCV). Materials and methods: A sensor-housing unit was 3D printed and the factors influencing the sensor's effectiveness – supply voltage, sensitivity and emitter intensity - were optimised. We developed a smart system, using comparator circuitry capable of visually informing the user when adequate PCV levels (⩾35%) are attained by HemoSep® blood processing, which ultimately indicates that the blood is ready for autotransfusion. Results: Our data demonstrated that the device was capable of identifying blood concentration at and beyond the 35% PCV level. The device was found to be 100% accurate at identifying concentration levels of 35% from a starting level of 20%. Discussion: The sensory capability was integrated into HemoSep's® current device and is designed to enhance the user’s clinical experience and to optimise the benefits of HemoSep® therapy. The present study focused on laboratory studies using bovine blood. Further studies are now planned in the clinical setting to confirm the efficacy of the device

Trial wave functions for High-Pressure Metallic Hydrogen

Many body trial wave functions are the key ingredient for accurate Quantum Monte Carlo estimates of total electronic energies in many electron systems. In the Coupled Electron-Ion Monte Carlo method, the accuracy of the trial function must be conjugated with the efficiency of its evaluation. We report recent progress in trial wave functions for metallic hydrogen implemented in the Coupled Electron-Ion Monte Carlo method. We describe and characterize several types of trial functions of increasing complexity in the range of the coupling parameter $1.0 \leq r_s \leq1.55$. We report wave function comparisons for disordered protonic configurations and preliminary results for thermal averages.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Computer Physics Communication

Improving the culture of safety on a high‐acuity inpatient child/adolescent psychiatric unit by mindfulness‐based stress reduction training of staff

ProblemThe purpose of this study was to reduce perceived levels of interprofessional staff stress and to improve patient and staff safety by implementing a brief mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) training program on a highacuity psychiatric inpatient unit.MethodsA one‐group repeated measure design was utilized to measure the impact of the (MBSR) training program on staff stress and safety immediately posttraining and at 2 months. Two instruments were utilized in the study: the Toronto Mindfulness Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale.FindingsThe MBSR program reduced staff stress across the 2‐month post‐training period and increased staff mindfulness immediately following the brief training period of 8 days, and across the 2‐month post‐training period. A trend toward positive impact on patient and staff safety was also seen in a decreased number of staff call‐ins, decreased need for 1:1 staffing episodes, and decreased restraint use 2 months following the training period.ConclusionsA brief MBSR training program offered to an interprofessional staff of a high‐acuity inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit was effective in decreasing their stress, increasing their mindfulness, and improving staff and patient safety.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145396/1/jcap12191.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145396/2/jcap12191_am.pd

A questionnaire elicitation of surgeons' belief about learning within a surgical trial

PMID: 23145113 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3493499 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

Giant convecting mud balls of the early solar system

Carbonaceous asteroids may have been the precursors to the terrestrial planets, yet despite their importance, numerous attempts to model their early solar system geological history have not converged on a solution. The assumption has been that hydrothermal alteration was occurring in rocky asteroids with material properties similar to meteorites. However, these bodies would have accreted as a high-porosity aggregate of igneous clasts (chondrules) and fine-grained primordial dust, with ice filling much of the pore space. Short-lived radionuclides melted the ice, and aqueous alteration of anhydrous minerals followed. However, at the moment when the ice melted, no geological process had acted to lithify this material. It would have been a mud, rather than a rock. We tested the effect of removing the assumption of lithification. We find that if the body accretes unsorted chondrules, then large-scale mud convection is capable of producing a size-sorted chondrule population (if the body accretes an aerodynamically sorted chondrule population, then no further sorting occurs). Mud convection both moderates internal temperature and reduces variation in temperature throughout the object. As the system is thoroughly mixed, soluble elements are not fractionated, preserving primitive chemistry. Isotopic and redox heterogeneity in secondary phases over short length scales is expected, as individual particles experience a range of temperature and water-rock histories until they are brought together in their final configuration at the end of convection. These results are consistent with observations from aqueously altered meteorites (CI and CM chondrites) and spectra of primitive asteroids. The “mudball” model appears to be a general solution: Bodies spanning a ×1000 mass range show similar behavior

Accuracy of using visual identification of white sharks to estimate residency patterns

Determining the residency of an aquatic species is important but challenging and it remains unclear what is the best sampling methodology. Photo-identification has been used extensively to estimate patterns of animals’ residency and is arguably the most common approach, but it may not be the most effective approach in marine environments. To examine this, in 2005, we deployed acoustic transmitters on 22 white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in Mossel Bay, South Africa to quantify the probability of detecting these tagged sharks by photo-identification and different deployment strategies of acoustic telemetry equipment. Using the data collected by the different sampling approaches (detections from an acoustic listening station deployed under a chumming vessel versus those from visual sightings and photo-identification), we quantified the methodologies’ probability of detection and determined if the sampling approaches, also including an acoustic telemetry array, produce comparable results for patterns of residency. Photo-identification had the lowest probability of detection and underestimated residency. The underestimation is driven by various factors primarily that acoustic telemetry monitors a large area and this reduces the occurrence of false negatives. Therefore, we propose that researchers need to use acoustic telemetry and also continue to develop new sampling approaches as photo-identification techniques are inadequate to determine residency. Using the methods presented in this paper will allow researchers to further refine sampling approaches that enable them to collect more accurate data that will result in better research and more informed management efforts and policy decisions.Conceived and designed the experiments: RLJ DGD EG MNB. Performed the experiments: RLJ. Analyzed the data: EG RLJ DGD. Wrote the paper: DGD EG RLJ MNB.World Wildlife Fund – South Africa, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (and Tourism), and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.http://www.plosone.or

40Ar/39Ar Ages of Carbonaceous Xenoliths in 2 HED Meteorites

The generally young K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar ages of CM chondrites made us wonder whether carbonaceous xenoliths (CMX) entombed in HowarditeEucriteDiogenite (HED) meteorites might retain more radiogenic 40Ar than do free-range CM-chondrites. To find out, we selected two HED breccias with carbonaceous inclusions in order to compare the 40Ar/39Ar release patterns and ages of the inclusions with those of nearby HED material. Carbonaceous inclusions (CMXs) in two HED meteorites lost a greater fraction of radiogenic 40Ar than did surrounding host material, but a smaller fraction of it than did free-range CM-chondrites such as Murchison or more heavily altered ones. Importantly, however, the siting of the CMXs in HED matrix did not prevent the 40Ar loss of about 40 percent of the radiogenic 40Ar, even from phases that degas at high laboratory temperatures. We infer that carbonaceous asteroids with perihelia of 1 astronomical unit probably experience losses of at least this size. The usefulness of 40Ar/39Ar dating for samples returned from C-type asteroids may hinge, therefore, on identifying and analyzing separately small quantities of the most retentive phases of carbonaceous chondrites

Session 5: Nutrition communication: The challenge of effective food risk communication

A chronology of food scares combined with a rapid, unchecked, rise in lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity highlights the need for a focus on effective food risk communication. However, food risk communication is highly complex. Many factors will affect its success, including the demeanour and conduct of the source, its transparency, interaction with the public, acknowledgement of risks and timely disclosure. How the message is developed is also important in terms of language, style and pretesting with target audiences, as is the choice of appropriate channels for reaching target audiences. Finally, there are many personal factors that may affect risk perception such as previous experience, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, personality, psychological factors and socio-demographic factors, many of which remain unexplored. While there is evidence that campaigns that communicate health risk have been associated with behaviour change in relation to major public health and safety issues in the past, it is unknown at this stage whether targeting risk information based on risk-perception segmentation can increase the effectiveness of the messages