Before You Tie the Knot: Mapping Pedagogy, Learning Outcomes, and Effect Size in Premarital Education

Human services educators are continually seeking ways to make instruction more effective and engaging. This study evaluated the AIAI-FTFD (Attention, Interact, Apply, Invite – Fact, Think, Feel, Do) Start-to-Finish Teaching Model for educators in an ongoing premarital educational program to determine the model’s effectiveness in implementing the concept of “teaching as an intervention” in human services educational programming. The AIAI-FTFD Model is designed to first, assist instructors to engage the audience’s attention, then introduce the information being taught with the purpose to facilitate interaction between the instructor and participants, next elicit application of the material to personal contexts, and finally, offer an invitation to participants to commit to practice the skills learned. This implementation science study assessed the targeted cognitive, emotional, and behavioral learning outcomes generated by using the AIAI-FTFD Model while completing the Before You Tie the Knot (BYTK) premarital education program online. A self-reported quantitative evaluation design was utilized to assess key objectives in the sample (n = 97). Clearly evident effect sizes were found in perceived knowledge and confidence gain in the ability to implement the skills covered in the training. Implications for how the AIAI-FTFD Model can facilitate change and learning in educational settings are discussed

An internet survey of 2,596 people with fibromyalgia

BACKGROUND: This study explored the feasibility of using an Internet survey of people with fibromyalgia (FM), with a view to providing information on demographics, sources of information, symptoms, functionality, perceived aggravating factors, perceived triggering events, health care utilization, management strategies, and medication use. METHODS: A survey questionnaire was developed by the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) in conjunction with a task force of "experts in the field". The questionnaire underwent several rounds of testing to improve its face validity, content validity, clarity and readability before it was mounted on the internet. The questionnaire consisted of 121 items and is available online at the website of the National Fibromyalgia Association. RESULTS: The questionnaire was completed by 2,569 people. Most were from the United States, with at least one respondent from each of the 50 states. Respondents were predominantly middle-aged Caucasian females, most of whom had FM symptoms for ≥ 4 years. The most common problems were morning stiffness, fatigue, nonrestorative sleep, pain, concentration, and memory. Aggravating factors included: emotional distress, weather changes, insomnia, and strenuous activity. Respondents rated the most effective management modalities as rest, heat, pain medications, antidepressants, and hypnotics. The most commonly used medications were: acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, cyclobenzaprine, amitriptyline, and aspirin. The medications perceived to be the most effective were: hydrocodone preparations, aprazolam, oxycodone preparations, zolpidem, cyclobenzaprine, and clonazepam. CONCLUSION: This survey provides a snap-shot of FM at the end of 2005, as reported by a self-selected population of people. This descriptive data has a heuristic function, in that it identifies several issues for further research, such as the prescribing habits of FM health care providers, the role of emotional precipitants, the impact of obesity, the significance of low back pain and the nature of FM related stiffness

Geodatabase Development to Support Hyperspectral Imagery Exploitation

Geodatabase development for coastal studies conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is essential to support the exploitation of hyperspectral imagery (HSI). NRL has found that the remote sensing and mapping science community benefits from coastal classifications that group coastal types based on similar features. Selected features in project geodatabases relate to significant biological and physical forces that shape the coast. The project geodatabases help researchers understand factors that are necessary for imagery post processing, especially those features having a high degree of temporal and spatial variability. NRL project geodatabases include a hierarchy of environmental factors that extend from shallow water bottom types and beach composition to inland soil and vegetation characteristics. These geodatabases developed by NRL allow researchers to compare features among coast types. The project geodatabases may also be used to enhance littoral data archives that are sparse. This paper highlights geodatabase development for recent remote sensing experiments in barrier island, coral, and mangrove coast types

Understanding soft error sensitivity of deep learning models and frameworks through checkpoint alteration

The convergence of artificial intelligence, high-performance computing (HPC), and data science brings unique opportunities for marked advance discoveries and that leverage synergies across scientific domains. Recently, deep learning (DL) models have been successfully applied to a wide spectrum of fields, from social network analysis to climate modeling. Such advances greatly benefit from already available HPC infrastructure, mainly GPU-enabled supercomputers. However, those powerful computing systems are exposed to failures, particularly silent data corruption (SDC) in which bit-flips occur without the program crashing. Consequently, exploring the impact of SDCs in DL models is vital for maintaining progress in many scientific domains. This paper uses a distinctive methodology to inject faults into training phases of DL models. We use checkpoint file alteration to study the effect of having bit-flips in different places of a model and at different moments of the training. Our strategy is general enough to allow the analysis of any combination of DL model and framework—so long as they produce a Hierarchical Data Format 5 checkpoint file. The experimental results confirm that popular DL models are often able to absorb dozens of bit-flips with a minimal impact on accuracy convergencePeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Health care system collaboration to address chronic diseases: A nationwide snapshot from state public health practitioners

INTRODUCTION: Until recently, health care systems in the United States often lacked a unified approach to prevent and manage chronic disease. Recent efforts have been made to close this gap through various calls for increased collaboration between public health and health care systems to better coordinate provision of services and programs. Currently, the extent to which the public health workforce has responded is relatively unknown. The objective of this study is to explore health care system collaboration efforts and activities among a population-based sample of state public health practitioners. METHODS: During spring 2013, a national survey was administered to state-level chronic disease public health practitioners. Respondents were asked to indicate whether or not they collaborate with health care systems. Those who reported “yes” were asked to indicate all topic areas in which they collaborate and provide qualitative examples of their collaborative work. RESULTS: A total of 759 respondents (84%) reported collaboration. Common topics of collaboration activities were tobacco, cardiovascular health, and cancer screening. More client-oriented interventions than system-wide interventions were found in the qualitative examples provided. Respondents who collaborated were also more likely to use the Community Guide, use evidence-based decision making, and work in program areas that involved secondary, rather than primary, prevention. CONCLUSION: The study findings indicate a need for greater guidance on collaboration efforts that involve system-wide and cross-system interventions. Tools such as the Community Guide and evidence-based training courses may be useful in providing such guidance

SkyMapper Southern Survey: First Data Release (DR1)

We present the first data release (DR1) of the SkyMapper Southern Survey, a hemispheric survey carried out with the SkyMapper Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Here, we present the survey strategy, data processing, catalogue construction and database schema. The DR1 dataset includes over 66,000 images from the Shallow Survey component, covering an area of 17,200 deg$^2$ in all six SkyMapper passbands $uvgriz$, while the full area covered by any passband exceeds 20,000 deg$^2$. The catalogues contain over 285 million unique astrophysical objects, complete to roughly 18 mag in all bands. We compare our $griz$ point-source photometry with PanSTARRS1 DR1 and note an RMS scatter of 2%. The internal reproducibility of SkyMapper photometry is on the order of 1%. Astrometric precision is better than 0.2 arcsec based on comparison with Gaia DR1. We describe the end-user database, through which data are presented to the world community, and provide some illustrative science queries.Comment: 31 pages, 19 figures, 10 tables, PASA, accepte

Vertical effective stress as a control on quartz cementation in sandstones

Temperature-controlled precipitation kinetics has become the overwhelmingly dominant hypothesis for the control of quartz cementation in sandstones. Here, we integrate quantitative petrographic data, high spatial resolution oxygen isotope analyses of quartz cement, basin modelling and a kinetic model for quartz precipitation to suggest that the supply of silica from stress-sensitive intergranular pressure dissolution at grain contacts is in fact a key control on quartz cementation in sandstones. We present data from highly overpressured sandstones in which, despite the current burial temperature of 190 °C, quartz cement occurs in low amounts (4.6 ± 1.2% of bulk volume). In situ oxygen isotope data across quartz overgrowths suggest that cementation occurred over 100 Ma and a temperature range of 80–150 °C, during which time high fluid overpressures resulted in consistently low vertical effective stress. We argue that the very low amounts of quartz cement can only be explained by the low vertical effective stress which occurred throughout the burial history and which restricted silica supply as a result of a low rate of intergranular pressure dissolution at grain contacts

L-dwarf variability: I-band observations

We report on the results of an I-band photometric variability survey of eighteen L dwarfs. We find that seven exhibit statistically significant variations above the 95.4% confidence level with root-mean-square scatter (including photometric errors) between 0.010 and 0.083 mag. Another five targets have variability probabilities ~80%, suggesting that these are likely variable objects. Three of the variable objects display significant peaks in a CLEAN periodogram that are several times higher than the noise. The period for 2MASS 0345+25 is clearly not intrinsic to the object and can be dismissed. The periods found for 2MASS 0746+20AB and 2MASS 1300+19 are unique but longer than those periods likely from rotation velocity measurements and they do not represent periodic behavior in the light curve that persists through the entire data set. These observations suggest that we are not observing the rotation modulation of a long-lived albedo feature. Instead, rapid evolution of atmospheric features is likely causing the non-periodic variability. The remaining variable objects show no prominent features in their light curves, suggesting even more rapid evolution of atmospheric features. We argue against the existence of magnetic spots in these atmospheres and favor the idea that non-uniform condensate coverage is responsible for these variations. The magnetic Reynolds number in the atmosphere of L dwarfs is too small to support the formation of magnetic spots. In contrast, silicate and iron clouds are expected to form in the photospheres of L dwarfs. Inhomogeneities in such cloud decks and the evolution of the inhomogeneities can plausibly produce the observed photometric variations.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, minor corrections for typos and Figure 12, to appear in ApJ, v577, September 20, 200

Effects of wheat source and particle size in meal and pelleted diets on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and nutrient digestibility

Citation: De Jong, J. A., Derouchey, J. M., Tokach, M. D., Dritz, S. S., Goodband, R. D., Paulk, C. B., . . . Stark, C. R. (2016). Effects of wheat source and particle size in meal and pelleted diets on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and nutrient digestibility. Journal of Animal Science, 94(8), 3303-3311. doi:10.2527/jas2016-0370Two experiments were conducted to test the effects of wheat source and particle size in meal and pelleted diets on finishing pig performance, carcass characteristics, and diet digestibility. In Exp. 1, pigs (PIC 327 × 1050; n = 288; initially 43.8 kg BW) were balanced by initial BW and randomly allotted to 1 of 3 treatments with 8 pigs per pen (4 barrows and 4 gilts) and 12 pens per treatment. The 3 dietary treatments were hard red winter wheat ground with a hammer mill to 728, 579, or 326 ?m, respectively. From d 0 to 40, decreasing wheat particle size decreased (linear, P < 0.033) ADFI but improved (quadratic, P < 0.014) G:F. From d 40 to 83, decreasing wheat particle size increased (quadratic, P < 0.018) ADG and improved (linear, P < 0.002) G:F. Overall from d 0 to 83, reducing wheat particle size improved (linear, P < 0.002) G:F. In Exp. 2, pigs (PIC 327 × 1050; n = 576; initially 43.4 ± 0.02 kg BW) were used to determine the effects of wheat source and particle size of pelleted diets on finishing pig growth performance and carcass characteristics. Pigs were randomly allotted to pens, and pens of pigs were balanced by initial BW and randomly allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments with 12 replications per treatment and 8 pigs/pen. The experimental diets used the same wheat–soybean meal formulation, with the 6 treatments using hard red winter or soft white winter wheat that were processed to 245, 465, and 693 ?m and 258, 402, and 710 ?m, respectively. All diets were pelleted. Overall, feeding hard red winter wheat increased (P < 0.05) ADG and ADFI when compared with soft white winter wheat. There was a tendency (P < 0.10) for a quadratic particle size × wheat source interaction for ADG, ADFI, and both DM and GE digestibility, as they were decreased for pigs fed 465-?m hard red winter wheat and were greatest for pigs fed 402-?m soft white winter wheat. There were no main or interactive effects of particle size or wheat source on carcass characteristics. In summary, fine grinding hard red winter wheat fed in meal form improved G:F and nutrient digestibility, whereas reducing particle size of wheat from approximately 700 to 250 ?m in pelleted diets did not influence growth or carcass traits. Finally, feeding hard red winter wheat improved ADG and ADFI compared with feeding soft white winter wheat. © 2016 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved