Implementation Research to Catalyze Advances in Health Systems Strengthening in sub-Saharan Africa: the African Health Initiative (Preface)

The importance of strengthening health systems has gained increased attention in recent years, and there have been renewed calls for a focus on health systems as part and parcel of meeting the health related Millennium Development Goals. Despite the growing focus on health systems, the largest global health initiatives -- suchas PEPFAR, PMI, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and GAVI -- continue to have a disease specific focus. The divergence in opinion on what constitutes health systems strengthening and the scarcity of rigorous evaluations of various approaches undermine efforts to focus on health systems as a means of improving population health. In response to this challenge, the Doris DukeCharitable Foundation (DDCF) launched the African Health Initiative (AHI) to catalyze significant advances instrengthening health systems by supporting Population Health and Implementation Training (PHIT) Partnerships in five diverse sub-Saharan African contexts. Each Partnership is implementing and evaluating an innovative project designed to address key health systems constraints and improve service delivery and health outcomes. This article is a preface to a series of reports

Pleistocene geology of the Grand Forks-Bemidji area, northwestern Minnesota

This is a report of a reconnaissance study of the Quaternary geology of an area in northwestern Minnesota. Surface geology was studied in an area extending from Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the northwest to Bemidji, Minnesota, in the southeast, an area of 10 723 square kilometres (4140 square miles). Near-surface stratigraphy was studied in the area of surface study and an adjacent area of equal size to the south. Surface materials mapped range in age from Pleistocene to Holocene and include glacial, glaciofluvial, lacustrine, bog, eolian, and alluvial sediments. Sixteen power-auger test holes, two measured sections along the Red Lake River, two composite sections from earlier drilling pro grams and surface exposures were used to characterize seven near surface lithostratigraphic units in the area. From oldest to youngest they are unnamed unit 1, unnamed unit 2, the Marcoux Formation, and the St. Hilaire Formation. These units are largely glacial sediment and pre-Wisconsinan or Early Wisconsinan in age. The Red Lake Falls Formation and the Huot Formation are largely glacial sediment and Wisconsinan and latest Wisconsinan in age. The Sherack Formation is largely lacustrine sediment and is latest Wisconsinan and Holocene in age. The lithostratigraphic units present are differ entiated by means of their texture and coarse-sand lithology. During the Pleistocene an unknown number of glaciations occurred before the deposition of the glacial sediments of the oldest litho stratigraphic unit observed, unnamed unit 1. Three pre-Wisconsinan or Early Wisconsinan glaciers deposited the glacial sediments of unnamed unit 1, unnamed unit 2, and the Marcoux Formation over the entire area. Wisconsinan glaciers advanced into the area, flowed around the Itasca Highland, and retreated twice, depositing the glacial sediment of the St. Hilaire and Red Lake Falls Formations. The late Wisconsinan and Holocene lake sediments of the Argusville, Wylie, and Sherack Forma tions were deposited in Lake Agassiz during the retreat of the glacier that deposited the Red Lake Falls Formation and the advance and retreat of the glacier that deposited the Huot Formation. Lake Agassiz drained at about 9500 BP

Teacher Strategies for Developing Historical Empathy

Research indicates that the application of historical empathy, defined as using historical evidence to reconstruct past perspectives, engenders critical thinking in students. There is lack of research on the level of comprehension and use of historical empathy as an instructional strategy by high school history instructors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore teachers\u27 comprehension and application of historical empathy in 2 high schools. This study was grounded in Edmund Husserl\u27s concept of intersubjectivity, which suggests that apperception facilitates the grasp of multiple perspectives. Research questions addressed history teacher comprehension and employment of historical empathy as a tool to improve students\u27 understanding of multiple historical perspectives. All 7 local history teachers participated in this case study. Data collection included classroom observations that were followed by semi-structured teacher interviews to discuss what was observed. Six themes resulted from open, axial, and selective coding of field notes and interview transcriptions. These themes indicated that participants were unfamiliar with historical empathy, emphasized the necessity of emotion in learning, perceived the need to help students understand historical actors, stressed the need for artifacts and site visits to generate context, and used analogies to develop perspectives. These themes informed the project of a position paper recommending professional development for teachers in historical empathy. Increasing awareness of and developing empathetic instructional strategies within the classroom can foster positive social change by engendering apperceptive skills among local history students and has broader potential to increase the efficacy of museum education and heritage programs

Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Red Lake Falls area, Minnesota

Seven formations are present along a 50-mile stretch of the Red Lake River in Pennington, Red Lake, and Polk Counties, Minnesota. Five formations are largely glacial, sediment, and two are largely lacustr1ne sediment deposited during phases of Lake Agassiz. The Gervais Formation (pre-Wisconsinan or early Wisconsinan) is mostly fluvial or lacustrine sediment modified by glacial ice of unknown source. The Marcoux Formation (pre Wisconsinan or Wisconsinan) is largely sediment deposited by glacial ice that advanced from the northeast over the Canadian Shield. The St. Hilaire. Formation (Wisconsinan) is mainly sediment deposited by glacial ice that advanced from a western or northwestern source. The Red Lake Falls Formation (late Wisconsinan) is mostly sediment deposited by glacial ice advancing from the north or northwest. The Wylie Formation (late Wisconsinan) is lacustrine sediment deposited during an early phase of Lake Agassiz. The Huot Formation (late W1scons1nan) is largely sediment deposited by glacial ice advancing from the north, down the axis of the Red River Valley. The Sheraok Format1on (Holocene) 1s lacustrine sediment deposited during the last phase of Lake Agassiz. These formations are correlated with glacial sediment present in northwestern North Dakota, the subsurface of the Red River Valley, western Minnesota, and southwestern Minnesota

Explorations in the dynamics of crystalline solids and the evolution of crystal formation processes

This article describes a few selected areas of research within the field of structural chemistry, with emphasis on aspects that have been influenced and inspired by the seminal work of Jack Dunitz. The topics covered include the study of dynamic properties of crystalline materials, focusing on the use of solid-state 2H NMR spectroscopy to unravel details of dynamic hydrogen-bonding arrangements in crystalline alcohols and amino acids, as well as the use of in situ Raman microspectrometry to explore molecular transport processes through porous crystals. A case study involving the determination of both structural properties and dynamic properties of a material (ammonium cyanate) that is not amenable to structural characterization by single-crystal X-ray diffraction is also presented. On the theme of exploring the time evolution of crystallization pathways, the recent development and application of in situ solid-state NMR techniques for mapping time-dependent changes that occur in the solid phase during crystallization processes are discussed. Finally, the article contemplates the prospects for deriving a fundamental physicochemical understanding of crystal nucleation processes, which is identified as perhaps the most significant challenge in structural chemistry in the next few decades

New in situ solid-state NMR strategies for exploring materials formation and adsorption processes: prospects in heterogenous catalysis

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is a powerful technique for studying structural and dynamic properties of solids and has considerable potential to be exploited for in situ studies of chemical processes. However, adapting solid-state NMR techniques and instrumentation for in situ applications are often associated with technical challenges, and for this reason, the opportunities remain underexploited. This paper highlights two experimental strategies that we have developed in recent years for in situ solid-state NMR investigations of solid-state processes. One technique is focused on probing details of the time evolution of materials formation processes, and the other technique is focused on understanding the time evolution of adsorption processes in microporous and mesoporous solid host materials. Each of these in situ solid-state NMR techniques has significant prospects for applications in areas relating to heterogeneous catalysis