A practitioner's guide to nudging

Supporting documentatio

Associations of PON1 and genetic ancestry with obesity in early childhood.

Obesity in children has become an epidemic in the U.S. and is particularly prominent in minority populations such as Mexican-Americans. In addition to physical activity and diet, genetics also plays a role in obesity etiology. A few studies in adults and adolescents suggest a link between obesity and paraoxonase 1 (PON1), a multifunctional enzyme that can metabolize organophosphate pesticides and also has antioxidant properties. We determined PON1192 genotype and arylesterase levels (ARYase, measure of PON1 enzyme quantity), to characterize the relationship between PON1 and obesity in young Mexican-American children (n = 373) living in an agricultural community in California. Since PON1 polymorphisms and obesity both vary between ethnic groups, we estimated proportional genetic ancestry using 106 ancestral informative markers (AIMs). Among children, PON1192 allele frequencies were 0.5 for both alleles, and the prevalence of obesity was high (15% and 33% at ages two and five, respectively). The average proportion of European, African, and Native American ancestry was 0.40, 0.09, and 0.51, yet there was wide inter-individual variation. We found a significantly higher odds of obesity (9.3 and 2.5- fold) in PON1192QQ children compared to PON1192RR children at ages two and five, respectively. Similar relationships were seen with BMI Z-scores at age two and waist circumference at age five. After adjusting for genetic ancestry in models of PON1 and BMI Z-score, effect estimates for PON1192 genotype changed 15% and 9% among two and five year old children, respectively, providing evidence of genetic confounding by population stratification. However even after adjustment for genetic ancestry, the trend of increased BMI Z-scores with increased number of PON1192 Q alleles remained. Our findings suggest that PON1 may play a role in obesity independent of genetic ancestry and that studies of PON1 and health outcomes, especially in admixed populations, should account for differences due to population stratification

Waste-Lithium-Liquid (WLL) Flow Battery for Stationary Energy Storage Applications

poster abstractWith using a multi-layer electrolyte that consists of one liquid electrolyte and one solid electrolyte, the choices for cathode will be dramatically widened to include solid, liquid, and gas phases. Applying this concept, gas and liquid phases have been used as cathodes to create different battery systems such as the Li-air, Li-sea water, and Li-aqueous liquid batteries. Based on these reports, we hypothesized that, by charging the cell, Li metal could be electrochemically collected from any material containing Li-ions. This idea extended to harvesting Li metal from waste Li-ion batteries, in both solid and liquid phases, that contain Li-ion sources such as the LixC6 anode, LixFePO4 cathode, and LiPF6 in the EC:DEC electrolyte. The harvested Li metal could then be an energy source for Li-Liquid flow batteries by using water as the cathode. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using waste Li-ion batteries and water for the electrodes in a Waste-Lithium-Liquid (WLL) flow battery that can be used in a stationary energy storage application. Li metal was collected electrochemically from a waste Li-ion battery containing Li-ion source materials from the battery’s anode, cathode, and electrolyte, thereby recycling the Li contained in the waste battery. The harvested Li metal in the battery system was discharged to produce the electricity by using water as the cathode. The discharge voltage of the water showed 2.7 V at 0.1 mA/cm2 versus Li metal harvested from waste Li-ion batteries, compared to 2.8 V versus fresh Li metal at the same current rate. Since the energy source for this proposed battery system is provided by waste Li-ion batteries and water, the cost of the battery dramatically decreases, which is an attractive strategy for a large size energy storage applicatio

Deportation Worry, Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Trajectories, and Incident Hypertension: A Community-Based Cohort Study.

Background Worry about deportation has been associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors in cross-sectional research. No research has evaluated this association longitudinally or examined the association between deportation worry and incident cardiovascular disease outcomes. Methods and Results We used data from an ongoing community-based cohort of 572 women primarily of Mexican origin. We estimated associations between self-reported deportation worry and: (1) trajectories of blood pressure, body mass index, and waist circumference with linear mixed models, and (2) incident hypertension with Cox proportional hazards models. Nearly half (48%) of women reported "a lot," 24% reported "moderate," and 28% reported "not too much" deportation worry. Higher worry at baseline was associated with nonlinear systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure trajectories. For example, compared with not too much worry, a lot of worry was associated with a faster initial increase (β, interaction with linear year term: 4.10; 95% CI, 1.17-7.03) followed by a faster decrease in systolic blood pressure (β, interaction with quadratic year term: -0.80; 95% CI, -1.55 to -0.06). There was weak evidence of an association between deportation worry and diastolic blood pressure and no association with body mass index, waist circumference, or pulse pressure trajectories. Among 408 women without baseline hypertension, reporting a lot (hazard ratio, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.15-4.10) and moderate deportation worry (hazard ratio, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.17-4.30) were each associated with greater risk of incident hypertension compared with reporting not too much worry. Conclusions Deportation worry may contribute to widening disparities in some cardiovascular disease risk factors and outcomes over time

Beyond English language proficiency scores: understanding the academic performance of international undergraduate students during the first year of study

Past research into the relationship between English proficiency test (EPT) scores and score profiles, such as the IELTS and the TOEFL, has shown that there is not always a clear relationship between those scores and students’ subsequent academic achievement. Information about students’ academic self-concept (ASC) may provide additional information that helps predict future academic success. Research has consistently shown a positive relationship between students’ ASC and subsequent academic achievement and educational attainment in both school and higher education settings. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the academic performance of international students and their language proficiency and academic self-concept as well as other characteristics related to academic success. The study focused on first year international students in undergraduate business programs at an English-medium university in Canada. The following information was collected about the student participants: grades in degree program courses, annual GPA, and EPT scores (including subscores). In addition, students completed an academic self-concept scale. To obtain additional information about success in first-year business courses, instructors in two required courses were interviewed about the academic and language requirements in their courses and the profile of successful students. Correlations between the students’ course grades, GPA, EPT scores, and ASC score were calculated. The instructor interviews were analyzed using a content analysis procedure. The findings from all data sources were triangulated and show that language ability, ASC, and other factors impact academic success during the first year in a business program. The implications of these findings are discussed

Evaluating the effectiveness of machine translation of audio description : the results of two pilot studies in the English-Dutch language pair

The field of translation is undergoing various profound changes. On the one hand it is being thoroughly reshaped by the advent and constant improvement of new technologies. On the other hand, new forms of translation are starting to see the light of day in the wake of social and legal developments that require that products and content that are created, are accessible for everybody. One of these new forms of translation, is audio description (AD), a service that is aimed at making audiovisual content accessible to people with sight loss. New legislation requires that this content is accessible by 2025, which constitutes a tremendous task given the limited number of people that are at present trained as audio describers. A possible solution would be to use machine translation to translate existing audio descriptions into different languages. Since AD is characterized by short sentences and simple, concrete language, it could be a good candidate for machine translation. In the present study, we want to test this hypothesis for the English-Dutch language pair. Three 30 minute AD excerpts of different Dutch movies that were originally audio described in English, were translated into Dutch using DeepL. The translations were analysed using the harmonized DQF-MQM error typology and taking into account the specific multimodal nature of the source text and the intersemiotic dimension of the original audio description process. The analysis showed that the MT output had a relatively high error rate, particularly in the categories of Accuracy - mistranslation and Fluency - grammar. This seems to indicate that extensive post-editing will be needed, before the text can be used in a professional context.El camp de la traducció està experimentant canvis profunds. D'una banda, està patint una autèntica transformació gràcies a l'arribada i la millora constant de les noves tecnologies. De l'altra, noves formes de traducció comencen a veure la llum arran de l'evolució social i legal que exigeix que els productes i continguts que es creen siguin accessibles per a tothom. Una d'aquestes noves formes de traducció és l'audiodescripció (AD), un servei que té com a objectiu fer accessibles els continguts audiovisuals a les persones amb pèrdua de visió. La nova legislació exigeix que aquests continguts siguin accessibles abans del 2025, la qual cosa constitueix una tasca immensa atès el nombre limitat de persones que actualment tenen formació com a audiodescriptors. Una possible solució seria utilitzar la traducció automàtica per traduir les audiodescripcions ja existents a diferents idiomes. L'AD, caracteritzada per frases curtes i un llenguatge senzill i concret, podria ser una bona candidata per a la traducció automàtica. En aquest estudi pretenem demostrar la hipòtesi per a la combinació lingüística anglès-holandès. Concretament, fragments de 30 minuts d'AD de tres pel·lícules holandeses que es van audiodescriure originalment en anglès, han estat traduïts a l'holandès per mitjà de l'eina DeepL. Les traduccions s'han analitzat utilitzant la tipologia d'error harmonitzada DQF-MQM i tenint en compte la naturalesa multimodal específica del text font i la dimensió intersemiòtica del procés d'audiodescripció original. L'anàlisi ha mostrat que la producció de TA té una taxa d'error relativament alta, especialment en les categories de precisió -errors de traducció- i fluïdesa gramatical. Això sembla indicar que caldrà una extensa postedició, abans que el text es pugui utilitzar en un context professional.El campo de la traducción está experimentando diversos cambios profundos. Por un lado, la llegada de nuevas tecnologías en constante desarrollo la está reconfigurando completamente. Por otro, están empezando a surgir nuevas formas de traducción como resultado de avances sociales y legales que establecen que los productos y contenidos que se crean han de ser accesibles para todo el mundo. Una de estas nuevas formas de traducción es la audiodescripción (AD), un servicio orientado a hacer accesible para las personas con pérdida de visión los contenidos audiovisuales. La nueva legislación establece que estos deberán ser accesibles para 2025, lo que representa una tarea desmesurada, dado el limitado número de personas actualmente cualificadas en AD. Una posible solución pasaría por utilizar la traducción automática para traducir las audiodescripciones existentes a diferentes idiomas. Teniendo en cuenta que la AD se caracteriza por el uso de frases cortas y un lenguaje sencillo y concreto, sería una buena candidata para la traducción automática. El presente estudio ha puesto a prueba esta hipótesis con la combinación lingüística inglés-holandés. Para ello, se utilizó DeepL para traducir al holandés tres fragmentos de 30 minutos de AD extraidos de varias películas holandesas que habían sido audiodescritas en inglés. Para analizar las traducciones se utilizó la tipología de error DQF-MQM armonizada y se tuvo en cuenta la naturaleza multimodal específica del texto de origen y la dimensión intersemiótica del proceso original de audiodescripción. El análisis mostró que el resultado de la TA presentaba una tasa de error relativamente elevada, especialmente en las categorías de Exactitud/Error de traducción y Fluidez/Gramática. Esto parece indicar que, antes de que el texto pueda ser utilizado en un contexto profesional, será necesario un proceso de posedición exhaustive

Alternative Interventions for Children Coping with Chronic Conditions: A Critical Review of the Literature

Reduction of stressors and anxiety levels in adolescents with chronic illnesses is a critical concept in pediatric health care in America today. The many stressors associated with chronic illness include displaying physical and mental differences, social stigma, financial difficulty, and family stress. These stressors may affect the adolescent’s ability to learn and cope in everyday life. The current research was a critical review of the literature examining studies done with adolescents coping with chronic diseases and illnesses. The aim was to analyze the most efficacious non-pharmacological methods for reducing stressors in adolescents with chronic illness. A critical review of the literature of 10 studies was conducted after searching scholarly databases for articles studying physical interventions and their effects on the symptomology of chronic illnesses in youth. We found that physical activity programs are reported to have positive effects on the symptomology, stressors, and overall wellbeing of many children with illnesses, but concluded that more research needs to be conducted in this area before implementing trials of specific exercise interventions due to the high-risk nature of the youth population

Maternal urinary bisphenol a during pregnancy and maternal and neonatal thyroid function in the CHAMACOS study.

BackgroundBisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic bottles, food and beverage can linings, thermal receipts, and dental sealants. Animal and human studies suggest that BPA may disrupt thyroid function. Although thyroid hormones play a determinant role in human growth and brain development, no studies have investigated relations between BPA exposure and thyroid function in pregnant women or neonates.ObjectiveOur goal was to evaluate whether exposure to BPA during pregnancy is related to thyroid hormone levels in pregnant women and neonates.MethodsWe measured BPA concentration in urine samples collected during the first and second half of pregnancy in 476 women participating in the CHAMACOS (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas) study. We also measured free thyroxine (T4), total T4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in women during pregnancy, and TSH in neonates.ResultsAssociations between the average of the two BPA measurements and maternal thyroid hormone levels were not statistically significant. Of the two BPA measurements, only the one taken closest in time to the TH measurement was significantly associated with a reduction in total T4 (β = -0.13 µg/dL per log2 unit; 95% CI: -0.25, 0.00). The average of the maternal BPA concentrations was associated with reduced TSH in boys (-9.9% per log2 unit; 95% CI: -15.9%, -3.5%) but not in girls. Among boys, the relation was stronger when BPA was measured in the third trimester of pregnancy and decreased with time between BPA and TH measurements.ConclusionResults suggest that exposure to BPA during pregnancy is related to reduced total T4 in pregnant women and decreased TSH in male neonates. Findings may have implications for fetal and neonatal development