A Qualitative Metasynthesis of Published Research Exploring the Pregnancy and Resettlement Experience Among Refugee Women

The number of refugees and asylum seekers throughout the world continues to increase, leading to increasing challenges in meeting healthcare needs of these individuals. Women’s antenatal health is of particular concern due to their vulnerability to sexual violence and the substantial proportion of refugees consisting of women and girls of or nearing reproductive age. The purpose of this qualitative metasynthesis was to integrate and interpret findings from previously published research reports in which authors explored aspects of pregnancy among resettled refugee women. Following a systematic search process, we used Dedoose qualitative data analysis software to manage the process of extracting and condensing data from primary sources. We developed themes including: comparing pregnancy care in resettlement with care at home; navigating unfamiliar language and cultural practices; making meaning through pregnancy and associated healthcare experiences. Our analysis revealed authors used thematic analysis regardless of research design, limiting the range of reported findings. Prior research focused on identifying challenges to pregnancy in resettlement; our findings expand this by considering how women navigate and make meaning from challenges. Service providers might encourage mentally healthy resettlement by guiding refugees to consider differences in an open-minded rather than judgmental attitude that respects old and new cultures

Revised (Mixed-Effects) Estimation for Forest Burning Emissions of Gases and Smoke, Fire/Emission Factor Typology, and Potential Remote Sensing Classification of Types for Ozone and Black-Carbon Simulation

We summarize recent progress (a) in correcting biomass burning emissions factors deduced from airborne sampling of forest fire plumes, (b) in understanding the variability in reactivity of the fresh plumes sampled in ARCTAS (2008), DC3 (2012), and SEAC4RS (2013) airborne missions, and (c) in a consequent search for remotely sensed quantities that help classify forest-fire plumes. Particle properties, chemical speciation, and smoke radiative properties are related and mutually informative, as pictures below suggest (slopes of lines of same color are similar). (a) Mixed-effects (random-effects) statistical modeling provides estimates of both emission factors and a reasonable description of carbon-burned simultaneously. Different fire plumes will have very different contributions to volatile organic carbon reactivity; this may help explain differences of free NOx(both gas- and particle-phase), and also of ozone production, that have been noted for forest-fire plumes in California. Our evaluations check or correct emission factors based on sequential measurements (e.g., the Normalized Ratio Enhancement and similar methods). We stress the dangers of methods relying on emission-ratios to CO. (b) This work confirms and extends many reports of great situational variability in emissions factors. VOCs vary in OH reactivity and NOx-binding. Reasons for variability are not only fuel composition, fuel condition, etc., but are confused somewhat by rapid transformation and mixing of emissions. We use "unmixing" (distinct from mixed-effects) statistics and compare briefly to approaches like neural nets. We focus on one particularly intense fire the notorious Yosemite Rim Fire of 2013. In some samples, NOx activity was not so suppressed by binding into nitrates as in other fires. While our fire-typing is evolving and subject to debate, the carbon-burned delta(CO2+CO) estimates that arise from mixed effects models, free of confusion by background-CO2 variation, should provide a solid base for discussion. (c) We report progress using promising links we find between emissions-related "fire types" and promising features deducible from remote observations of plumes, e.g., single scatter albedo, Angstrom exponent of scattering, Angstrom exponent of absorption, (CO column density)/(aerosol optical depth)

Efficient On-the-fly Category Retrieval using ConvNets and GPUs

We investigate the gains in precision and speed, that can be obtained by using Convolutional Networks (ConvNets) for on-the-fly retrieval - where classifiers are learnt at run time for a textual query from downloaded images, and used to rank large image or video datasets. We make three contributions: (i) we present an evaluation of state-of-the-art image representations for object category retrieval over standard benchmark datasets containing 1M+ images; (ii) we show that ConvNets can be used to obtain features which are incredibly performant, and yet much lower dimensional than previous state-of-the-art image representations, and that their dimensionality can be reduced further without loss in performance by compression using product quantization or binarization. Consequently, features with the state-of-the-art performance on large-scale datasets of millions of images can fit in the memory of even a commodity GPU card; (iii) we show that an SVM classifier can be learnt within a ConvNet framework on a GPU in parallel with downloading the new training images, allowing for a continuous refinement of the model as more images become available, and simultaneous training and ranking. The outcome is an on-the-fly system that significantly outperforms its predecessors in terms of: precision of retrieval, memory requirements, and speed, facilitating accurate on-the-fly learning and ranking in under a second on a single GPU.Comment: Published in proceedings of ACCV 201

Mobilizing Communities to Sustainably Produce Face Masks: Public Health Practice in the Time of COVID-19

Background: Face mask shortages in health care and use recommendations and requirements in a variety of com-munity and professional contexts associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States created initial and ongoing demand for face masks. In March 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided guidelines for use of cotton masks for individuals in health care settings and in public. Community volun-teers provide a potential workforce to rapidly and flexibly address critical needs in emergent circumstances. Methods: People Protecting Each-other Sustainably (PPEs) was developed to recruit and manage over 100 Northeast Ohio volunteers. People Protecting Each-other Sustainably used the social media platform Facebook to facilitate material donations, volunteer recruitment and training, and to function as an ongoing central communications hub. Leaders used an assembly line process with zero contact pick up and drop off at multiple stages of production to allow safe assembly and distribution of face masks. Results: A total of 7 695 handmade face masks were created to distribute to local frontline responders in 10 weeks. Use of upsourced and donated materials allowed this project to reduce potential landfill waste and made a zero cost project possible. Volunteers had positive responses to the project and reported benefits from their participation. Conclusion: This model has been successfully recreated by a smaller group in Geauga County, Ohio, with similarly successful results. Clearly this model of community mobilization has the potential to be replicated in other state of emer-gency crises and emergency response situations to produce lifesaving or necessary equipment when industry standard equipment is not readily available

Nitric acid scavenging by mineral and biomass burning aerosols

The abundance of gas phase nitric acid in the upper troposphere is overestimated by global chemistry-transport models, especially during the spring and summer seasons. Recent aircraft data obtained over the central US show that mineral aerosols were abundant in the upper troposphere during spring. Chemical reactions on mineral dust may provide an important sink for nitric acid. In regions where the mineral dust abundance is low in the upper troposphere similar HNO3 removal processes may occur on biomass burning aerosols. We propose that mineral and biomass burning aerosols may provide an important global sink for gas phase nitric acid, particularly during spring and summer when aerosol composition in the upper troposphere may be greatly affected by dust storms from east Asia or tropical biomass burning plumes

Linear Versus Nonlinear Methods for Detecting Magnetospheric and Ionospheric Current Systems Patterns

Abstract There is a growing interest in the development of models and methods of analysis aimed to recognize in the geomagnetic field signals the different contributions coming from the various sources both internal and external to the Earth. Many models describing the geomagnetic field of internal and external origin have been developed. Here, we investigate the possibility to recognize in the magnetic field of external origin the different contributions coming from external sources. We consider the measurements of the vertical component of the geomagnetic field recorded by the European Space Agency (ESA) Swarm A and B satellites at low and mid latitudes during a geomagnetically quiet period. We apply two different methods of analysis: a linear method, that is, the empirical orthogonal function (EOF), and a nonlinear one, that is, the multivariate empirical mode decomposition (MEMD). Due to the high nonlinear behavior of the different external contributions to the magnetic signal the MEMD seems to recognize better than EOF the main intrinsic modes capable of describing the different magnetic spatial structures embedded in the analyzed signal. By applying the MEMD only five modes and a residue are necessary to recognize the different contributions coming from the external sources in the magnetic signal against the 26 modes that are necessary in the case of the EOF. This study is an example of the potential of the MEMD to give new insights into the analysis of the geomagnetic field of external origin and to separate the ionospheric signal from the magnetospheric one in a simple and rapid way

Long-Term Stability of an Area-Reversible Atom-Interferometer Sagnac Gyroscope

We report on a study of the long-term stability and absolute accuracy of an atom interferometer gyroscope. This study included the implementation of an electro-optical technique to reverse the vector area of the interferometer for reduced systematics and a careful study of systematic phase shifts. Our data strongly suggests that drifts less than 96 $\mu$deg/hr are possible after empirically removing shifts due to measured changes in temperature, laser intensity, and several other experimental parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Modeling the effect of plume-rise on the transport of carbon monoxide over Africa and its exports with NCAR CAM

International audienceWe investigated the effects of fire-induced plume-rise on the predicted export of carbon monoxide (CO) over Africa during SAFARI 2000 using the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) with a CO tracer and plume-rise parameterization scheme. The plume-rise parameterization scheme simulates the consequences of strong buoyancy of hot gases emitted from biomass burning, including both dry and cloud-associated (pyrocumulus) lofting. The scheme was first adapted from a regional model. The current implementation of the plume-rise parameterization scheme into the global model provides an opportunity to examine the effect of plume-rise on long-range transport. The CAM simulation with the plume-rise parameterization scheme shows a substantial improvement of the agreements between the modeled and aircraft-measured vertical distribution of CO over southern Africa biomass burning area. The plume-rise mechanism plays a crucial role in lofting biomass burning pollutants to the middle troposphere. In the presence of deep convection we found that the plume-rise mechanism results in a decrease of CO concentration in the upper troposphere. The plume rise depletes the boundary layer, and thus leaves lower concentrations of CO to be lofted by the deep convection process. The effect of the plume-rise on free troposphere CO concentration is more important for the source area (short-distance transport) than for remote areas (long-distance transport). The plume-rise scheme also increases the CO export fluxes from Africa to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. These results further confirm and extend previous findings in a regional model study. Effective lofting of large concentration of CO by the plume-rise mechanism also has implication for local air quality forecast in areas affected by other fire-related pollutants

Patterns of differential introgression in a salamander hybrid zone: inferences from genetic data and ecological niche modelling

Hybrid zones have yielded considerable insight into many evolutionary processes, including speciation and the maintenance of species boundaries. Presented here are analyses from a hybrid zone that occurs among three salamanders – Plethodon jordani , Plethodon metcalfi and Plethodon teyahalee – from the southern Appalachian Mountains. Using a novel statistical approach for analysis of non-clinal, multispecies hybrid zones, we examined spatial patterns of variation at four markers: single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the mtDNA ND2 gene and the nuclear DNA ILF3 gene, and the morphological markers of red cheek pigmentation and white flecks. Concordance of the ILF3 marker and both morphological markers across four transects is observed. In three of the four transects, however, the pattern of mtDNA is discordant from all other markers, with a higher representation of P. metcalfi mtDNA in the northern and lower elevation localities than is expected given the ILF3 marker and morphology. To explore whether climate plays a role in the position of the hybrid zone, we created ecological niche models for P. jordani and P. metcalfi . Modelling results suggest that hybrid zone position is not determined by steep gradients in climatic suitability for either species. Instead, the hybrid zone lies in a climatically homogenous region that is broadly suitable for both P. jordani and P. metcalfi . We discuss various selective (natural selection associated with climate) and behavioural processes (sex-biased dispersal, asymmetric reproductive isolation) that might explain the discordance in the extent to which mtDNA and nuclear DNA and colour-pattern traits have moved across this hybrid zone.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79135/1/j.1365-294X.2010.04796.x.pd

Lewy bodies and neuronal loss in subcortical areas and disability in non-demented older people: a population based neuropathological cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Functional disability, the loss of ability to carry out daily tasks unaided, is a major adverse outcome more common with increasing age. The potential contribution of neuropathological changes in subcortical areas of the brain associated with normal ageing may be a contributing factor to this loss of function. This study investigates the clinicopathological relationship between functional ability during life and pathological correlates identified at post mortem in an UK population of older people (66-102 years).The aim is to examine the clinicopathological correlates of functional disability in subcortical neuronal populations of non-demented elderly individuals. METHODS: 156 non-demented participants in the brain donation programme of the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC-CFAS) were included in this study. Neuropathological examination was based on the CERAD protocol; pathologies of interest were amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, Lewy bodies, vascular disease and neuronal loss. Self-reported functional ability was scored according to a combined activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living scale. RESULTS: Functional disability was equally common in men and women over 65 years, and in both sexes disability was more common at older ages. Neuronal loss in several subcortical regions elevated the risk of functional disability by three-fold (95% CI 1.3-6.6). There was evidence for a relationship between Lewy bodies in the SN and functional disability. CONCLUSION: Neuronal loss in subcortical regions is associated with functional disability in the older population. The causal relationships are not defined and require further investigation