Factors Contributing to Adult Obesity: A Midwestern Analysis

Objective: To investigate the association between adult obesity and several health-related factors: access to healthy food, exercise opportunities, and physical inactivity in Ohio compared to other Midwestern regional states (Illinois and Iowa) in 2022 Methods: Data was obtained from a County Health Rankings Model using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Data were then weighted to reflect population distribution and then used to measure various health behaviors and health-related quality of life (RQoL) indicators. Results: We found significantly higher rates of adult obesity in Ohio compared to Illinois and Iowa. It was also determined that adult obesity in Ohio was most impacted by physical inactivity. Conclusion: It has been demonstrated that Ohio is worse off than other Midwestern states in terms of adult obesity and the most beneficial place to start would be to focus on physical inactivity

Strategic Analysis of Petty Corruption: Entrepreneurs and Bureaucrats

This paper develops a game-theoretic model of petty corruption by government officials. Such corruption is widespread, especially (but not only) in developing and transition economies. The model goes beyond the previously published studies in the way it describes the structure of bureaucratic tracks, and the information among the participants. Entrepreneurs apply, in sequence, to a track of two or more bureaucrats in a prescribed order for approval of their projects. Our first result establishes that in a one-shot situation no project ever gets approved. This result leads us to consider a repeated interaction setting. In that context we characterize in more detail the trigger-strategy equilibria that minimize the social loss due to the system of bribes, and those that maximize the expected total bribe income of the bureaucrats. The results are used to shed some light on two much advocated anti-corruption policies: the single window policy and rotation of bureaucrats. Corruption is found to be one of the most damaging consequences of poor governance characterized by lack of both transparency and accountability. Corruption lowers investment and hinders economic growth and human development, by limiting access to basic social services as well as increasing the cost of their delivery. It also increases poverty, subverts the financial system, and undermines the legitimacy of the state. Thus, corruption is anti-poor, anti-development, anti-growth, anti-investment, and inequitable. The cost of corruption to a nation is very high

DAMPAK KEKERINGAN TERHADAP EKONOMI MASYARAKAT DESA PONGKOLONG KECAMATAN PACAR KABUPATEN MANGGARAI BARAT

Para masyarakat Desa Pongkolong yang umumnya bekerja dibidang tani mengalami krisis ekonomi akibat kerusakan tanaman yang menjadi alat mata pencaharian, jika kerusakan tanaman saja sudah terjadi maka para petani juga akan mengalami gagal panen. Melihat krisis ekonomi yang terjadi di Desa Pongkolong akibat kekeringan, penulis merasa tertarik untuk mengangkat persoalan ini guna untuk diteliti.tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah 1)mengetahui faktor terjadinya kekeringan di Desa Pongkolong 2)mengetahui dampak kekeringan terhadap ekonomi Masyarakat di Desa Pongkolong, 3) mengetahui upaya yang dilakukan masyarakat dan pemerintah di Desa Pongkolong untuk mengurangi dampak kekeringan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif dengan jenis penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Teknik penentuan informan menggunakan purposive sampling. Teknik pegumpulan data yang digunakan adalah teknik observasi,teknik wawancara dan dokumentasi. Sumber data yang digunakan adalah sumber data primer dan data sekunder. Serta analisis data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pengumpulan data,reduksi data,penyajian data dan penarikan kesimpulan.Hasil dari penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa dampak kekeringan terhadap ekonomi masyarakat sangat besar, yang mana masyarkat kesulitan keuangan dan kehilangan pekerjaan. Pemerintah dan masyarakat juga telah dan akan melakukan upaya penanggulangan untuk mengurangi dampak dan kekeringan di Desa Pongkolng. Kata kunci: Dampak kekeringan dan Ekonomi Masyaraka

Bond between microwave cured repair and concrete substrate

The bond strength between a concrete substrate and repair patch is critical to its durability. This paper investigates the effect of microwave curing the freshly applied repair, for 45 min at 132 Watts, on the 28 day bond strength between substrate concrete and different commercial repair materials. The repairs were applied at different ambient temperatures of 20, 10, 2 and −5 °C. Tensile split tests on repaired cube specimens were performed to determine the interfacial bond strength. The ability of microwave curing to prevent the detrimental effects of freezing at early age on the bond and compressive strength of repair patches is investigated. Experimental results show that microwave curing prevents loss of long term (28 day) repair/substrate bond strength of repair materials applied at freezing temperatures (−5 °C), relative to the repairs applied at higher temperatures (2–20 °C), except one lightweight repair formulation. In comparison, the control samples (non-microwave cured) of repairs applied at −5 °C suffered severe loss of bond strength and compressive strength due to early age freezing. In addition, no adverse effects on the bond strength and a small reduction of 6.75% in the 28 day compressive strength are observed in the early age microwave cured repairs applied at ambient temperatures of 2–20 °C. The repair/substrate bond strength is independent of the compressive strength of the repair material at all temperatures of repair application. Microwave curing can accelerate the concrete repair process and facilitate construction activity in cold weather

The Influence of Incorporating Plastic within Concrete and the Potential Use of Microwave Curing; A Review

In recent decades, researchers have used plastic to replace natural aggregates (NAs), or as filler and fibre within the concrete. This particular paper puts forward a review that gives comprehensive consideration to the properties and drawbacks, of concrete that contains plastic. As such, it may be hypothesised that poor bond capacity and higher air content due to inclusion of plastic aggregate (PA) within concrete are the predominant factors that reduce the properties in terms of mechanics and durability. In that regard, this study has put forward a new method of curing using microwave irradiation for improvement with respect to those factors. So, that there can be further improvement with regard to overall durability with respect to advanced chemical and hydrophobic resistivity and enhanced performance for conventional concrete with respect to bonding and ductility

Accelerated microwave curing of fibre-reinforced thermoset polymer composites for structural applications: A review of scientific challenges

Accelerated curing of high performance fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites via microwave heating or radiation, which can significantly reduce cure time and increase energy efficiency, has several major challenges (e.g. uneven depth of radiation penetration, reinforcing fibre shielding, uneven curing, introduction of hot spots etc). This article reviews the current scientific challenges with microwave curing of FRP composites considering the underlying physics of microwave radiation absorption in thermoset-matrix composites. The fundamental principles behind efficient accelerated curing of composites using microwave radiation heating are reviewed and presented, especially focusing on the relation between penetration depth, microwave frequency, dielectric properties and cure degree. Based on this review, major factors influencing microwave curing of thermoset-matrix composites are identified, and recommendations for efficient cure cycle design are provided

The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition

The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the decomposition of deadwood and carbon release remains poorly understood. Here we present a field experiment of wood decomposition across 55 forest sites and 6 continents. We find that the deadwood decomposition rates increase with temperature, and the strongest temperature effect is found at high precipitation levels. Precipitation affects the decomposition rates negatively at low temperatures and positively at high temperatures. As a net effect—including the direct consumption by insects and indirect effects through interactions with microorganisms—insects accelerate the decomposition in tropical forests (3.9% median mass loss per year). In temperate and boreal forests, we find weak positive and negative effects with a median mass loss of 0.9 per cent and −0.1 per cent per year, respectively. Furthermore, we apply the experimentally derived decomposition function to a global map of deadwood carbon synthesized from empirical and remote-sensing data, obtaining an estimate of 10.9 ± 3.2 petagram of carbon per year released from deadwood globally, with 93 per cent originating from tropical forests. Globally, the net effect of insects may account for 29 per cent of the carbon flux from deadwood, which suggests a functional importance of insects in the decomposition of deadwood and the carbon cycle