Seasonal Changes in Biomass of Two ComFreshwater Wetland plants: storage of nutrients

In this study, I quantified differences in above- and belowground biomass and storage of nutrients. I hypothesized that storage of phosphorous would be greater in belowground biomass in the non-growing season compared to the growing. I also hypothesized that the storage of phosphorous would be greater in aboveground biomass in the growing season compared to the non-growing season. Furthermore, I hypothesized that the total amount of nutrients in plant tissue would be greater in the growing season, than the non-growing season. Typha latifolia and Carex lurida were placed in mesocosms at the University of Mississippi Field Station (UMFS) and dosed with phosphorous. Each replicate experiment lasted one month and began with new plants and soil. At the end of the experiment, all plants were harvested and samples were collected for analyses of total inorganic phosphorous, and other macronutrients. The results show that plants store more nutrients than are necessary for growth. Increasing the amount of phosphorous available to plants also increases the storage of other nutrients, such as magnesium and potassium. The addition of phosphorous also had an effect on the location of nutrients in Typha latifolia. Specimens of T. latifolia. that were dosed with phosphorous contained larger amounts in roots than shoots, and the opposite was observed in the control specimens. Also, dosed specimens of T. latifolia contained higher amounts of potassium in roots compared to shoots/leaves, whereas the control specimens contained higher amounts of potassium in shoots/leaves than roots. Carex lurida results show an increase in the amounts of plant tissue nutrients in the non-growing season compared to the growing season. Conversely, T. latifolia contained more plant tissue nutrients in the growing season than the non-growing. Both species contained higher amounts of calcium, magnesium, and sulfur in shoots/leaves than roots

The Regional Response to Federal Funding for Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects

Examines the efficacy of federal funding for non-motorized modes of transportation based on funding patterns across metropolitan regions, case studies of policies and projects, and an analysis of the funding's impact on bicycling and walking behavior

Evaluating contaminants of emerging concern in municipal wastewater effluents

Municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent (MWWE) is a complex matrix that acts as a significant source of contaminants to aquatic receiving environments. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are known to affect aquatic organisms downstream of MWWE discharges. Past studies in the Grand River watershed of southern Ontario on the small-bodied, benthic rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) have shown altered gene expression, sex steroid levels, gonad size and expression of intersex (testis-ova) associated with wastewater outfalls. The Region of Waterloo is upgrading the two major wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) within the Grand River watershed (Waterloo, Kitchener) where biological impacts in the receiving waters have been observed. Although extensive research is currently being performed in the Grand River to determine the biological impacts of WWTP upgrades on exposed fish and benthos, there was no comprehensive work being done on the chemistry of the effluent itself. The objectives of the current study were to determine how process changes and temporal variability altered the concentration of select CECs present in the effluent as well as the total estrogenicity of the discharged effluent. Archived and current effluent samples from 2009 through to 2015 were analyzed for select CECs with LC-MS/MS as well as total estrogenicity with the Yeast Estrogen Screen assay. Concentrations of selected pharmaceuticals, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, are greatly reduced with nitrifying treatment while other contaminants such as carbamazepine and diclofenac remain recalcitrant. The removal of key CECs varies dependent on their physiochemical properties, with readily biotransformed CECs the most effectively removed by the WWTP after a transition to nitrifying treatment. Increased understanding of how major upgrades to treatment plant infrastructure alter the contaminant concentrations in wastewater effluent will greatly improve our ability to inform future watershed regulatory decision-making. These improvements have potential significance for the environment downstream of the WWTPs where endocrine disruption has been documented, including high expression of intersex in fish. This data is a crucial piece of information supporting numerous studies examining the biological consequences of CECs in the aquatic receiving environment

Developing and Implementing a 100% Renewable Electricity Resolution: A Research-Based Framework

While it may seem that the efforts of local governments have only a marginal impact on the global issue of climate change, local action can spread to generate large-scale change. Local action can inspire other communities to adopt policies, creating the potential to expand and form regional action on climate change. Furthermore, local policies can influence state and federal policies. This guide will walk you through a five-step framework that was developed from the results of a qualitative research study that explored how three Utah cities, Salt Lake City, Park City, and Moab, successfully adopted 100% renewable electricity resolutions

Mental health disorders and adolescent peer relationships

Rationale: Mental health disorders often arise during adolescence, with disruptive behavior disorders and anxiety disorders among the most common. Given the salience of peer relationships during adolescence, and research suggesting that mental health disorders negatively impact social functioning, this study uses novel methodology from social network analysis to uncover the social processes linking disruptive behavior disorders and anxiety disorders with adolescent friendships. In particular, the study focuses on peer withdrawal, peer popularity, and peer homophily in relation to both disorders. Methods: Data come from 15-year old students in four Scottish secondary schools (N = 602). Diagnoses of disruptive behavior disorders and anxiety disorders were produced using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, and peer relationship data were obtained through a friendship nomination survey. Exponential random graph models were used to estimate the probability of peer withdrawal, peer popularity, and peer homophily based on each disorder. Results: Results demonstrated that adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders were more popular than their peers without disruptive behavior disorders (OR: 1.47, CI: 1.20, 1.87). Friendship was also more likely between two adolescents both with or both without disruptive behavior disorders (OR: 1.26, CI: 1.07, 1.47), demonstrating peer homophily. There was no evidence that anxiety disorders were related to adolescent peer relationships. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that disruptive behavior disorders may be socially rewarded (e.g., peer popularity) and socially clustered (e.g., homophily), whereas anxiety disorders show no such trends. Thus, intervention efforts must account for the peer social status that may be gained from engaging in disruptive behavior during this developmental period. Further, given that similarity in DBD status is associated with an increased likelihood of friendship, adolescents are likely to be surrounded by peers who reinforce their behaviors

A reasoned action approach to pregnant smokers’ intention to switch to e-cigarettes: Does educational attainment influence theory application?

Social determinant research has noted educational attainment to be among the strongest influencing factors for tobacco use during pregnancy. Concurrently, maternal e-cigarette use has doubled in recent years, with some citing it as a safer alternative to combustible cigarettes. To better understand the decision-making practices of pregnant persons based on educational attainment, the reasoned action approach (RAA) was used to evaluate factors that may be associated with the intention to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes. A sample of U.S. pregnant persons (n = 267) between 18-40 years of age, who smoked at least one cigarette in the past 30 days, completed an online survey about switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes. RAA constructs (e.g., intentions, instrumental attitudes, etc.) were measured using a pre-validated scale. Using structural equation modeling, the variability of latent variables (i.e., RAA constructs) and their interaction with one another were analyzed by educational attainment via two regression models: one for those who had college experience or had completed a college degree and another for those who had not attended college. Instrumental attitudes, experiential attitudes, and descriptive norms were significantly associated with intention to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes among both groups; however, autonomy was only significantly associated with intention among those who had not attended college. The RAA offers a valuable framework for understanding pregnant persons’ decision to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes during pregnancy; however, the RAA constructs may be related to intentions differently based on upstream factors, such as educational attainment

Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Divorce Education: Connecting Program Theory and Curricular Content

Many parent and family education programs lack a clearly articulated program theory that is solidly founded in the social science literature and used to guide rigorous evaluation. This article describes the program theory for Parents Forever, a divorce education program developed by the Minnesota Extension to serve divorcing parents. The Parents Forever program theory is theoretically based and empirically-informed. The program theory is based on three significant frameworks, which serve as the theoretical foundation for the program: human ecosystems, life course development, and family resilience. These theories are explored and discussed. Three primary change mechanisms relevant for divorcing families serve as the empirical foundation of the program. Parent-child and coparent relationships are commonly addressed in divorce education programs; however, the inclusion of parental self-care as the third mechanism to promote family resilience is a unique contribution of Parents Forever. Relevant concepts derived from the empirical literature related to these three mediators are presented. Connections between the curricular content and program theory (i.e., theoretical framework and three change mechanisms) are made explicit, and program theory is used to demonstrate the unique contribution that Parents Forever makes to the field of divorce education

Screening for in vitro systematic reviews: a comparison of screening methods and training of a machine learning classifier

Objective: Existing strategies to identify relevant studies for systematic review may not perform equally well across research domains. We compare four approaches based on either human or automated screening of either title and abstract or full text, and report the training of a machine learning algorithm to identify in vitro studies from bibliographic records. Methods: We used a systematic review of oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in PC-12 cells to compare approaches. For human screening, two reviewers independently screened studies based on title and abstract or full text, with disagreements reconciled by a third. For automated screening, we applied text mining to either title and abstract or full text. We trained a machine learning algorithm with decisions from 2000 randomly selected PubMed Central records enriched with a dataset of known in vitro studies. Results: Full-text approaches performed best, with human (sensitivity: 0.990, specificity: 1.000 and precision: 0.994) outperforming text mining (sensitivity: 0.972, specificity: 0.980 and precision: 0.764). For title and abstract, text mining (sensitivity: 0.890, specificity: 0.995 and precision: 0.922) outperformed human screening (sensitivity: 0.862, specificity: 0.998 and precision: 0.975). At our target sensitivity of 95% the algorithm performed with specificity of 0.850 and precision of 0.700. Conclusion: In this in vitro systematic review, human screening based on title and abstract erroneously excluded 14% of relevant studies, perhaps because title and abstract provide an incomplete description of methods used. Our algorithm might be used as a first selection phase in in vitro systematic reviews to limit the extent of full text screening required.</p

Developing and evaluating online COVID-centric advance care planning training and information resources for nursing staff and family members in nursing homes:The necessary discussions study protocol

Background: Nursing home residents are typically older adults with high levels of chronic illness and impairment. As such, they are particularly susceptible to severe complications and mortality from COVID-19. Since all nursing home residents are at increased risk, nursing home care staff need to know what residents would want to happen should they become infected with COVID-19. This study aims to develop and evaluate advance care planning (ACP) COVID-centric online training and information resources for nursing home staff and family members of residents, to improve care at the end of life during a COVID-19 outbreak. Based on the findings we will develop implementation guidelines for nursing homes to ensure wider impact and application during the pandemic and beyond. Methods: The content of the training and information resources will be based on a rapid review of literature and guidance on ACP in the context of COVID-19 and consultation with the study expert reference group. An integrated communications company will then work alongside the research team to design the online training and information resources. To evaluate the resources, we will employ a multiple case study design where a nursing home (defined as an institutional setting in which nursing care is provided to older adults on-site 24 hours a day) will be the unit of analysis or ‘case’. The RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance) framework will guide the evaluation of implementation of the training and information resources. We will recruit and interview staff and family members from between 6-9 nursing homes across Northern Ireland, England and Scotland and gather quantitative data from a feedback survey included in the training and information resources. Discussion: The Necessary Discussions study is very timely given the challenging experiences of nursing homes, their staff, residents and their family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. It meets a key need and addresses an important gap in research and practice. The training and information resources will be ‘COVID-centric’, but they will also have a longstanding relevance for future ACP practice in UK care home