Offcut

Offcut Lydia Meyer There is a tendency in nature to repeat forms that are successful. Because of their strength or efficiency, structures used for one purpose by a creature may resemble those created for different tasks by another. In creating “Offcut” I attempt to integrate myself into this way of thinking to better understand natural/evolved processes, by borrowing structures from both the human and animal world that look like neither. I use materials that I foraged from my environment and occasionally the Internet. The foam is free offcuts from a plastics factory and all of the wood is scrap from the UBS woodshop. The process of natural selection propagates strategies that best meet the conditions of their environment at a given moment in time. If an environment is static, very little adaptation is needed and generally change is extremely slow. We live in an era that is particularly interesting because this is not the case. In the last century there has been a tremendous outpouring of novel materials from human processes into the environment for which we do not yet know the evolutionary consequences. I’m interested in how these materials can swept up and integrated into old tried-and-true processes developed by centuries of natural selection. For example, several urban bird species in Mexico were found to be lining their nests with cigarette butts because the residual chemicals act as an anti parasitic for their young. In my case I explore the physical, tensile strengths and structural abilities of two primary elements, foam and wood, in order to encase, protect and feed a central living mass. Because selection works through differential reproductions (the ones with the best idea have the most babies), structures and strategies associated with reproduction are often the ones most susceptible to change because they are the most important ones to get right. For this reason and many I others I believe the females of species to have the most evolutionary power, although this is a gross simplification. Females are the egg layers, nest builders, reproducers and thereby the game-changers of the world. I see this as being a common denominator that females of all species share. In a time of immense ecological change, female construction and strategy will shape and define evolutionary future. I explore creating an environment as a member of this group while working with my obvious limitations and incredible advantages as a human woman

The Influence of Interproximal Reduction on Enamel Roughness and Bacterial Adhesion

Introduction: Interproximal reduction (IPR), also known as enamel stripping, leaves many grooves and furrows on the enamel surface, which may increase the risk of caries. In this thesis, the influence of IPR on the morphology and roughness (Ra) of enamel surfaces and the bacterial adhesion to these surfaces were investigated. The specific aims of this thesis were to assess the roughness of enamel surfaces (both qualitatively and quantitatively) produced by the most commonly used IPR instruments, to investigate the adhesion of bacteria to these surfaces, and to evaluate the effect of polishing after IPR on the amount of bacterial adhesion. Materials and methods: Sixty-four human premolar teeth that were extracted for orthodontic treatment were collected. Enamel blocks were cut from the interproximal surfaces. Seven different IPR instruments were used for interproximal reduction (n = 8 in each group) and there was a control group (n = 8) consisting of untreated enamel blocks. The morphology and roughness of the sixty-four enamel surfaces were investigated qualitatively and quantitatively using atomic force microscopy. From the seven IPR-treated groups, the samples from the three instruments that yielded significantly different roughnesses, as well as the control group, were used for the adhesion experiments. Adhesion of Streptococcus sanguinis ATCC10556 to the enamel surfaces was assessed by counting the colony forming units that adhered to the roughened surfaces after 30 min exposure. Results: Generally, the larger grit IPR instruments created rougher enamel surfaces (Ra values for medium bur: 702.4 ± 134.4 nm; medium strip: 501.0 ± 115.3 nm; mesh disc: 307.1 ± 106.9 nm) and smoother surfaces were formed by use of the smaller grit instruments (Ra values for fine bur: 407.4 ± 94.8 nm; fine strip: 317.6 ± 49.6 nm; curved disc: 223.9 ± 64.7 nm). The differences in mean roughness within the groups of larger or smaller grit were significant (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively), and the differences in mean roughness between instruments of the same type but different grit (e.g. large grit bur compared to small grit bur) were all significant with p-values < 0.001 apart from surfaces prepared with different discs (p = 0.122). The smoothest surfaces were created by use of the entire series of Soflex polishing discs after the enamel reduction (Ra = 36.7 ± 13.7 nm), and these surfaces were significantly smoother than the control surfaces (Ra = 148.6 ± 38.5 nm)(p = 0.017). The rougher surfaces showed increased streptococcal adhesion. Greatest adherence was to the surface prepared with a medium diamond bur (Ra = 702.4 ± 134.4 nm); the CFUs bound were 12.3 x 105 ± 0.5 x 105, followed by the surface prepared by mesh disc (Ra = 307.1 ± 106.9 nm, CFU = 4.0 x 105 ± 0.5 x 105), followed by the control surface (Ra = 148.6 ± 38.5 nm, CFU = 1.2 x 105 ± 0.1 x 105)(p < 0.001). The least bacterial adhesion was to the smoothest surface - when Soflex polishing discs had been used following enamel reduction (Ra = 36.7 ± 13.7 nm, CFU = 0.3 ± 0.05 x 105). Conclusions: 1) Larger grit diamond instruments created rougher surfaces than did their smaller grit counterparts; 2) Diamond burs created the roughest enamel surfaces, followed by diamond strips, followed by diamond discs; 3) The Soflex polishing discs created the smoothest surfaces, even smoother than that of the untreated enamel; 4) There was a positive relationship between enamel surface roughness and the number of bacteria that adhered. Clinical significance: It is recommended that practitioners polish interproximal enamel after IPR to leave the enamel as smooth as possible to reduce possible bacterial adhesion

Working with Climate Projections to Estimate Disease Burden: Perspectives from Public Health

There is interest among agencies and public health practitioners in the United States (USA) to estimate the future burden of climate-related health outcomes. Calculating disease burden projections can be especially daunting, given the complexities of climate modeling and the multiple pathways by which climate influences public health. Interdisciplinary coordination between public health practitioners and climate scientists is necessary for scientifically derived estimates. We describe a unique partnership of state and regional climate scientists and public health practitioners assembled by the Florida Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) program. We provide a background on climate modeling and projections that has been developed specifically for public health practitioners, describe methodologies for combining climate and health data to project disease burden, and demonstrate three examples of this process used in Florida

Addressing the Accessibility of Social Media

Social media platforms are deeply ingrained in society, and they offer many different spaces for people to engage with others. Unfortunately, accessibility barriers prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in these spaces. Social media users commonly post inaccessible media, including videos without captions (which are important for people who are deaf or hard of hearing) and images without alternative text (descriptions read aloud by screen readers for people who are blind). Users with motor impairments must find workarounds to deal with the complex user interfaces of these platforms, and users with cognitive disabilities may face barriers to composing and sharing information. Accessibility researchers, industry practitioners, and end-users with disabilities will come together to outline challenges and solutions for improving social media accessibility. The workshop starts with a panel of end-users with disabilities who will recount their Perspectives of Successes and Barriers. Industry professionals from social media companies (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn) will detail their Design Process and Implementation Challenges in a panel with questions from attendees. The attendees will share their work and tackle Open Challenges and Future Research Directions. This workshop will forge collaborations between researchers and practitioners, and define high-priority accessibility challenges for social media platforms

What do parents perceive are the barriers and facilitators to accessing psychological treatment for mental health problems in children and adolescents? A systematic review of qualitative and quantitative studies

A minority of children and adolescents with mental health problems access treatment. The reasons for poor rates of treatment access are not well understood. As parents are a key gatekeeper to treatment access, it is important to establish parents’ views of barriers/facilitators to accessing treatment. The aims of this study are to synthesise findings from qualitative and quantitative studies that report parents’ perceptions of barriers/facilitators to accessing treatment for mental health problems in children/adolescents. A systematic review and narrative synthesis were conducted. Forty-four studies were included in the review and were assessed in detail. Parental perceived barriers/facilitators relating to (1) systemic/structural issues; (2) views and attitudes towards services and treatment; (3) knowledge and understanding of mental health problems and the help-seeking process; and (4) family circumstances were identified. Findings highlight avenues for improving access to child mental health services, including increased provision that is free to service users and flexible to their needs, with opportunities to develop trusting, supportive relationships with professionals. Furthermore, interventions are required to improve parents’ identification of mental health problems, reduce stigma for parents, and increase awareness of how to access services

フィリピン ニオケル チイキ イリョウ ジュウジ シャ カクホ ノ ザンシン ナ トリクミ : コクリツ フィリピン ダイガク ケンコウ カガクブ ノ ショウカイ (〈トクシュウ〉チイキ イリョウ)

The establishment of the School of Health Sciences(SHS), University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) inLeyte in 1976 was based on the ideas of socially-concernedCollege of Medicine, UPM faculty who were alarmed by thebrain drain and the mal distribution of health manpower in the Philippines. SHS aims to produce a broad range of health manpower who serves the rural communities. It also designs and tests program models for health manpower developmentthat can be replicated in various parts of thePhilippines and in other countries as well.Its unique feature is the step-ladder curriculum---the only one of its kind in the Philippines---which is designed to meet the needs of the rural communities. Here, instead ofthe usual approach to health science education, the trainingof a broad range of health manpower from the barangay(village) health worker to the medical doctor is integratedin a single, sequential, and continuous curriculum. Each programlasts from one to more than 10 quarters( one quarter=11 weeks) and is followed by a service leave of an indefiniteperiod.The curriculum has been featured in many monographs,journals, magazine articles, and official reports of WHO forserving as a model for shifting health science educationfrom the hospital to the community.[Cited from:Improving the health of Filipinos throughexcellent and relevant programs, University of the PhilippinesManila

What Works in Conservation 2018

This book provides an assessment of the effectiveness of 1277 conservation interventions based on summarized scientific evidence. The 2018 edition contains new chapters covering practical global conservation of primates, peatlands, shrublands and heathlands, management of captive animals as well as an extended chapter on control of freshwater invasive species. Other chapters cover global conservation of amphibians, bats, birds and forests, conservation of European farmland biodiversity and some aspects of enhancing natural pest control, enhancing soil fertility and control of freshwater invasive species. It contains key results from the summarized evidence for each conservation intervention and an assessment of the effectiveness of each by international expert panels. The accompanying website www.conservationevidence.com describes each of the studies individually, and provides full references

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations