A qualitative study of factors related to cardiometabolic risk in rural men

Abstract Background Rural men are known to have poor health behaviors, which contribute to their elevated burden of cardiometabolic disorders in the United States. Although regular physical activity, healthy eating, and avoiding tobacco can reduce cardiometabolic risk, little is known about how to engage rural men in health promotion programs. To bridge this gap in evidence, we investigate knowledge of modifiable cardiometabolic risk factors among rural men in the western United States, identify their concerns related to heart health and motivation to reduce risk, and explore individual, social, and community-level influences on heart-healthy behaviors, specifically diet, physical activity, and tobacco use. Methods We conducted seven focus groups with 54 sedentary, overweight/obese men (mean body mass index [BMI] = 31.3 ± 4.6) aged 43–88 residing in government-designated “medically underserved” rural Montana towns in September and October 2014. All sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were coded and analyzed thematically using Nvivo software. Participants also completed a brief questionnaire about personal characteristics and health behaviors. These data were explored descriptively. Results Despite being classified as overweight/obese and sedentary, no participants reported to be in poor health. Many men described health relative to self-reliance and the ability to participate in outdoor recreation; concern with health appeared to be related to age. Participants were generally knowledgeable of heart-healthy behaviors, but many felt fatalistic about their own risk. Catalysts for behavior change included a serious medical event in the household and desire to reduce aging-associated functional decline. Barriers to adopting and maintaining healthy eating and physical activity habits and abstaining from tobacco included normative beliefs around masculinity and individual liberty, the limited social universe of small towns, winter weather, time constraints, and preferences for unhealthy foods. Facilitators included behavioral self-monitoring, exercising with a partner, and opportunities for preferred activities, such as hunting and team sports. Conclusions These findings provide important insight about influences on rural men’s health behaviors and provide guidance for possible intervention strategies to promote cardiometabolic health. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02499731 . Registered 1 July 2015

The State of Digital Media Data Research, 2024

The purpose of this report is to reflect on the state of digital media data research in 2024. This is the second in a series of reports on the state of digital media research, which we originally published in 2023. We reflect on changes to digital media research since our report in 2023. Specifically, we highlight the following trends: 1. From 2023 to 2024, access to digital media data changed drastically. Researchers were largely priced out of the Twitter API, and Pushshift–a commonly used archive for Reddit data–went private to comply with Reddit’s API policies. Meta also announced the imminent sunsetting of CrowdTangle, a transparency tool popular amongst researchers and journalists alike. At the same time, however, many platforms announced academic programs for data access, including the YouTube researcher program, TikTok’s Research API, and the Meta Content Library. 2. Federated social media platforms became more popular. Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, Twitter users flocked to Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky, and other federated (or soon to be federated) platforms. This presents unique challenges for researchers studying digital media data. As new platforms are created, researchers must build new tools to analyze them or wait for third parties or the platforms themselves to make data available. 3. Generative AI’s explosion may change how we study digital media. First, researchers using computational methods to measure social media content have turned to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) to classify content. Second, researchers and civil society groups are increasingly concerned about the possibility for Generative AI to flood the information environment with fake content. 4. In February 2024, the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) went into effect, mandating that large platforms give researchers near real-time access to public data. We don’t yet know how these policies will impact data access in the United States, and it remains unclear what this data access will look like in practice. In the United States, legislative efforts to mandate researcher access stalled. While the last year brought many welcome and unwelcome changes to digital media data research, the findings in this report renew our encouragement that digital media data research should be guided by collaboration, transparency, preparation, and consistency.Journalism and Medi

An analysis of the effect of data processing methods on magnetic propeller models in short GRBs

We present analysis of observational data from the Swift Burst Analyser for a sample of 15 short gamma-ray bursts with extended emission (SGRBEEs) which have been processed such that error propagation from Swift’s count-rate-to-flux conversion factor is applied to the flux measurements. We apply this propagation to data presented by the Burst Analyser at 0.3-10 keV and also at 15-50 keV, and identify clear differences in the morphologies of the light-curves in the different bands. In performing this analysis with data presented at both 0.3-10 keV, at 15-50 keV, and also at a combination of both bands, we highlight the impact of extrapolating data from their native bandpasses on the light-curve. We then test these data by fitting to them a magnetar-powered model for SGRBEEs, and show that while the model is consistent with the data in both bands, the model’s derived physical parameters are generally very loosely constrained when this error propagation is included and are inconsistent across the two bands. In this way, we highlight the importance of the Swift data processing methodology to the details of physical model fits to SGRBEEs

Sheep Updates 2008 - part 2

This session covers eleven papers from different authors: The Sheep Room 1. Analgesia for Surgical Husbandry Procedures in Sheep and Other Livestock, Dr Meredith L. Sheil, Animal Ethics Pty Ltd, Associate Sydney University Faculty of Veterinary Science The Wool Enterprise 2. Unmulsed sheep - implications for chemical use, Di Evans & Brown Besier, Department of Agriculture and Food WA 3. Are Damara and Dorper sheep better adapted than Merinos to nutritional stress? - Growth rates, Tim Scanlon1, Andre Martinho de Almeida2, Johan Greeff1, Tanya Kilminster1, John Milton3, Chris Oldham1, Department of Agriculture and Food WA1, Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica Tropical, Lisbon, Portugal2, University of Western Australia3 4. Are Damara and Dorper sheep better adapted than Merinos to nutritional stress? - Carcass attributes, Tanya Kilminster1, Andre Martinho de Almeida2, Johan Greeff1, John Milton3, Chris Oldham1, Tim Scanlon1, Department of Agriculture and Food WA1, Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica Tropical, Lisbon, Portugal2, University of Western Australia3 The Beef Room 5. Benefits of matching animal requirements with pasture feed supply and animal supply market requirements, B.L. McIntyre, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, 6. Optimal grazing for beef, Alison Wheatley, Beef farmer Winnejup, John Lucey, Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia 7. Grain Introduction in commercial cattle feedlots, Fiona Jones1,2, Nick Costa2, 1 Department of Agriculture and Food WA and 2 Murdoch University. Mixed Systems 8. Confinement feeding stock in mixed enterprises, John Milton, The University of Western Australia & Independent Lab Services The Sheep Enterprise 9. Making More than Sheep, Ed Riggall, Australian Wool Innovation and Meat & Livestock Australia 10. Sheep Cost of Production - the enemy is at the gate!, JRL (Bob) Hall, JRL Hall & Co 11. Australian lamb - high yielding good to eat, Robin Jacob1, Dave Pethick2, Dave Hopkins3 and Graham Gardner2, 1Department of Agrcultre and Food WA, 2Murdoch University, 3NSW Department of Primary Industrie

Biogeosciences perspectives on integrated, coordinated, open, networked (ICON) science

This article is composed of three independent commentaries about the state of ICON principles (Goldman et al. 2021) in the AGU Biogeosciences section and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Each commentary focuses on a different topic: Global collaboration, technology transfer and application (Section 2), Community engagement, citizen science, education, and stakeholder involvement (Section 3), and Field, experimental, remote sensing, and real-time data research and application (Section 4). We discuss needs and strategies for implementing ICON and outline short- and long-term goals. The inclusion of global data and international community engagement are key to tackle grand challenges in biogeosciences. Although recent technological advances and growing open-access information across the world have enabled global collaborations to some extent, several barriers ranging from technical to organizational to cultural have remained in advancing interoperability and tangible scientific progress in biogeosciences. Overcoming these hurdles is necessary to address pressing large-scale research questions and applications in the biogeosciences, where ICON principles are essential. Here, we list several opportunities for ICON, including coordinated experimentation and field observations across global sites, that are ripe for implementation in biogeosciences as a means to scientific advancements and social progress

Biogeosciences Perspectives on Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) Science

This article is composed of three independent commentaries about the state of Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) principles in the American Geophysical Union Biogeosciences section, and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Each commentary focuses on a different topic: (a) Global collaboration, technology transfer, and application (Section 2), (b) Community engagement, community science, education, and stakeholder involvement (Section 3), and (c) Field, experimental, remote sensing, and real-time data research and application (Section 4). We discuss needs and strategies for implementing ICON and outline short- and long-term goals. The inclusion of global data and international community engagement are key to tackling grand challenges in biogeosciences. Although recent technological advances and growing open-access information across the world have enabled global collaborations to some extent, several barriers, ranging from technical to organizational to cultural, have remained in advancing interoperability and tangible scientific progress in biogeosciences. Overcoming these hurdles is necessary to address pressing large-scale research questions and applications in the biogeosciences, where ICON principles are essential. Here, we list several opportunities for ICON, including coordinated experimentation and field observations across global sites, that are ripe for implementation in biogeosciences as a means to scientific advancements and social progress

On the link between ocean biota emissions, aerosol, and maritime clouds: Airborne, ground, and satellite measurements off the coast of California

Surface, airborne, and satellite measurements over the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of California during the period between 2005 and 2007 are used to explore the relationship between ocean chlorophyll a, aerosol, and marine clouds. Periods of enhanced chlorophyll a and wind speed are coincident with increases in particulate diethylamine and methanesulfonate concentrations. The measurements indicate that amines are a source of secondary organic aerosol in the marine atmosphere. Subsaturated aerosol hygroscopic growth measurements indicate that the organic component during periods of high chlorophyll a and wind speed exhibit considerable water uptake ability. Increased average cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) activity during periods of increased chlorophyll a levels likely results from both size distribution and aerosol composition changes. The available data over the period of measurements indicate that the cloud microphysical response, as represented by either cloud droplet number concentration or cloud droplet effective radius, is likely influenced by a combination of atmospheric dynamics and aerosol perturbations during periods of high chlorophyll a concentrations

Biogeosciences Perspectives on Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) Science

This article is composed of three independent commentaries about the state of Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) principles in the American Geophysical Union Biogeosciences section, and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Each commentary focuses on a different topic: (a) Global collaboration, technology transfer, and application (Section 2), (b) Community engagement, community science, education, and stakeholder involvement (Section 3), and (c) Field, experimental, remote sensing, and real-time data research and application (Section 4). We discuss needs and strategies for implementing ICON and outline short- and long-term goals. The inclusion of global data and international community engagement are key to tackling grand challenges in biogeosciences. Although recent technological advances and growing open-access information across the world have enabled global collaborations to some extent, several barriers, ranging from technical to organizational to cultural, have remained in advancing interoperability and tangible scientific progress in biogeosciences. Overcoming these hurdles is necessary to address pressing large-scale research questions and applications in the biogeosciences, where ICON principles are essential. Here, we list several opportunities for ICON, including coordinated experimentation and field observations across global sites, that are ripe for implementation in biogeosciences as a means to scientific advancements and social progress