Objective Assessment of Outdoor Physical Activity in College Students and Relationships to Psychological Well-Being

Introduction: Physical activity is known to improve many aspects of health including physical and psychological well-being. Additional psychological health benefits have been attributed to performing physical activity outdoors. Despite this potential benefit, objectively measured outdoor physical activity has rarely been studied in an adult population. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to objectively define and measure bouts of outdoor physical activity and investigate correlations between this activity and subjectively reported psychological stress and anxiety. Methods: Objective outdoor physical activity will be measured using accelerometry and optic sensor capabilities of ActiGraph GT3X devices. Bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity will be determined using validated ranges of activity counts4 and lux values from the optic sensors will determine environment. Outdoor physical activity bouts will be defined as periods of moderate-tovigorous physical activity of at least 10 minutes with average lux values of at least 2405. Participants will complete baseline questionnaires of trait anxiety and perceived stress followed by a 10 consecutive day wear time of the ActiGraph GT3X devices. Results: Data collection and processing are currently underway. Measures of outdoor physical activity will be summarized and presented along with correlations between this activity and measures of trait anxiety and perceived stress. Conclusions: This will be the first study to objectively measure and define outdoor physical activity bouts in adults using simple accelerometers with optics capabilities. This definition and methodology can be used to investigate further associations between outdoor physical activity and measures of psychological health as well as a tool to objectively validate outdoor physical activity to be studied as an assigned intervention

Channel Redesign: Flood Mitigation for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Coker Arboretum Drainage Channel

The Coker Arboretum drainage channel is prone to flooding during heavy storm events, such as the storm event that occurred on June 30th, 2013. The flooding on June 30th, 2013 caused about $4,200 in damages to the arboretum walking paths and sent large amounts of sediment-laden stormwater into Raleigh Street to the East. This report focuses on channel redesign as a means for flood mitigation in the Coker Arboretum. Hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, technical consultations, and field investigations were used to explore five channel redesign options under two main approaches, peak flow attenuation and an increase in channel discharge capacity. Dry detention basin performance was analyzed in an attempt to achieve peak flow attenuation. For an increase in discharge capacity, the channel was redesigned such that water levels did not surpass a critical depth, including freeboard, during a 10 year SCS - Type II design storm. The most functional and cost effective solution was determined to be an increase in discharge capacity. An implementation plan was developed and project costs were compared to the present value of future benefits.Master of Science in Environmental Engineerin

Using a Guided-Inquiry Approach To Teach Michaelis–Menten Kinetics

Although kinetics forms a foundational part of the chemical curriculum, laboratory experiences with the subject are often limited and lack relevance to the actual practice of chemistry. Presented is an inquiry-based lab focused on Michaelis–Menten kinetics, implemented in an upper-level, university physical chemistry laboratory. Student learning was assessed over the course of three years via a pre- and post-test scheme that evaluated student understanding of Michaelis–Menten concepts and experimental design. Results indicate improvement in both domains, in line with previous results in the inquiry-based laboratory literature

Background Acoustics in Terrestrial Ecology

The way in which terrestrial organisms use the acoustic realm is fundamentally important and shapes behavior, populations, and communities, but how background acoustics, or noise, influence the patterns and processes in ecology is still relatively understudied. In this review, we summarize how background acoustics have traditionally been studied from the signaling perspective, discuss what is known from a receiver\u27s perspective, and explore what is known about population- and community-level responses to noise. We suggest that there are major gaps linking animal physiology and behavior in noise to fitness; that there is a limited understanding of variation in hearing within and across species, especially in the context of real-world acoustic conditions; and that many puzzling responses to noise could be clarified with a community-level lens that considers indirect effects. Failing to consider variation in acoustic conditions, and the many ways organisms use and interact via this environmental dimension, risks a limited understanding of natural systems

Corpus Linguistics and the Original Public Meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment

Moore v. United States raises the question whether unrealized gains, such as an increase in property value or a stock portfolio, constitute “incomes, from whatever source derived” under the original meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment. Moore is widely viewed as the most important tax case to reach the United States Supreme Court in decades. It is also an opportunity for the Court to refine its theory and method of finding original meaning. We focus here on the original public meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment—the ordinary, common meaning attributed to its text by the general public in 1913. So far, the parties and amici have relied on contemporaneous dictionaries to argue over such meaning. But the cited dictionaries do not establish the ordinary meaning of “incomes, from whatever source derived”; instead, they highlight a key ambiguity in the very terms of the definitions presented. This article fills important gaps in the original public meaning analysis in Moore. More broadly, it also charts a path for refining the theory and methodology of the originalist inquiry more generally. At the theoretical level, it introduces principles of the philosophy of language and theoretical linguistics that align with—and help refine—strands of the Court’s originalist inquiry. And as to method, it introduces evidence from corpus linguistic analysis to provide a transparent, replicable basis for assessing the ordinary public meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment’s relevant terms. We use the Corpus of Historical American English (“COHA”) to analyze the ordinary public meaning of the constitutional language at the time of ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment. At the “words-to-meaning” level, we show that “income(s)” was always used in 1900-1912 to refer to realized gains. We also perform a “meaning-to-words” analysis, showing that unrealized gains were always referred to using terms other than “income(s).” Our corpus linguistic analysis reveals that the original public meaning of “incomes, from whatever source derived” almost certainly only covers realized gains. And it charts a path for greater transparency, objectivity, and replicability than more traditional tools of originalism

Analysis of Rediscovered Data from Apollo 17's Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment: Evidence for Events Associated with Sunrise

No abstract availabl

A Written Instrument for Assessing Students’ Units Coordination Structures

Units coordination refers to students’ abilities to create units and maintain their relationships with other units that they contain or constitute. In recent research, units coordination has arisen as a key construct that mediates opportunities for student learning across several domains of mathematics, including fractions knowledge and algebraic reasoning. To date, assessments of students’ stages of units coordinating ability have relied upon clinical interviews or teaching experiments whose time-intensive nature precludes opportunities for conducting large-scale studies. We introduce a written instrument that teachers and researchers can use with large populations of students. We report on the reliability and validity of assessments based on the instrument

Initial evaluation of the care and rehabilitation success of Cape Cormorants Phalacrocorax capensis rescued from Robben and Jutten islands, South Africa, in January 2021

The population of the endangered Cape Cormorant Phalacrocorax capensis more than halved over the last three decades (BirdLife International 2018a). In January 2021, nearly 2 000 Cape Cormorant chicks were found abandoned, suffering from dehydration and heat stress, at two important nesting sites. The chicks were rescued and rehabilitated by the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB, Cape Town, South Africa). About half (53.7%) of the cormorant chicks were successfully rehabilitated and released back into the breeding colonies. This study found a direct link between the initial body mass of cormorant chicks admitted to the rehabilitation centre and their probability of surviving during rehabilitation, with birds that were initially heavier having a greater probability of eventual release. Most cormorant chicks that died (80.7%) did so within the first 5 days of admission. This rescue required SANCCOB to care for and rehabilitate the largest number of Cape Cormorant chicks that has ever been admitted to its rehabilitation centre at one time, making it the first rescue of its kind. Despite the presumably limited positive impact on overall population numbers of Cape Cormorants, the rescue campaign improved SANCCOB’s preparedness to respond successfully to future disaster events and to deal with different species, both locally and globally

Alanyl-tRNA Synthetase Quality Control Prevents Global Dysregulation of the \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e Proteome

Mechanisms have evolved to prevent errors in replication, transcription, and translation of genetic material, with translational errors occurring most frequently. Errors in protein synthesis can occur at two steps, during tRNA aminoacylation and ribosome decoding. Recent advances in protein mass spectrometry have indicated that previous reports of translational errors have potentially underestimated the frequency of these events, but also that the majority of translational errors occur during ribosomal decoding, suggesting that aminoacylation errors are evolutionarily less tolerated. Despite that interpretation, there is evidence that some aminoacylation errors may be regulated, and thus provide a benefit to the cell, while others are clearly detrimental. Here, we show that while it has been suggested that regulated Thr-to-Ser substitutions may be beneficial, there is a threshold beyond which these errors are detrimental. In contrast, we show that errors mediated by alanyl-tRNA synthetase (AlaRS) are not well tolerated and induce a global stress response that leads to gross perturbation of the Escherichia coli proteome, with potentially catastrophic effects on fitness and viability. Tolerance for Ala mistranslation appears to be much lower than with other translational errors, consistent with previous reports of multiple proofreading mechanisms targeting mischarged tRNAAla. These results demonstrate the essential role of aminoacyl-tRNA proofreading in optimizing cellular fitness and suggest that any potentially beneficial effects of mistranslation may be confined to specific amino acid substitutions

Helicobacter bilis Infection Alters Mucosal Bacteria and Modulates Colitis Development in Defined Microbiota Mice

Background: Helicobacter bilis infection of C3H/HeN mice harboring the altered Schaedler flora (ASF) triggers progressive immune responsiveness and the development of colitis. We sought to investigate temporal alterations in community structure of a defined (ASF-colonized) microbiota in normal and inflamed murine intestines and to correlate microbiota changes to histopathologic lesions. Methods: The colonic mucosal microbiota of healthy mice and ASF mice colonized with H. bilis for 3, 6, or 12 weeks were investigated by fluorescence in situ hybridization targeting the 16S ribosomal RNA genes of total bacteria, group-specific organisms, and individual ASF bacterial species. Microbial profiling of ASF and H. bilis abundance was performed on cecal contents. Results: Helicobacter bilis–colonized mice developed colitis associated with temporal changes in composition and spatial distribution of the mucosal microbiota. The number of total bacteria, ASF519, and helicobacter-positive bacteria were increased (P , 0.05), whereas ASF360/361-positive bacteria were decreased (P , 0.05) versus controls. Adherent biofilms in colitic mice were most often (P , 0.05) composed of total bacteria, ASF457, and H. bilis. Total numbers of ASF519 and H. bilis bacteria were positively correlated (P ¼ 0.03, r ¼ 0.39 and P , 0.0001, r ¼ 0.73), and total numbers of ASF360/361 bacteria were negatively correlated (P ¼ 0.003, r ¼ 20.53) to histopathologic score. Differences in cecal abundance of ASF members were not observed. Conclusions: Altered community structure with murine colitis is characterized by distinct ASF bacteria that interact with the colonic mucosa, by formation of an isolating interlaced layer, by attachment, or by invasion, and this interaction is differentially expressed over time