Point of Use Biosand Filters of the Rural Dominican Republic

The point of use biosand filter (BSF) is used globally as a drinking water treatment solution. In this research, point of use BSFs were inoculated with active biosand from the Linnwood Drinking Water Treatment plant slow sand filter beds (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and with sands collected from point of use filters operating in the Dominican Republic. These filters were maintained with varying source waters (surface water, groundwater, or tap water to simulate chlorination encountered in the field). The microbial community of filters with varied influents and biosand inoculum were analyzed quantitatively by sequencing and qPCR. Filter efficacy and microbial community were found to be largely a function of source water and pretreatment conditions. Filters were intermittently challenged with E. coli as a fecal indicator bacteria and bacteriophage MS2 as a surrogate for pathogenic virus to evaluate filtration efficiency. This research suggests that the point of use BSF should not be used in conjunction with chlorinated source waters. Chlorination may inhibit biofilm colonization and allow for interstitial survival or growth of pathogenic bacteria. Based on the non-dimensional scaling analysis of genome sequencing data, the interstitial microbial community of the BSF could be grouped into four categories as a function of source waters: biosand filters in the Dominican Republic, laboratory filters maintained with tap water, groundwater, or with Lake Michigan water as influent. The microbial community within active biosand collected in the field was not retained under laboratory conditions

Which skillsets and other characteristics of a home visitor contribute to the effectiveness of a home-based child abuse and neglect prevention program?

Keeping children safe and therefore preventing abuse and neglect has certainly always been a value of the Social Work profession. Home visitors, those charged with the duty of executing these programs, are visiting clients in their home over a period of time, offering support, resources, and nourishing the relationship between parent and child. To find the skill sets and characteristics which impact the success of these home visitors, this qualitative research study sought to identify characteristics and skill sets of home visitors which contribute to the effectiveness of a child abuse and neglect prevention program. Individual interviews were conducted with ten home visitors from the Metro Alliance of Healthy Families in the Twin Cities Metro of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Minnesota. The major themes which emerged from the data are: 1) specific characteristics home visitors identify such as empathetic and nonjudgmental; 2) past successes which stem from the formation of relationships built upon healthy boundaries; 3) the essential role a supervisor plays in the home visitor’s ability to be effective. A discussion of the data as well as implications and recommendations for further research follows

Which skillsets and other characteristics of a home visitor contribute to the effectiveness of a home-based child abuse and neglect prevention program?

Keeping children safe and therefore preventing abuse and neglect has certainly always been a value of the Social Work profession. Home visitors, those charged with the duty of executing these programs, are visiting clients in their home over a period of time, offering support, resources, and nourishing the relationship between parent and child. To find the skill sets and characteristics which impact the success of these home visitors, this qualitative research study sought to identify characteristics and skill sets of home visitors which contribute to the effectiveness of a child abuse and neglect prevention program. Individual interviews were conducted with ten home visitors from the Metro Alliance of Healthy Families in the Twin Cities Metro of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Minnesota. The major themes which emerged from the data are: 1) specific characteristics home visitors identify such as empathetic and nonjudgmental; 2) past successes which stem from the formation of relationships built upon healthy boundaries; 3) the essential role a supervisor plays in the home visitor\u27s ability to be effective. A discussion of the data as well as implications and recommendations for further research follows

X-Ray Analysis of Biological Fluids: An Update

X-ray analysis has been used for some twenty years to quantify elements including Na, K, Cl, Ca, Mg and phosphorous in biological fluid samples. The method consists of accurate pipetting of 50-150 pl samples and appropriate drying to form crystalline deposits. Quantitation is obtained by comparison of x-ray intensities with comparable standard crystalline deposits. Electon microprobe analyses have contributed much to our understanding of renal transport function including physiological controls and pathological influences on the tubular handling of the major elements. New approaches to x-ray analysis of solid tissue will further our knowledge concerning transport properties in the kidney and other tissues

Influence of Event Segmentation on Associative Recognition: Memory for Sentences Rearranged within and across Narrative Event Boundaries

Association and the subjective experience of time comprise two fundamental aspects to the understanding of episodic memory. The ability to recognize previously paired items from memory and reject novel pairings, termed associative recognition, is integral to everyday life; however, the mechanisms that underlie this ability remain largely debated. Recent studies of event segmentation, however, which propose that we tend to “chunk” segments of our temporal experience into distinct events in memory, may hold part of the answer. Though the field of cognitive psychology is rife with literature regarding these phenomena separately, previous research has not addressed the potential effect of this tendency to segment events in memory on recognition for associations. The present study signifies a first step toward understanding and characterizing this influence. Participants read a number of stories segmented into discrete events, followed by a test phase, during which they were presented with sentences that were intact, recombined within, or recombined between events. Though the results varied by story, participants false alarmed significantly more to test sentences recombined within versus recombined between events in the story most likely to accurately represent people’s memory for associations within and between events. This suggests that rearranged associations within these event segments are more easily accepted as correct than are those rearranged across event boundaries

An attempt to study ion outflow in the polar cusp with conjugated measurements from EISCAT and Cluster

This thesis sought to find ion outflow as measured by Cluster in the polar cusp, in conjunction with ionospheric upflow events observed by the EISCAT radars outside Longyearbyen on Svalbard (ESR). The constraints placed on the identification of these events proved to narrow the total amount of data. First of all, Cluster’s magnetic footprint had to pass close by Svalbard’s location. Then, one needed the radars to measure dynamic plasma parameters, which could be interpreted as upflow events. To complete the set, Cluster would also have to observe outflowing O+ particles to confirm that their origin was the ionosphere. After finishing the preliminary search for these data, one pass through the cusp contained data which showed some promise. The outflow event observed by Cluster, could be traced back to an upflow event seen by the ESR, but with a time delay of about 35 minutes. A possible cause for these incidents was found to be a sudden pressure increase in the solar wind occurring at about 10:00 UT. However, to trace a phenomenon through a turbulent region such as the polar cusp across a time span of uptil 45 minutes, cannot be done without admitting that there might be other factors responsible than the ones specifically studied. A significant perturbation of the total magnetic field strength was also investigated with the curlometer technique. This yielded magnetic field aligned currents running both parallel and anti-parallel, as one should expect from a flux tube, more specifically a flux transfer event (FTE). The ExB-velocity was used to identify the tube’s direction of movement, and some investigation of how this velocity would map to the ionosphere was also performed

Renal magnesium handling: New insights in understanding old problems

Many sharp-eyed readers have pointed out to us that in the photo next to the article about yams in Ghana (Spore 87, June 2000, page 8), the woman had put all her cassava in one basket, and not the yams she planned to use. Point taken. Whatever you want to point out, point to or point at, your letters, faxes and emails are always welcome at the Spore address in the box on the right. Write now.MailboxMany sharp-eyed readers have pointed out to us that in the photo next to the article about yams in Ghana (Spore 87, June 2000, page 8), the woman had put all her cassava in one basket, and not the yams she planned to use. Point taken...

Transcriptional analysis of the response of \u3ci\u3eC. elegans\u3c/i\u3e to ethanol exposure

Ethanol-induced transcriptional changes underlie important physiological responses to ethanol that are likely to contribute to the addictive properties of the drug. We examined the transcriptional responses of Caenorhabditis elegans across a timecourse of ethanol exposure, between 30 min and 8 h, to determine what genes and genetic pathways are regulated in response to ethanol in this model. We found that short exposures to ethanol (up to 2 h) induced expression of metabolic enzymes involved in metabolizing ethanol and retinol, while longer exposure (8 h) had much more profound effects on the transcriptome. Several genes that are known to be involved in the physiological response to ethanol, including direct ethanol targets, were regulated at 8 h of exposure. This longer exposure to ethanol also resulted in the regulation of genes involved in cilia function, which is consistent with an important role for the effects of ethanol on cilia in the deleterious effects of chronic ethanol consumption in humans. Finally, we found that food deprivation for an 8-h period induced gene expression changes that were somewhat ameliorated by the presence of ethanol, supporting previous observations that worms can use ethanol as a calorie source

Freeze Survival in Peach and Prune Flowers

A laboratory study was carried out using field grown peach (Prunus persica) and prune (P. domestica) flowers. The object was to find out why prune flowers are more freeze tolerant than peach flowers. After the flowers are fully open, it was found that the ovaries may still supercool, even with ice crystals present in the flower stem. The mechanics involved were explored with a computer model of the simultaneous heat, water and solute flow in the flower and stern tissue during freezing. Water flow toward growing ice crystals may cause a discontinuity in the liquid phase between the flower stem and the ovary, creating a barrier to nucleation. It was concluded that the prune flowers survive lower temperatures than the peach because the water in their ovaries is more apt to supercool, particularly when the dew point of the air is not reached