Return of Aflatoxin Production in Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus after Serial Passaging

Undergraduate Theoretical Proposa

The effects of state EITC expansion on children’s health

This brief examines the impact of state-level adoption of Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) on a set of health-related outcomes for children, including: (1) health insurance coverage, (2) use of preventive medical and dental care, and (3) health status measures including maternal reports of child health and body mass index. It also considers the possibility that the effect of the EITC on these outcomes may vary depending on where a child lives; families in urban and rural communities have different access to medical care and other resources that promote good health. Author Reagan Baughman reports that the expansion of state EITCs is associated with lower rates of public health insurance coverage and greater rates of private health insurance coverage among children. In addition, implementation of a state EITC appears to be associated with a significant improvement in a child\u27s health status for children ages 11 to 14 as reported by the child\u27s mother

Utilization of Long-Term Care by an Aging Population

In this brief, authors Reagan Baughman and Jon Hurdelbrink examine the relationship between macroeconomic conditions, as measured by the national unemployment rate, and utilization of long-term care, as measured by respondents’ reports in the Health and Retirement Study of what type of care they received in the past month to help with daily activities. Long-term care for older adults can take the form of nursing home care, formal (paid) home care, or informal (unpaid) home care. Almost 1 in 5 individuals over the age of 65 gets some type of help with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, and self-feeding, or with instrumental activities of daily living such as preparing hot meals and taking medications. The authors report that the utilization of long-term informal care services by Americans over age 65 is estimated to have declined by 6.75 percent during the Great Recession. This decrease was driven by a drop in informal care provided at home for free, usually by adult children or spouses. One reason that the elderly use less care during recessions is that they are in slightly better health than they would be/are when the unemployment rate is lower. The fraction of those over 65 who report fair or poor health decreased by 6.6 percent during the Great Recession. Better health reduces the need for care. That recessions are associated with better health for certain individuals, especially the elderly, is one of the more unexpected findings to come from research on the relationship between the economy and health

Failure analysis of a tool steel torque shaft

A low design load drive shaft used to deliver power from an experimental exhaust heat recovery system to the crankshaft of an experimental diesel truck engine failed during highway testing. An independent testing laboratory analyzed the failure by routine metallography and attributed the failure to fatigue induced by a banded microstructure. Visual examination by NASA of the failed shaft plus the knowledge of the torsional load that it carried pointed to a 100 percent ductile failure with no evidence of fatigue. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed this. Torsional test specimens were produced from pieces of the failed shaft and torsional overload testing produced identical failures to that which had occurred in the truck engine. This pointed to a failure caused by a high overload and although the microstructure was defective it was not the cause of the failure

Beyond Scope of Practice: Inferring High School Tennis Coaches' Behavior from their Nutrition and Eating Disorder Knowledge

The primary purpose of this study was to assess high school tennis coaches’ knowledge of macronutrients and disordered eating (e.g., etiology). Other purposes included identifying confidence in knowledge and any differences between the participating coaches’ knowledge and demographic variables. To address these purposes, the 27-question Nutrition and Eating Disorders in Tennis (“NET”) Survey was created. The study design involved a one-time voluntary assessment of the Indiana coaches’ demographic variables, knowledge, sources of knowledge, and level of confidence (e.g., Not At All or Very Confident). Overall, the results revealed that the coaches lacked knowledge. The average score was 70.6%, which was below the criterion for adequate knowledge. Furthermore, the coaches lacked adequate knowledge in three of the five knowledge domains: Treatment and Prevention of Disordered Eating (63.6% ± 22.9%), Disordered Eating Signs and Symptoms (60.0% ± 21.7%), and Macronutrients (57.0% ± 22.4%). There were no significant differences between coaches’ education level, gender, or type and knowledge. However, there was in experience; the more years coached, the lower the scores. Finally, there was a trend of overconfidence in answers