The Beacon Community Centers Middle School Initiative: Final Report on Implementation and Youth Experience in the Initiative

The report evaluates New York City's Beacon Middle School Initiative, which was launched to increase services to middle-grades youth through programs in academics, life skills, career awareness, civic engagement, physical health, and arts and culture. The report describes youth characteristics and participation, program features, connections to school and communities, youth reports of their experiences, and relationships between program characteristics and youth outcomes

Sustainable Approaches to Food Production

Permaculture is a system of ecological design that aims to create more sustainable communities: its principles reinforce to participants understanding patterns of nature, learning food production, managing water catchment and storage, utilizing renewable energy, and building communities. A permaculture system is the exemplary sustainable approach to food production systems that the Campus Garden aims to bring to the University at Buffalo. The belief is that through the building of this garden, we have created a community at UB that has a heightened understanding of where its food comes from (fair share), how that food affects individuals’ bodies (people care), and how food production affects the environment (earth care). With the framework of “Grow better, not bigger” in mind, the ultimate goal of this research is to double the amount of food production to forty-pounds, in the same 20’x20’ plot of the UB Campus Garden. To advance the Garden’s vision and further emphasize the importance of sustainability, it is our goal to explore different gardening techniques for implementation during the growing season. The four components to this alternative growing research include: 1) Community engagement and education; 2) Permaculture and companion planning; 3) Container gardening; and, 4) Vertical gardening. This research allows us to utilize the Garden’s space as best possible and be a representation to the campus community of how food production can occur despite space constraints. Wholly, we aim to educate individuals on alternative gardening techniques, prove that implementation of these techniques is plausible at other sites, and expand the campus community’s understanding of the importance of food production processes

Image Recognition of Disease-Carrying Insects: A System for Combating Infectious Diseases Using Image Classification Techniques and Citizen Science

We propose a system that assists infectious disease experts in the rapid identification of potential outbreaks resulting from arboviruses (mosquito, ticks, and other arthropod-borne viruses). The proposed system currently identifies mosquito larvae in images received from citizen scientists. Mosquito-borne viruses, such as the recent outbreak of Zika virus, can have devastating consequences in affected communities. We describe the first implemented prototype of our system, which includes modules for image collection, training of image classifiers, specimen recognition, and expert validation and analytics. The results of the recognition of specimens in images provided by citizen scientists can be used to generate visualizations of geographical regions of interest where the threat of an arbovirus may be imminent. Our system uses state-of-the-art image classification algorithms and a combination of mobile and desktop applications to ensure that crucial information is shared appropriately and accordingly among its users

Does Change in Isolated Lumbar Extensor Muscle Function Correlate with Good Clinical Outcome?:A Secondary Analysis of Data on Change in Isolated Lumbar Extension Strength, Pain and Disability in Chronic Low Back Pain

Purpose: Secondary analysis of data from studies utilising isolated lumbar extension exercise interventions for correlations among changes in isolated lumbar extension strength, pain, and disability. Materials and methods: Studies reporting isolated lumbar extension strength changes were examined for inclusion criteria including: (1) participants with chronic low back pain, (2) intervention ≥ four weeks including isolated lumbar extension exercise, (3) outcome measures including isolated lumbar extension strength, pain (Visual Analogue Scale), and disability (Oswestry Disability Index). Six studies encompassing 281 participants were included. Correlations among change in isolated lumbar extension strength, pain, and disability. Participants were grouped as “met” or “not met” based on minimal clinically important changes and between groups comparisons conducted. Results: Isolated lumbar extension strength and Visual Analogue Scale pooled analysis showed significant weak to moderate correlations (r = −0.391 to −0.539, all p < 0.001). Isolated lumbar extension strength and Oswestry Disability Index pooled analysis showed significant weak correlations (r = −0.349 to −0.470, all p < 0.001). For pain and disability, isolated lumbar extension strength changes were greater for those “met” compared with those “not met” (p < 0.001–0.008). Conclusions: Improvements in isolated lumbar extension strength may be related to positive and meaningful clinical outcomes. As many other performance outcomes and clinical outcomes are not related, isolated lumbar extension strength change may be a mechanism of action affecting symptom improvement. Implications for Rehabilitation: Chronic low back pain is often associated with deconditioning of the lumbar extensor musculature. Isolated lumbar extension exercise has been shown to condition this musculature and also reduce pain and disability. This study shows significant correlations between increases in isolated lumbar extension strength and reductions in pain and disability. Strengthening of the lumbar extensor musculature could be considered an important target for exercise interventions

Letters To The Editor.

No abstract available

GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper Citizen Science Data 2017–2020

The GLOBE Program\u27s GLOBE Observer application is a free citizen science mobile data collection and visualization tool compatible with iOS and Android operating systems. Citizen scientists armed with the app can report the mosquito larval habitats they identify using the GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool. This data can complement the climate, weather, and land cover data obtained from satellite measurements by scientists who develop risk models for mosquito-borne diseases. Public participation in mosquito surveillance research provides the opportunity to obtain the volume, velocity and variety of data needed to fight the threat of vector-borne diseases, especially in under-resourced communities with minimal to no municipal surveillance and mitigation services. GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mappers document and describe potential and active mosquito larval habitats in and around their homes and communities. An easy-to-use pictorial interface enables users to geolocate and describe oviposition sites encountered, count and identify mosquito larvae, and when appropriate, eliminate the larval habitats. During Mosquito Habitat Mapper\u27s first 3 years of use, over 24,000 data observations have been reported throughout the world. This technical report summarizes GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper data reported by GLOBE citizen scientists from three regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Localized mosquito larvae distribution patterns were examined by comparing data collected in three cities in Senegal–Dakar, Touba, and Thilmakha. The Senegal data show habitat and genera differences among mosquitoes identified by citizen scientists in the cities and illustrates the potential of the app for community-based surveillance and research

Multidimensional Perfectionism among Medical, Dental and Optometry students at SEGi University, Malaysia

Perfectionism is a double-edged sword: it may act as a motivational force in its adaptive state or it may bring many harmful effects in its maladaptive state. Currently, perfectionism is viewed as a multidimensional construct with three orientations: self-oriented perfectionism (SOP), other-oriented perfectionism (OOP) and socially-prescribed perfectionism (SPP). This cross-sectional study explored the multidimensional perfectionism of medical, dental and optometry at SEGi University, Malaysia using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS). Medical students scored significantly higher than both dental and optometry students in the SOP subscale (p<0.05). International students had a significantly higher mean SOP subscale score than the local students, whereas those from the higher income group had a significantly higher mean SOP subscale score than those from the lower income group (p<0.05). The high achievers, on the other hand, had a higher mean SOP subscale score than the non-high achievers (p<0.05). Further exploration on the psychological impact of perfectionism on the students is recommended in future studies