HOW DO THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO RELATE TO STUDENT PERCEPTIONS, KNOWLEDGE OF, AND WILLINGNESS TO PURCHASE AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE?

Carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise despite countries' efforts to meet their goals set in the Paris Agreement (Levin & Lebling, 2019). While the climate crisis continues to unfold, a greater amount of carbon dioxide emissions needs to be eliminated. In fact, if every other car on the road in the world were electric, it would be like wiping Russia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions clean. Russia is currently the world’s fourth worst GHG emitter in the world (Harrabin, 2020). Governments can electrify their postal fleets and fire trucks, but convincing corporations and every day consumers to change to electric vehicles continues to be difficult. This study aims to better understand environmental science students’ willingness to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) based on their demographics, their desire to curb emissions, and knowledge of EVs. To find the perceptions of the students, a survey was created using Qualtrics and analyzed using IBM SPSS. The faculty of the Environmental Science department at the University of Texas at San Antonio sent an email to the students with a link to the survey and out of the 440 students invited to take the survey, 23 responded. Analysis revealed the most significant predictor of willingness to purchase an EV was desire to curb emissions (R2 = 0.344, F(1,24) = 12.048, p0.05) or desire to curb emissions (t(23) = -0.211, p>0.05),(t(23) = -0.728, p>0.05). As environmental science students, it’s understandable that the men and women equally care about curbing emissions and are knowledgeable about electric vehicles. This study is important for understanding consumer perceptions and intentions of EVs. The climate crisis is time sensitive and the more quickly countries can push policies to reduce their fossil fuel emissions, the safer the future will be for everyone. Driving electric vehicles has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to reduce those emissions. This study produced results showing that among environmental students at the University of Texas at San Antonio, men and women both equally had a desire to curb emissions and knowledge of electric vehicles. However, more information needs to be collected; a larger sample of students from across all disciplines. The most noteworthy result was that the desire to curb emissions was the most significant predictor of willingness to purchase an EV. Although the participants in this study were all environmental students in San Antonio, it is interesting to note that a recent survey done in 2020 showed that men and women had a difference in knowledge and desire to help curb emissions around the country. Especially since Texas is a traditionally conservative state and there are no voluntary emissions standards laws, it’s fairly surprising that the students had no difference in knowledge or desire to curb emissions according to their gender

Fecal immunochemical test in colorectal cancer screening : impact of screening strategy and gender on colonoscopy findings, missed lesions and costs

In Sweden, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second and third most common type of cancer in men and women respectively. The relative five-year survival is approximately 65%, but prognosis is better if diagnosed at an early stage of disease. Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) detects blood in the stool and is used in screening, and individuals with a positive test are referred for colonoscopy. Several studies have indicated a lower sensitivity for advanced neoplasia (AN; CRC and advanced adenomas) in women as compared to men. In the Stockholm-Gotland region, population-based screening was initiated in 2008, and from 2015 FIT screening with lower cut-off levels for a positive test in women (40μg/g) than in men (80μg/g) was applied. The aim of this thesis was to increase the knowledge of the performance of FIT in an average-risk Swedish screening population and to explore a gender-specific screening strategy regarding colonoscopy findings, screening costs and interval CRC (IC; CRCs detected between two screening rounds after a negative screening episode). In Paper I the performance of two FIT samples at different cut-off levels was evaluated in a FIT-positive cohort from the randomized controlled study Screening of Swedish Colons (SCREESCO). The FIT level was significantly higher in individuals with CRC and AA as compared to other participants and correlated to adenoma size. CRC detection increased with lower cut-off level and multiple samples and was significantly higher with one sample at a low cut-off level than two samples at a higher cut-off level. The positive predictive value (PPV) for AA was significantly higher in men than in women for one and two samples at cut-off levels <40μg/g but PPV for CRC was equal between genders at all cut-offs and number of samples. In paper II the accuracy of two FIT samples at different cut-off levels were evaluated in a colonoscopy cohort from the SCREESCO study. Sensitivity and specificity for AN ranged from 7-26% and 89-99% respectively depending on the number of samples and the cut-off level. There was no gain in sensitivity using two samples instead of one, for any of the cut-off levels. Specificity was significantly higher with one sample as compared to any of the two samples, at the lowest cut-off levels. In the 225 participants with adenomas, pedunculated shape and high-risk dysplasia was independently associated with FIT positivity at cut-off ≥10μg/g for any of the two samples. Sensitivity for AA was significantly higher in men vs women, but specificity was similar between genders. In paper III the Stockholm-Gotland population-based screening program was evaluated regarding colonoscopy findings and costs in a screening cohort from 2015-2017. CRC was found in significantly more men than women, 138 (8.3%) vs 120 (5.8%). A normal colonoscopy was more common in women than in men (24% vs 17%, p-value <0.05). Had the cut-off level been 80μg/g in both genders, the PPV for CRC was estimated to be equalized between genders. However, in women with CRC, 28 (23%) had FIT level of 40-79μg/g and would thus have remained undetected at cut-off level 80μg/g in both genders. The gender-specific screening strategy was estimated to be 16% more expensive than the gender-equal strategy, corresponding to a 3% increment in costs per detected CRC. In paper IV the ICs were evaluated in the first round of the Stockholm-Gotland population-based screening program and compared to the experienced incidence rate (EIR) prior to screening implementation. In the cohort 124 FIT ICs, 7 colonoscopy ICs, 3 ICs in individuals non-compliant to colonoscopy and 177 CRCs in non-participants were detected within 2 years. Test sensitivity was 0.75 in women and 0.62 in men (p-value 0.011), but would have been equal, had cut-off level been 80μg/g in both genders. The IC rate was significantly higher in men than in women, 12.6 vs 6.0 per 10,000 negatives. The rate ratio of the IC incidence/EIR was 0.30-0.44 and non-significantly lower in the women as compared to the men in each age group. In all the 568 CRCs including those in non-participants, proximal localization was significantly more common in women (42%) than in men (29%)

The missing ingredient in effective-medium theories: Standard deviations

Effective-medium theories for electromagnetic constitutive parameters of particulate composite materials are theories of averages. Standard deviations are absent because of the lack of rigorous theories. But ensemble averages and standard deviations can be calculated from a rigorous theory of reflection by planar multilayers. Average reflectivities at all angles of incidence and two orthogonal polarization states for a multilayer composed of two kinds of electrically thin layers agree well with reflectivities for a single layer with the same overall thickness and a volume-weighted average of the relative permittivities of these two components. But the relative standard deviation can be appreciable depending on the angle of incidence and the polarization state of the incident illumination, and increases with increasing difference between the constitutive parameters of the two layers. This suggests that average constitutive parameters obtained from effective-medium theories do not have uniform validity for all calculations in which they might be used.Comment: 12 pages (accepted for publication in Journal of Modern Optics

Toroidal Dipolar Supersolid with a Rotating Weak Link

Ring-shaped superfluids with weak links provide a perfect environment for studying persistent currents and dynamic stirring protocols. Here, we investigate the effects of a weak-link system on dipolar supersolids. By calculating the ground state energy at fixed angular momenta, we find that metastable persistent currents may exist in the supersolid phase near the superfluid transition point. When stirring the weak link rapidly enough, we show that vortices can enter the supersolid. These vortex entries cause phase slips, emitting solitonic excitations that interfere with the crystalline structure of the supersolid, leading to a continuous melting and recrystallization of the droplets. Finally, we examine the release of vortex-carrying supersolids from the trap, observing that the released density exhibits a discrete structure associated with the density modulation and a central hole resulting from the vortex core.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Företagsacceleratorer i ett industriellt nätverk

Syftet är att undersöka hur ett stort företag kan designa ett industriellt nätverk med ett acceleratorprogram och om det främjar innovation. Uppsatsen har strukturerats utifrån ARA-modellen av Håkansson & Snehota (1995). Vidare har teori använts som till största del baseras på stora företag, start-ups, interaktiv innovation, inkubatorer och acceleratorer. Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ studie där vi använt oss av ett abduktivt synsätt. Studien är baserad på en inbäddad fallstudie av ett större företag. Insamling av primärdata har gjort med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Teori och empiri som insamlats har möjliggjort en analys och slutsatser. Den primära data är insamlad från tre aktörer i det industriella nätverket kopplat till företagsacceleratorn E.ON :Agile som är lokaliserad i Malmö. Resultatet visar på hur ett industriellt nätverk med en företagsaccelerator kan skapas i syfte att främja innovation. Det som är essentiellt för att nå syftet med innovation inom industriellt nätverk är att determinera strategiska mål i förhand för att forma byggstenar av resurser och aktiviteter för att stärka band mellan aktörer

Silicon saw-tooth refractive lens for high-energy X-rays made using a diamond saw

A Si saw-tooth refractive lens, fabricated by a dicing process, is demonstrated to focus a 115 keV X-ray beam

Challenges and opportunities for quantifying roots and rhizosphere interactions through imaging and image analysis

The morphology of roots and root systems influences the efficiency by which plants acquire nutrients and water, anchor themselves and provide stability to the surrounding soil. Plant genotype and the biotic and abiotic environment significantly influence root morphology, growth and ultimately crop yield. The challenge for researchers interested in phenotyping root systems is, therefore, not just to measure roots and link their phenotype to the plant genotype, but also to understand how the growth of roots is influenced by their environment. This review discusses progress in quantifying root system parameters (e.g. in terms of size, shape and dynamics) using imaging and image analysis technologies and also discusses their potential for providing a better understanding of root:soil interactions. Significant progress has been made in image acquisition techniques, however trade-offs exist between sample throughput, sample size, image resolution and information gained. All of these factors impact on downstream image analysis processes. While there have been significant advances in computation power, limitations still exist in statistical processes involved in image analysis. Utilizing and combining different imaging systems, integrating measurements and image analysis where possible, and amalgamating data will allow researchers to gain a better understanding of root:soil interactions