Comparison of Bacteroides Human Markers for Pollution Diagnostics in Recreational Waters

This presentation was given during the Great Lakes Beach Association Annual Conference

Early socioemotional competence, psychopathology, and latent class profiles of reparative prosocial behaviors from preschool through early adolescence

Children who have difficulty using reparative behaviors following transgressions display a wide range of poorer social and emotional outcomes. Despite the importance of reparative skills, no study has charted the developmental trajectory of these behaviors or pinpointed predictors of poorer reparative abilities. To address these gaps in the literature, this study applied growth mixture modeling to parent reports of children\u27s reparative behaviors (N = 230) in a 9-year longitudinal data set spanning from preschool to early adolescence. Three distinct trajectories of reparative behaviors were found: a low-stable, moderate-stable, and high-stable latent class. Poorer emotion understanding, social withdrawal, social rejection, and maladaptive guilt in the preschool period predicted membership in a low-stable reparative trajectory. Externalizing diagnoses, particularly conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, also predicted membership in a low-stable reparative trajectory. Preschool-onset depression predicted membership in a low-stable reparative trajectory through high levels of maladaptive guilt. The findings from this study suggest that socioemotional deficits in the preschool period set children on longstanding trajectories of impaired reparative responding. Thus, emotion understanding, social functioning, maladaptive guilt, and early psychiatric symptoms should be targeted in early preventive interventions

Some comprehension problems in kindergarten,

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Sex differences in cooperative coalitions: a mammalian perspective

In group-living species, cooperative tactics can offset asymmetries in resource-holding potential between individuals and alter the outcome of intragroup conflicts. Differences in the kinds of competitive pressures that males and females face might influence the benefits they gain from forming intragroup coalitions. We predicted that there would be a female bias in intragroup coalitions because females (1) are more like to live with kin than males are, and (2) compete over resources that are more readily shared than resources males compete over. We tested this main prediction using information about coalition formation across mammalian species and phylogenetic comparative analyses. We found that for nearly all species in which intragroup coalitions occur, members of both sexes participate, making this the typical mammalian pattern. The presence and frequency of female or male coalitions were not strongly associated with key socio-ecological factors like resource defensibility, sexual dimorphism or philopatry. This suggests that once the ability to form intragroup coalitions emerges in one sex, it is likely to emerge in the other sex as well and that there is no strong phylogenetic legacy of sex differences in this form of cooperation. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’

Perceptual and production training of intervocalic /d, Q, r/ in American English learners of Spanish

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4802902.This study investigates the effectiveness of three high variability training paradigms in training 42 speakers of American English to correctly perceive and produce Spanish intervocalic /d, ɾ, r/. Since Spanish spirantization and English flapping both affect /d/ intervocalically, the acquisition of the /d/-/ɾ/ contrast proves difficult for English learners of Spanish. The acquisition of the trill /r/ is also problematic because it is a new phoneme for English learners and is articulatorily difficult to produce. Past research reported that high-variability perceptual training improves both perception and production [Bradlow et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 101, 2299–2310 (1997); Wang et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 113, 1033–1043 (2003)] and that production training improves both as well [Hirata, Comp. Assisted Lang. Learning 17, 357–376 (2004)]. However, trainees were able to listen to stimuli during production training, making it unclear whether production training alone transfers to perception. This study systematically controls both training modalities so they can be directly compared and introduces a third training methodology that includes both perception and production. All three training paradigms proved effective. While perception and production trainees primarily made gains in perception, combination trainees made gains in production. The effectiveness of each training modality depended on the nature of the contrast being trained and the modality of the test

The role of temperature in the magnetic irreversibility of type-I Pb superconductors

Evidence of how temperature takes part in the magnetic irreversibility in the intermediate state of a cylinder and various disks of pure type-I superconducting lead is presented. Isothermal measurements of first magnetization curves and magnetic hysteresis cycles are analyzed in a reduced representation that defines an equilibrium state for flux penetration in all the samples and reveals that flux expulsion depends on temperature in the disks but not in the cylinder. The magnetic field at which irreversibility sets in along the descending branch of the hysteresis cycle and the remnant magnetization at zero field are found to decrease with temperature in the disks. The contributions to irreversibility of the geometrical barrier and the energy minima associated to stress defects that act as pinning centers on normal-superconductor interfaces are discussed. The differences observed among the disks are ascribed to the diverse nature of the stress defects in each sample. The pinning barriers are suggested to decrease with the magnetic field to account for these results

Exploring the Relationship between Diet and TV, Computer and Video Game Use in a Group of Canadian Children

Increased screen-time has been linked to unhealthy dietary practices but most studies have looked primarily at television viewing or an amalgam. Therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between specific screen-time (TV, computer, video game) and a selection of healthy dietary intake measures (calories, carbohydrate, fat, sugar, fruit, vegetables, fibre and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB)) in a group of Canadian children. We used single day sedentary and dietary recalls to assess sedentary behaviour and diet in 1423 children (9.90 (0.58) y; 737 girls, 686 boys) from the Action Schools! BC Dissemination study. Correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to explore sedentary behaviour-diet relationships. TV and video game use were correlated with higher calories, fat, sugar and SSB consumption (r = 0.07 to 0.09; p <.01) and lower fibre intake (r = -0.05 to -0.06; p <.05). TV use was also correlated with lower fruit and vegetable intake. Regression analyses showed that when controlling for other variables, only TV and video game use predicted sugar and SSB consumption (β =.06 to.08; p <.05). Computer use was correlated with calories but did not significantly predict any of the measures of dietary intake. Although screen time was significantly associated with less healthy eating profiles, it did not account for much variance in dietary behaviour of these children

Bacterial communities of planktonic bacteria and mature biofilm in service lines and premise plumbing of a Megacity:Composition, Diversity, and influencing factors

Although simulated studies have provided valuable knowledge regarding the communities of planktonic bacteria and biofilms, the lack of systematic field studies have hampered the understanding of microbiology in real-world service lines and premise plumbing. In this study, the bacterial communities of water and biofilm were explored, with a special focus on the lifetime development of biofilm communities and their key influencing factors. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing results showed that both the planktonic bacteria and biofilm were dominated by Proteobacteria. Among the 15,084 observed amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), the 33 core ASVs covered 72.8 %, while the 12 shared core ASVs accounted for 62.2 % of the total sequences. Remarkably, it was found that the species richness and diversity of biofilm communities correlated with pipe age. The relative abundance of ASV2 (f_Sphingomonadaceae) was lower for pipe ages 40–50 years (7.9 %) than for pipe ages 10–20 years (59.3 %), while the relative abundance of ASV10 (f_Hyphomonadaceae) was higher for pipe ages 40–50 years (19.5 %) than its presence at pipe ages 20–30 years (1.9 %). The community of the premise plumbing biofilm had significantly higher species richness and diversity than that of the service line, while the steel-plastics composite pipe interior lined with polyethylene (S-PE) harbored significantly more diverse biofilm than the galvanized steel pipes (S-Zn). Interestingly, S-PE was enriched with ASV27 (g_Mycobacterium), while S-Zn pipes were enriched with ASV13 (g_Pseudomonas). Moreover, the network analysis showed that five rare ASVs, not core ASVs, were keystone members in biofilm communities, indicating the importance of rare members in the function and stability of biofilm communities. This manuscript provides novel insights into real-world service lines and premise plumbing microbiology, regarding lifetime dynamics (pipe age 10–50 years), and the influences of pipe types (premise plumbing vs. service line) and pipe materials (S-Zn vs. S-PE).</p

Building water quality deterioration during water supply restoration after interruption:Influences of premise plumbing configuration

Premise plumbing plays an essential role in determining the final quality of drinking water consumed by customers. However, little is known about the influences of plumbing configuration on water quality changes. This study selected parallel premise plumbing in the same building with different configurations, i.e., laboratory and toilet plumbing. Water quality deteriorations induced by premise plumbing under regular and interrupted water supply were investigated. The results showed that most of the water quality parameters did not vary under regular supply, except Zn, which was significantly increased by laboratory plumbing (78.2 to 260.7 µg/l). For the bacterial community, the Chao1 index was significantly increased by both plumbing types to a similar level (52 to 104). Laboratory plumbing significantly changed the bacterial community, but toilet plumbing did not. Remarkably, water supply interruption/restoration led to serious water quality deterioration in both plumbing types but resulted in different changes. Physiochemically, discoloration was observed only in laboratory plumbing, along with sharp increases in Mn and Zn. Microbiologically, the increase in ATP was sharper in toilet plumbing than in laboratory plumbing. Some opportunistic pathogen-containing genera, e.g., Legionella spp. and Pseudomonas spp., were present in both plumbing types but only in disturbed samples. This study highlighted the esthetic, chemical, and microbiological risks associated with premise plumbing, for which system configuration plays an important role. Attention should be given to optimizing premise plumbing design for managing building water quality.</p