Implementation Evaluation of a Professional Development Program for Comprehensive School Physical Activity Leaders

The purpose of this study was to conduct an implementation monitoring evaluation of a yearlong comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) professional development program across eight multi-state physical education (PE) teacher cohorts. Mixed-method data were collected during a three-year implementation period via workshop attendance sheets and evaluations, post-workshop implementation plans and artifacts, and follow-up phone interviews to enumerate and evaluate the program’s process of recruitment, reach, dose delivered, dose received, fidelity, and context. Recruitment strategies reached a total of 234 PE teacher attendees across eight workshops, with 77 PE teachers (primarily female, elementary, public school teachers) completing all program requirements. Facilitators among full program completers were participation incentives and network opportunities, while common inhibitors were difficulty with online technology and perceptions of added workload. Completers submitted implementation plans with at least three action steps, ranging from 4 to 7 months to accomplish, that predominately commenced with securing administration approval as the first step (81%), focused on implementing student physical activity initiatives beyond PE (76%), and evidenced with mostly picture artifacts (78%). Implementation was facilitated by the presence of multilevel support at school and an elevated image of PE and PE teachers at school, and was inhibited by scheduling constraints, unrealistic planning, and conflicting perceptions of physical activity and PE. Overall, this evaluation reveals unique perspectives of PE teachers regarding schoolwide PA promotion and informs future efforts to target and effectively support CSPAP leaders

The Application of an Implementation Science Framework to Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: Be a Champion!

Comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAPs) have been endorsed as a promising strategy to increase youth physical activity (PA) in school settings. A CSPAP is a five-component approach, which includes opportunities before, during, and after school for PA. Extensive resources are available to public health practitioners and school officials regarding what should be implemented, but little guidance and few resources are available regarding how to effectively implement a CSPAP. Implementation science provides a number of conceptual frameworks that can guide implementation of a CSPAP, but few published studies have employed an implementation science framework to a CSPAP. Therefore, we developed Be a Champion! (BAC), which represents a synthesis of implementation science strategies, modified for application to CSPAPs implementation in schools while allowing for local tailoring of the approach. This article describes BAC while providing examples from the implementation of a CSPAP in three rural elementary schools

The Application of an Implementation Science Framework to Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: Be a Champion!

Comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAPs) have been endorsed as a promising strategy to increase youth physical activity (PA) in school settings. A CSPAP is a five-component approach, which includes opportunities before, during, and after school for PA. Extensive resources are available to public health practitioners and school officials regarding what should be implemented, but little guidance and few resources are available regarding how to effectively implement a CSPAP. Implementation science provides a number of conceptual frameworks that can guide implementation of a CSPAP, but few published studies have employed an implementation science framework to a CSPAP. Therefore, we developed Be a Champion! (BAC), which represents a synthesis of implementation science strategies, modified for application to CSPAPs implementation in schools while allowing for local tailoring of the approach. This article describes BAC while providing examples from the implementation of a CSPAP in three rural elementary schools

Physical Activity Surveillance in the United States for Work and Commuting: Understanding the Impact on Population Health and Well-being

Objective: To summarize and describe the current US surveillance systems that assess physical activity (PA) for work and commuting. Methods: An expert group conducted an environmental scan, generating a list (n = 18) which was ultimately reduced to 12, based on the inclusion of PA and/or sedentary behavior data. Results: The 12 surveys or surveillance systems summarized provide nationally representative data on occupational-level PA or individual-level PA at work, data on active commuting, some are scorecards that summarize workplace health best practices and allow benchmarking, and one is a comprehensive nationally representative survey of employers assessing programs and practices in different worksites. Conclusions: The various surveillance systems and surveys/scorecards are disparate and need to be better analyzed and summarized to understand the impact of occupational-level PA and commuting on population health and well-being, life expectancy, and workforce productivity

In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of a Water-in-Oil Microemulsion System for Enhanced Peptide Intestinal Delivery

Peptide and protein drugs have become the new generation of therapeutics, yet most of them are only available as injections, and reports on oral local intestinal delivery of peptides and proteins are quite limited. The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate a water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsion system in vitro and in vivo for local intestinal delivery of water-soluble peptides after oral administration. A fluorescent labeled peptide, 5-(and-6)-carboxytetramethylrhodamine labeled HIV transactivator protein TAT (TAMRA-TAT), was used as a model peptide. Water-in-oil microemulsions consisting of Miglyol 812, Capmul MCM, Tween 80, and water were developed and characterized in terms of appearance, viscosity, conductivity, morphology, and particle size analysis. TAMRA-TAT was loaded and its enzymatic stability was assessed in modified simulated intestinal fluid (MSIF) in vitro. In in vivo studies, TAMRA-TAT intestinal distribution was evaluated using fluorescence microscopy after TAMRA-TAT microemulsion, TAMRA-TAT solution, and placebo microemulsion were orally gavaged to mice. The half-life of TAMRA-TAT in microemulsion was enhanced nearly three-fold compared to that in the water solution when challenged by MSIF. The treatment with TAMRA-TAT microemulsion after oral administration resulted in greater fluorescence intensity in all intestine sections (duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and colon) compared to TAMRA-TAT solution or placebo microemulsion. The in vitro and in vivo studies together suggested TAMRA-TAT was better protected in the w/o microemulsion in an enzyme-containing environment, suggesting that the w/o microemulsions developed in this study may serve as a potential delivery vehicle for local intestinal delivery of peptides or proteins after oral administration

Combined effects of tidal and rotational distortions on the equilibrium configuration of low-mass, pre-main sequence stars

In close binary systems, rotation and tidal forces of the component stars deform each other and destroy their spherical symmetry. We present new models for low-mass, pre-main sequence stars that include the combined distortion effects of tidal and rotational forces on the equilibrium configuration of stars. We investigate the effects of interaction between tides and rotation on the stellar structure and evolution. The Kippenhahn & Thomas (1970) approximation, along with the Clairaut-Legendre expansion for the gravitational potential of a self-gravitating body, is used to take the distortion effects into account. We obtained values of internal structure constants for low-mass, pre-main sequence stars from stellar evolutionary models that consider the combined effects of rotation and tidal forces due to a companion star. We also derived a new expression for the rotational inertia of a tidally and rotationally distorted star. Our distorted models were successfully used to analyze the eclipsing binary system EK Cep, reproducing the stellar radii, effective temperature ratio, lithium depletion, rotational velocities, and the apsidal motion rate in the age interval of 15.5-16.7 Myr. In the low-mass range, the assumption that harmonics greater than j=2 can be neglected seems not to be fully justified, although it is widely used when analyzing the apsidal motion of binary systems. The non-standard evolutionary tracks are cooler than the standard ones, mainly for low-mass stars. Distorted models predict more mass-concentrated stars at the zero-age main-sequence than standard models

High-Contrast NIR Polarization Imaging of MWC480

One of the key predictions of modeling from the IR excess of Herbig Ae stars is that for protoplanetary disks, where significant grain growth and settling has occurred, the dust disk has flattened to the point that it can be partially or largely shadowed by the innermost material at or near the dust sublimation radius. When the self-shadowing has already started, the outer disk is expected to be detected in scattered light only in the exceptional cases that the scale height of the dust disk at the sublimation radius is smaller than usual. High-contrast imaging combined with the IR spectral energy distribution allow us to measure the degree of flattening of the disk, as well as to determine the properties of the outer disk. We present polarimetric differential imaging in $H$ band obtained with Subaru/HiCIAO of one such system, MWC 480. The HiCIAO data were obtained at a historic minimum of the NIR excess. The disk is detected in scattered light from 0\farcs2-1\farcs0 (27.4-137AU). Together with the marginal detection of the disk from 1998 February 24 by HST/NICMOS, our data constrain the opening half angle for the disk to lie between 1.3$\leq\theta\leq 2.2^\circ$. When compared with similar measures in CO for the gas disk from the literature, the dust disk subtends only $\sim$30% of the gas disk scale height (H/R$\sim$0.03). Such a dust disk is a factor of 5-7 flatter than transitional disks, which have structural signatures that giant planets have formed.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, ApJ accepted 2012-05-0

Discovery of Small-Scale Spiral Structures in the Disk of SAO 206462 (HD 135344B): Implications for the Physical State of the Disk from Spiral Density Wave Theory

We present high-resolution, H-band, imaging observations, collected with Subaru/HiCIAO, of the scattered light from the transitional disk around SAO 206462 (HD 135344B). Although previous sub-mm imagery suggested the existence of the dust-depleted cavity at r~46AU, our observations reveal the presence of scattered light components as close as 0.2" (~28AU) from the star. Moreover, we have discovered two small-scale spiral structures lying within 0.5" (~70AU). We present models for the spiral structures using the spiral density wave theory, and derive a disk aspect ratio of h~0.1, which is consistent with previous sub-mm observations. This model can potentially give estimates of the temperature and rotation profiles of the disk based on dynamical processes, independently from sub-mm observations. It also predicts the evolution of the spiral structures, which can be observable on timescales of 10-20 years, providing conclusive tests of the model. While we cannot uniquely identify the origin of these spirals, planets embedded in the disk may be capable of exciting the observed morphology. Assuming that this is the case, we can make predictions on the locations and, possibly, the masses of the unseen planets. Such planets may be detected by future multi-wavelengths observations.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, ApJL in press, typo correcte

High-Resolution Near-Infrared Polarimetry of a Circumstellar Disk around UX Tau A

We present H-band polarimetric imagery of UX Tau A taken with HiCIAO/AO188 on the Subaru Telescope. UX Tau A has been classified as a pre-transitional disk object, with a gap structure separating its inner and outer disks. Our imagery taken with the 0.15 (21 AU) radius coronagraphic mask has revealed a strongly polarized circumstellar disk surrounding UX Tau A which extends to 120 AU, at a spatial resolution of 0.1 (14 AU). It is inclined by 46 \pm 2 degree as the west side is nearest. Although SED modeling and sub-millimeter imagery suggested the presence of a gap in the disk, with the inner edge of the outer disk estimated to be located at 25 - 30 AU, we detect no evidence of a gap at the limit of our inner working angle (23 AU) at the near-infrared wavelength. We attribute the observed strong polarization (up to 66 %) to light scattering by dust grains in the disk. However, neither polarization models of the circumstellar disk based on Rayleigh scattering nor Mie scattering approximations were consistent with the observed azimuthal profile of the polarization degrees of the disk. Instead, a geometric optics model of the disk with nonspherical grains with the radii of 30 micron meter is consistent with the observed profile. We suggest that the dust grains have experienced frequent collisional coagulations and have grown in the circumstellar disk of UX Tau A.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, and 1 table. accepted to PAS