Migrant Farmworkers\u27 Perceptions of Pesticide Risk Exposure in Adams County, Pennsylvania: A Cultural Risk Assessment

Agricultural exceptionalism, a system in which regular labor laws and standards do not apply to farm labor, makes migrant farmworkers particularly vulnerable populations—economically, socially, and in terms of environmental health. To address inequities inherent in migrant farmworker margin­aliza­tion, studies advocate for actively engaging the migrant farmworker population in the conversation surrounding these issues. We conducted 40 semi­structured interviews with migrant farmworkers in Adams County, Pennsylvania, to understand pesti­cide risk exposure perceptions and practices. We employed the Health Belief Model as our cultural risk assessment frame, using it in combination with technical risk assessment, which uses government calculations (from the Environmental Protection Agency) to quantify pesticide risk exposure. We used mixed methods analyses (quantitative and qualitative) to compare and understand farmworker demographics, perceived risk, perceived control, and risk behavior. Results show that demo­graphics —e.g., age, education, visa status—are important factors in risk perception. They also confirm observations present in many earlier studies. While trainings and educational materials are valuable to help build awareness of risk, a systemic lack of control over their circumstances make it hard for migrant farmworkers to engage in safe behavior. Results also highlight the limitations of technical risk assessment. Such calculations, however, rarely account for risk perceptions and experiences of farm­workers themselves. Acknowledging the voices of migrant farmworkers is an essential first step in rebalancing inequities of power in our food systems, and cultural risk assessment can help frame recommendations that target different stake­holders across the pesticide regulatory spectrum to ensure migrant farmworker needs and safety

Hungary, Poland, and Access to EU Funding: The EU Charts a New Course Under The Necessity of Legislation, Conditionality, and The Rule of Law.

In recent years, there has been considerable backsliding in Hungary and Poland regarding the rule of law, media plurality, judicial independence, and emergency powers. In response, the European Union (“EU”) exercised its authority under Article 7 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union to withhold COVID-19 relief funds in an effort to compel these nations to realign with EU principles. This article examines the history, consequence, and legal effect of the landmark decision, Hungary v. Parliament and Council. It argues that the EU was on sound legal footing to utilize money as a means to protect the values of the institution. However, the implications of invoking Article 7 are far reaching, which requires the EU to establish clarity as to the “rules of the road” for Member States going forward, particularly regarding the application of rule of law principles

Toxicity-related antiretroviral drug treatment modifications in individuals starting therapy: a cohort analysis of time patterns, sex, and other risk factors.

BackgroundModifications to combination antiretroviral drug therapy (CART) regimens can occur for a number of reasons, including adverse drug effects. We investigated the frequency of and reasons for antiretroviral drug modifications (ADM) during the first 3 years after initiation of CART, in a closed cohort of CART-naïve adult patients who started treatment in the period 1998-2007 in Croatia.Material and methodsWe calculated differential toxicity rates by the Poisson method. In multivariable analysis, we used a discrete-time regression model for repeated events for the outcome of modification due to drug toxicity.ResultsOf 321 patients who started CART, median age was 40 years, 19% were women, baseline CD4 was <200 cells/mm3 in 71%, and viral load was ≥100 000 copies/mL in 69%. Overall, 220 (68.5%) patients had an ADM; 124 (56%) of these had ≥1 ADM for toxicity reasons. Only 12.7% of individuals starting CART in the period 1998-2002 and 39.4% in the period 2003-2007 remained on the same regimen after 3 years. The following toxicities caused ADM most often: lipoatrophy (22%), gastrointestinal symptoms (20%), and neuropathy (18%). Only 5% of drug changes were due to virologic failure. Female sex (hazard ratio [HR], 2.42 95%; confidence intervals, 1.39-4.24) and older age (HR, 1.42 per every 10 years) were associated with toxicity-related ADM in the first 3 months of a particular CART regimen, but after 3 months of CART they were not.ConclusionsLess toxic and better-tolerated HIV treatment options should be available and used more frequently in Croatia

Inverse Simulation Incorporating the Conceptual Simulation Model. Internal report no. 9428

This report documents the application of the inverse simulation algorithm Genisa [1] to the Conceptual Simulation Model developed at DRA Bedford. The CSM is a simple, decoupled helicopter model used to investigate advanced control systems. As the aim was primarily to test the practicalities of the CSM in inverse simulation, no attempt has been made here to qualify the model, which is described in Appendix A and more fully in reference [2]. The Lateral Jinking manoeuvre is used to generate all results. Helicopter configurational data is similar to a Westland Lynx

Playing popular science

Popular science is a critical form of science communication and dissemination. While scientific journals and detailed textbooks are well suited to dissemination of detailed theories and findings within academic communities, there is a definitive need to inform the general public of key scientific concepts and challenges. Indeed, this is increasingly seen as a central part of any research project or funding bid: in the United Kingdom, the Research Councils stipulate a need to consider public engagement and outreach in research proposals For scientists, the popular science book has long been a medium of choice, primarily because they already have a great deal of experience in writing. But in recent years scientific researchers have been increasingly engaged with other forms of popular science communication, including radio and television broadcasting. Early careers researchers are now provided with training in these areas, including guidance on how to develop programme proposals and how to write, present, direct, and edit materials for print, the airwaves, and screen. In effect, today’s scientists are expected to engage directly with popular science journalism not merely as scientific advisors, but as the writers, directors, and broadcasters.This event involved an exhibition and discussion of four popular science games, co-designed by scientific experts and designed and developed by students at Abertay University. The four games were: (1) Namaka by Crowbar Games Co-designed by Ecotoxicologist Dr Brian Quinn (2) Tides: A Shark Tale by Benthos Games Co-designed by Immunologist and sharks expert Dr Helen Dooley (3) Orbs by Quantessential Games Co-designed by Quantum Physicist Dr Erik Gauger (4) Cell Cycle by Type 3 Games Co-designed by Cell Biologist and cancer researcher Dr Adrian Sauri

The geometry of reaction norms yields insights on classical fitness functions for Great Lakes salmon.

Life history theory examines how characteristics of organisms, such as age and size at maturity, may vary through natural selection as evolutionary responses that optimize fitness. Here we ask how predictions of age and size at maturity differ for the three classical fitness functions-intrinsic rate of natural increase r, net reproductive rate R0, and reproductive value Vx-for semelparous species. We show that different choices of fitness functions can lead to very different predictions of species behavior. In one's efforts to understand an organism's behavior and to develop effective conservation and management policies, the choice of fitness function matters. The central ingredient of our approach is the maturation reaction norm (MRN), which describes how optimal age and size at maturation vary with growth rate or mortality rate. We develop a practical geometric construction of MRNs that allows us to include different growth functions (linear growth and nonlinear von Bertalanffy growth in length) and develop two-dimensional MRNs useful for quantifying growth-mortality trade-offs. We relate our approach to Beverton-Holt life history invariants and to the Stearns-Koella categorization of MRNs. We conclude with a detailed discussion of life history parameters for Great Lakes Chinook Salmon and demonstrate that age and size at maturity are consistent with predictions using R0 (but not r or Vx) as the underlying fitness function

Use of record-linkage to handle non-response and improve alcohol consumption estimates in health survey data: a study protocol

<p>Introduction: Reliable estimates of health-related behaviours, such as levels of alcohol consumption in the population, are required to formulate and evaluate policies. National surveys provide such data; validity depends on generalisability, but this is threatened by declining response levels. Attempts to address bias arising from non-response are typically limited to survey weights based on sociodemographic characteristics, which do not capture differential health and related behaviours within categories. This project aims to explore and address non-response bias in health surveys with a focus on alcohol consumption.</p> <p>Methods and analysis: The Scottish Health Surveys (SHeS) aim to provide estimates representative of the Scottish population living in private households. Survey data of consenting participants (92% of the achieved sample) have been record-linked to routine hospital admission (Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR)) and mortality (from National Records of Scotland (NRS)) data for surveys conducted in 1995, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (total adult sample size around 40 000), with maximum follow-up of 16 years. Also available are census information and SMR/NRS data for the general population. Comparisons of alcohol-related mortality and hospital admission rates in the linked SHeS-SMR/NRS with those in the general population will be made. Survey data will be augmented by quantification of differences to refine alcohol consumption estimates through the application of multiple imputation or inverse probability weighting. The resulting corrected estimates of population alcohol consumption will enable superior policy evaluation. An advanced weighting procedure will be developed for wider use.</p> <p>Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval for SHeS has been given by the National Health Service (NHS) Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committee and use of linked data has been approved by the Privacy Advisory Committee to the Board of NHS National Services Scotland and Registrar General. Funding has been granted by the MRC. The outputs will include four or five public health and statistical methodological international journal and conference papers.</p&gt

Comparison of nonlinear dynamic inversion and inverse simulation

No abstract available

The influence of clustering coefficient on word-learning: how groups of similar sounding words facilitate acquisition

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author’s publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Clustering coefficient, C, measures the extent to which neighbors of a word are also neighbors of each other, and has been shown to influence speech production, speech perception, and several memory-related processes. In this study we examined how C influences word-learning. Participants were trained over three sessions at 1-week intervals, and tested with a picture-naming task on nonword-nonobject pairs. We found an advantage for novel words with high C (the neighbors of this novel word are likely to be neighbors with each other), but only after the 1-week retention period with no additional exposures to the stimuli. The results are consistent with the spreading-activation network-model of the lexicon proposed by Chan and Vitevitch (2009). The influence of C on various language-related processes suggests that characteristics of the individual word are not the only things that influence processing; rather, lexical processing may also be influenced by the relationships that exist among words in the lexicon