The Partial Immersion Aquatic Approach Using Adjustable Weight Bearing to Improve Posture and Sitting Balance Adaptation for Children with Severe Cerebral Palsy

The innovative ‟Partial Immersion” Aquatic Therapy Approach was developed to enhance balance and posture during sitting adaptation for children with severe cerebral palsy who exhibit deficiency in those skills on land. Stable balance during sitting posture is one of the preconditions for hands function in activities of daily living. Aquatic skills learned during aquatic therapy were then transferred to a land environment. Therapy included the use of a treatment chair that enabled adjustable weight bearing in a series of 30 mm steps. A mixed-methods design employing a multiple case study approach (n=5) including quantitative and qualitative methods investigated the effectiveness of the proposed treatment. Cases were tested at pre-and post-treatment times (base-lines 1 and 2) and at a 12-month follow-up point. All participants improved posture and balance adaptations during free sitting on land. Water intervention treatments achieved the highest improved output result as measured per minute of treatment time. Combined water-land treatments achieved less efficient results and the land-only intervention achieved the lowest output results in relation to minute of treatment time. The findings extend our knowledge in relation to theories of natural selection, motor control, motor learning and dynamical systems

How Will Energy Demand Develop in the Developing World?

Most of the medium-run growth in energy demand is forecast to come from the developing world, which consumed more total units of energy than the developed world in 2007. We argue that the main driver of the growth is likely to be increased incomes among the poor and near-poor. We document that as households come out of poverty and join the middle class, they acquire appliances, such as refrigerators, and vehicles for the first time. These new goods require energy to use and energy to manufacture. The current forecasts for energy demand in the developing world may be understated because they do not accurately capture the dramatic increase in demand associated with poverty reduction.

The Value of Native Plants and Local Production in an Era of Global Agriculture

For addressing potential food shortages, a fundamental tradeoff exists between investing more resources to increasing productivity of existing crops, as opposed to increasing crop diversity by incorporating more species. We explore ways to use local plants as food resources and the potential to promote food diversity and agricultural resilience. We discuss how use of local plants and the practice of local agriculture can contribute to ongoing adaptability in times of global change. Most food crops are now produced, transported, and consumed long distances from their homelands of origin. At the same time, research and practices are directed primarily at improving the productivity of a small number of existing crops that form the cornerstone of a global food economy, rather than to increasing crop diversity. The result is a loss of agro-biodiversity, leading to a food industry that is more susceptible to abiotic and biotic stressors, and more at risk of catastrophic losses. Humans cultivate only about 150 of an estimated 30,000 edible plant species worldwide, with only 30 plant species comprising the vast majority of our diets. To some extent, these practices explain the food disparity among human populations, where nearly 1 billion people suffer insufficient nutrition and 2 billion people are obese or overweight. Commercial uses of new crops and wild plants of local origin have the potential to diversify global food production and better enable local adaptation to the diverse environments humans inhabit. We discuss the advantages, obstacles, and risks of using local plants. We also describe a case study—the missed opportunity to produce pine nuts commercially in the Western United States. We discuss the potential consequences of using local pine nuts rather than importing them overseas. Finally, we provide a list of edible native plants, and synthesize the state of research concerning the potential and challenges in using them for food production. The goal of our synthesis is to support more local food production using native plants in an ecologically sustainable manner

Deformation Processes Adjacent to Active Faults: Examples from Eastern California

Major seismogenic faults occur within bands of inelastic off-fault deformation (OFD), where both distributed displacement and modification of rock properties occur. Active distributed displacement may affect slip-rate estimates, understanding of seismic energy radiation and geodynamic models. This study addresses the role of OFD in the displacement history and mechanical behavior of major seismogenic faults. Here I present a multi-site study of planar and linear geologic features next to active strike-slip faults in the central Mojave Desert. Conservative estimates suggest that distributed displacement accommodates 19 ± 3 % of the total displacement over zones of 1 to 4 km width. Most of this displacement occurs within 100-200 m of faults and decreases exponentially with distance from the main fault. Distributed displacement is accommodated by a combination of block rotation and simple shear across secondary faults. Analysis of block dimensions show that blocks tend to decrease in size toward faults. Conservative estimates indicate that the cumulative length of secondary faults is at least a factor of ten greater then the length of the main fault. Finally, I argue that distributed displacement is an active feature and suggests that zones of diminished rigidity near faults may be at least in part driven by formation and lengthening of secondary faults and their associated OFD zones

Deformation Processes Adjacent to Active Faults: Examples from Eastern California

Major seismogenic faults occur within bands of inelastic off-fault deformation (OFD), where both distributed displacement and modification of rock properties occur. Active distributed displacement may affect slip-rate estimates, understanding of seismic energy radiation and geodynamic models. This study addresses the role of OFD in the displacement history and mechanical behavior of major seismogenic faults. Here I present a multi-site study of planar and linear geologic features next to active strike-slip faults in the central Mojave Desert. Conservative estimates suggest that distributed displacement accommodates 19 ± 3 % of the total displacement over zones of 1 to 4 km width. Most of this displacement occurs within 100-200 m of faults and decreases exponentially with distance from the main fault. Distributed displacement is accommodated by a combination of block rotation and simple shear across secondary faults. Analysis of block dimensions show that blocks tend to decrease in size toward faults. Conservative estimates indicate that the cumulative length of secondary faults is at least a factor of ten greater then the length of the main fault. Finally, I argue that distributed displacement is an active feature and suggests that zones of diminished rigidity near faults may be at least in part driven by formation and lengthening of secondary faults and their associated OFD zones.Master of Scienc

Flooding in Southwestern Pennsylvania: Knowledge Gaps and Approaches

As southwestern Pennsylvania continues to evolve from its industrial past to become a national leader in innovation and sustainability, it has encountered a complex set of water challenges that threaten the economy, ecology, and public health of the region. In this context, over the last year, the Heinz Endowments funded the Pittsburgh Collaboratory for Water Research, Education, and Outreach at the University of Pittsburgh to hold a series of consensus-building meetings among regional academic scholars, community groups, governmental, and non-governmental organizations. These meetings (one each on green infrastructure, water quality, and flooding) aimed to identify key regional knowledge gaps and chart a collaborative research agenda to fill these gaps and enhance the region’s ability to strategically and creatively solve water problems. In June 2019, the first of the reports on Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management was released. In October 2019, the second report on Water Quality was released. Now, in February 2020, the third report describing the research agenda on flooding arising from an April 2, 2019 meeting is being formally released. This report outlines several fundamental knowledge gaps in the region and suggests methods to span these gaps with new collaborative research