A fesability analysis of a novel constructed wetland design tool for Arusha, Tanzania

While water is a resource necessary for all life, in Tanzania alone over 20 million people who live in rural areas have no access to improved water sources. Water stress is a major concern in rural Tanzania, where annual potential evaporation can outpace precipitation by hundreds of mm per year. There is a significant need for improved access to water sources for Tanzanians living in rural regions of Arusha. To improve access to water, both water quantity and quality need to be addressed in a treatment system. Various water collection and treatment systems were compared and contrasted through the lens of appropriate technology. Sub surface flow (SSF) constructed wetlands and ultrafiltration systems were selected for development. ^ Constructed wetlands have a history of water treatment dating back hundreds of years. SSF constructed wetlands are an appropriate solution for water stress in the Arusha region due to their low cost, low maintenance requirements, and pre-treatment. To help establish a baseline water quality of surface water in Arusha, water was collected from various sources across the region. While they were tested for multiple parameters, turbidity and bacterial contaminants were identified and confirmed as the primary pollutants of concern. To help design constructed wetlands in the region a tool was built in Excel. The tool incorporates rainfall, runoff, and other environmental factors to produce information for sizing and availability to help project planners design a constructed wetland. ^ The developed tool was applied to the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) campus and the village of Endallah. A pilot scale wetland was designed for the NM-AIST campus for testing and validating of the tool, and a wetland was designed for the village of Endallah based on incoming runoff and consumption by the villagers. These applications demonstrated how the tool can be used and applied to other places by project planners in the field of water management.

Pink and Dude Chefs: A Nutrition and Culinary Intervention for Middle School Students

Pink and Dude Chefs: A nutrition and culinary intervention for middle school students Tianna Sheehan The prevalence of obesity in US adolescents has more than tripled in the past 35 years, and the greatest impact has been among low-income and minority racial/ethnic populations. Adolescents report inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, an overconsumption of sweetened beverages, and a high reliance on fast food locations for meals or snacks; increasing the risk of adolescent obesity. Building knowledge and skills through culinary interventions may empower middle school students to create and also choose healthful foods. Pink and Dude Chefs, a six-week nutrition and culinary intervention, aims to improve healthy eating behaviors by increasing nutrition knowledge and culinary ability. Trained research assistants from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) led middle school boys and girls in lessons ranging on topics including macronutrients, real-world application of USDA MyPlate guidelines, and meal planning and budgeting. Cal Poly research assistants supported middle school participants in cooking recipes that were specifically chosen to highlight themes covered in the nutrition lesson and to progress in difficulty throughout the program. The program consisted of 12 lessons that were each divided into 1 hour of classroom nutrition instruction and 1 hour of hands-on cooking practicum. The program took place in two locations, at Mesa Middle School in Arroyo Grande, California and Carpinteria Middle School in Carpinteria, California with 15-20 middle school volunteer participants who enrolled in each program. Questionnaires were used to measure fruit and vegetable preferences, dietary behavior, and barriers to healthy eating, culinary skill, culinary confidence, and basic nutrition knowledge pre- and post-intervention. Participants’ responses indicated an improved dietary profile as indicated by fruit and vegetable preferences, and fruit and vegetable intake. Responses also indicated increased culinary confidence and improved nutrition knowledge. More research is needed to test the long-term impact of participation in nutrition and culinary interventions

LOCAL AND GLOBAL DRYOUT IN TWO-PHASE MICROGAP COOLING

Limitations in advancements in electronic technology and further development of new technology are due to inadequate thermal management. As Moore's Law continues to drive semiconductor technology, the capabilities of conventional thermal management methods are falling behind the constantly changing and increasing needs of the electronic industry. Roadmap projections for the high-performance chip category suggest that the maximum chip power dissipation will exceed 500 W, and the chip heat flux will exceed 150 W/cm2 within the next few years. Research currently focuses on two-phase cooling techniques due to their potential to meet the thermal management needs of leading-edge electronic technology. Potential solutions currently being studied include spray cooling, immersion cooling, micro heat pipes, and microgap cooler. Unlike many current thermal management devices, microgap cooler eliminate the high and problematic thermal contact resistance, by allowing direct cooling of an electronic component by the flow of dielectric liquid across the back surface of the chip or substrate. The heat dissipation capability of such microgap coolers is further enhanced by two-phase flow that develops in the microgap channel, producing higher heat transfer coefficients than achievable by single-phase forced convection with that same fluid. In addition, due to the potential utilization of the intrinsic gaps between chips and within the packaging enclosures in both 2.5D (using interposers) and 3D configurations, microgap coolers provide a promising solution to the challenging problem of high-density heat removal. Despite the many advantages of two-phase microgap coolers, much is still not understood about the physics that governs this thermal management technique and the phenomena that limit its performance

Exploration of Stream Habitat Spatial Modeling; Using Geographically Weighted Regression, Ordinary Least Squares Regression, and Natural Neighbor Interpolation to Model Depth, Flow, and Benthic Substrate in Streams

Assessment and modeling of stream habitat are integral to understanding streams and the biota within them. In the past several decades, assessment sophistication of ecologic systems increased due to analysis power afforded by gains in computing capability. Spatial data analysis methodology grew alongside computing power and incorporated spatial qualities of ecological data, thereby providing new insights. New methods like geographically weighted regression (GWR) and more established methods like interpolation are now being used in ecological studies to guide assessments and management decisions. However, their accuracy and utility for analysis of stream habitat data have not been fully explored. To clarify their impacts on stream habitat data, the five chapters of this dissertation examined spatial qualities (e.g. heterogeneity, scale, sample pattern) and the use of interpolation and GWR on depth, flow velocity, and benthic substrate.;Benthic substrate, depth, and flow velocity data were collected from four streams between July 2005 and August 2010. Data were collected from Aarons Creek, Monongalia County, WV, Elk River, Kanawha County, WV, Little Wapiti and Grayling creeks in Gallatin County, MT. Using GIS, the datasets were mapped, modeled, and analyzed between fall 2009 and summer 2011.;Results from our studies demonstrated GWR outperformed non-spatial ordinary least squares regression (OLS) when modeling benthic substrate. Our study showed stream data collected at a single scale may be used to generate meaningful results at scales other than that at which it was collected. This finding is important for stream habitat studies where data are often collected at varying spatial scales. As spatial heterogeneity of benthic substrate increased, accuracy levels of models decreased showing heterogeneity must be quantified in analysis of stream habitat variables. Large (\u3e20m width) and small (\u3c10m width) wadeable streams may be analyzed using the same type of spatial analysis though substrate deposition pattern may vary in different size streams. Benthic substrate depositional pattern was most effectively captured by non-random point selection which created more accurate maps than grid and random point sample methods.;Combined results demonstrated the need to address spatial qualities of stream habitat data in analysis, assessment, and how spatial attributes may guide data collection. Further, failure to quantify spatial attributes in stream habitat data can cause erroneous results and thus minimize effectiveness for useful ecologic conclusions and management decisions

The Broken Home or Broken Society: A Sociological Study of Family Structure and Juvenile Delinquency

Despite the great interest in the relationship between family structure and delinquent behavior generally, very little agreement among researchers as well as the general public has been reached on the issue to this day. The present study examines whether family structure plays a role in juvenile delinquency. More precisely, it explores whether single parents are more likely to have their adolescent children involved in delinquency than are two parents. This analysis does not support the structural hypotheses, which argues that single parents have children who are at an increased risk of being involved in delinquent behavior. While these findings provide further evidence that children living with single parents are not at an increased risk of being involved in delinquent behavior, additional research is needed to further evaluate the causes and risks associated with involvement in delinquent behavior

Reduction or discontinuation of antipsychotics for challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disability: a systematic review

The use of antipsychotics to manage challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disability is widespread but controversial, and evidence is scarce. There is a perception that antipsychotics used in this context can be reduced or discontinued, and this has been a major focus of recent national policy. However, such an intervention risks harm as well as having potential benefits. We reviewed the available evidence and found that antipsychotics can be reduced or discontinued in a substantial proportion of adults who use them for challenging behaviour, although not always without adverse effects. There is a group which displays behavioural deterioration on antipsychotic reduction that prevents discontinuation; predictors of poor response could not be reliably identified. In view of the relatively scarce data and methodological limitations of the available studies, we cannot draw firm conclusions to inform a population level approach to this issue. Antipsychotic medication used for behaviour should be reviewed regularly and an individualised approach taken to treatment

Digital mental health and intellectual disabilities: state of the evidence and future directions

The use of digital technologies in the management of mental illness, and more generally in the promotion of well-being and mental health, has received much recent attention and is a focus of current health policy. We conducted a narrative review to explore the opportunities and risks of digital technologies in mental healthcare specifically for people with intellectual disability, a sometimes marginalised and socially excluded group. The scope of digital mental health is vast and the promise of cheaper and more effective interventions delivered digitally is attractive. People with intellectual disability experience high rates of mental illness and could benefit from the development of novel therapies, yet seem to have been relatively neglected in the discourse around digital mental health and are often excluded from the development and implementation of new interventions. People with intellectual disability encounter several barriers to fully embracing digital technology, which may be overcome with appropriate support and adaptations. A small, but growing, literature attests to the value of incorporating digital technologies into the lives of people with intellectual disability, not only for promoting health but also for enhancing educational, vocational and leisure opportunities. Clearly further evidence is needed to establish the safety and clinical efficacy of digital mental health interventions for people with and without intellectual disability. A digital inclusion strategy that explicitly addresses the needs of people with intellectual disability would ensure that all can share the benefits of the digital world

Kilometric radiation power flux dependence on area of discrete aurora

Kilometer wavelength radiation, measured from distant positions over the North Pole and over the Earth's equator, was compared to the area of discrete aurora imaged by several low-altitude spacecraft. Through correlative studies of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) with about two thousand auroral images, a stereoscopic view of the average auroral acceleration region was obtained. A major result is that the total AKR power increases as the area of the discrete auroral oval increases. The implications are that the regions of parallel potentials or the auroral plasma cavities, in which AKR is generated, must possess the following attributes: (1) they are shallow in altitude and their radial position depends on wavelength, (2) they thread flux tubes of small cross section, (3) the generation mechanism in them reaches a saturation limit rapidly, and (4) their distribution over the discrete auroral oval is nearly uniform. The above statistical results are true for large samples collected over a long period of time (about six months). In the short term, AKR frequently exhibits temporal variations with scales as short as three minutes (the resolution of the averaged data used). These fluctuations are explainable by rapid quenchings as well as fast starts of the electron cyclotron maser mechanism. There were times when AKR was present at substantial power levels while optical emissions were below instrument thresholds. A recent theoretical result may account for this set of observations by predicting that suprathermal electrons, of energies as low as several hundred eV, can generate second harmonic AKR. The indirect observations of second harmonic AKR require that these electrons have mirror points high above the atmosphere so as to minimize auroral light emissions. The results provide evidence supporting the electron cyclotron maser mechanism