Exploring the Relationship Between Quality of Written School Wellness Policy and the Degree of Wellness Policy Implementation in Elementary Schools

Background: To date many studies have evaluated the quality of written school wellness policies (SWPs), however, few have addresses SWP implementation. As SWPs have the potential to reduce childhood obesity, it is crucial for schools to not only write high quality SWPs, but also to implement these policy items. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the quality of written SWPs and the degree of SWP implementation. We hypothesized that schools with higher quality written SWPs would have a higher degree of policy implementation. Methods: School wellness policy written quality and implementation were assessed in 24 public elementary schools. Written quality of SWPs was assessed with the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT 2.0) and policy implementation was assessed with the Wellness School Assessment Tool for Implementation (WellSAT-I). Like questions from each tool were matched and Pearson correlations were used to assess the relationship between individually matched questions and total score of all matched questions, using Stata 12.1® (Stata/IC 14, College Station, TX). Statistical significance was set at p≤0.05. Results: There was a significant relationship found within two of the matched questions; student to teacher ratio in physical education class, having a moderate, negative correlation, (r=-0.47, p=0.02) and having a plan for updating best practices within a policy, showing a moderate, positive correlation (r=0.43, p=0.04). There was not a significant relationship between the quality of the written SWPs and the degree to which it is implemented using the total score from the matched questions (r=0.06, p=0.78). Conclusion: These data suggest that having a high quality written SWP does not lead to a higher degree of implementation. To date, the majority of SWP support focuses on the writing of quality SWPs. These data suggest that supports should be expanded to help schools with practical strategies to implement the items within their written policy. Funding: This material is based upon work that is supported by the Northland Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine, Innovative Student Research Grant and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2011‐67002‐30202

Vampires: Breathing Life into the Undead “Monsters” of Mythology

What has made bloodsucking, immortal creatures so captivating in innumerable myths from across the world? In what ways do certain undead monsters vary from culture to culture? Lastly but perhaps most importantly, what can vampires in fiction–both recent and ancient–teach us about what makes a monster and what makes a man? Through the careful analysis of numerous vampire myths from different time periods, locations, and cultures, I aim to delve into the significance of vampires in fiction and explore how people have perceived such distinctive creatures throughout history. This search for the first notable, obvious vampire myths dates all the way back to Ancient Greece. In multiple cases, people from all cultures and time periods often developed their vampires with etiology in mind. Vampire myths were frequently used to explain what the most recent scientific breakthroughs could not, such as the early tuberculosis outbreaks in 19th century New England. On the other hand, multiple vampire tales have been regarded as myths told to dissuade the public from participating in “shameful,” often sexual acts, presented as a means of encouraging purity in all aspects of life. In more recent years, vampires in works like Twilight and Carmilla (the web series, not to be confused with the 1872 novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu) have often retained their ancient ties to sexuality and romance. However, they have also begun to develop into much more complex, three-dimensional characters rather than adhering to their more traditionally evil archetypes with each passing decade. By dissecting how views on immortality, power, sexuality, and even vegetarianism have developed over time within these stories, we can further understand how vampires have lacked or gained their own degree of humanity throughout fiction

Mitochondrial Capacity in Brown Adipose Tissue of the 13-Lined Ground Squirrel

UROP paper, 2014, BiologyUndergraduate Research Opportunities Program, University of Minnesota Dulut

Mitochondrial Capacity in Brown Adipose Tissue of the 13-Lined Ground Squirrel

University of Minnesota Duluth 2014 UROP paperSwenson College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota Dulut

Mündlichkeit im Internet : Analyse portugiesischer Beispiele im Rahmen des Modells des "Nähe- und Distanzsprechens"

Aus dem umfangreichen Spektrum möglicher Themen, die sich im Zusammenhang mit Internet, Computer und Kommunikation für die verschiedenen Bereiche der Sprachwissenschaft ergeben, konzentrieren wir uns in unserer Untersuchung auf die Frage nach dem Vorkommen von konzeptioneller Mündlichkeit beim Kommunizieren mittels des vernetzten Computers. Bei dieser Analyse beschränken wir uns auf Texte in Blogs sowie auf Tweets und Kommentare, die im Zusammenhang mit Online Versionen von Zeitungen und Zeitschriften ins Netz gestellt werden. Wir lassen uns bei diesem Vorgehen von der Überzeugung leiten, dass es uns durch diese Analyse gelingen wird herauszufinden, welche situativ-technischen Voraussetzungen es genau sind, die diese Tendenz zur Mündlichkeit jeweils begründen. Um den Einzelsprachen überschreitenden Charakter unserer Studie veranschaulichen zu können, beziehen wir uns bei unseren Interpretationen auf einen Korpus, der aus portugiesischen Äußerungen besteht. Diese Interpretation nehmen wir im Rahmen der Analyseparameter "Rolle, Zeit, Situation, Code und Medium" sowie einer Reihe von universalen Verfahren der Diskursgestaltung wie z.B. "Sequenzierung der Rede" oder "aggregative Strukturierung des Informationsflusses" vor. Diese Parameter und Verfahren entnehmen wir dabei dem von uns modifizierten Modell des Nähe- und Distanzsprechens von Ágel&Hennig (2006a, 2006b, 2007), das die Leser in seiner schematischen Darstellung im Anhang dieses Artikels finden. Wir benutzen dieses Modell, weil es eine exakte und hierarchisch streng gegliederte Erklärung und Interpretation der Merkmale der Netzkommunikation erlaubt

In vivo and in vitro assessment of mirtazapine pharmacokinetics in cats with liver disease.

BackgroundLiver disease (LD) prolongs mirtazapine half-life in humans, but it is unknown if this occurs in cats with LD and healthy cats.Hypothesis/objectivesTo determine pharmacokinetics of administered orally mirtazapine in vivo and in vitro (liver microsomes) in cats with LD and healthy cats.AnimalsEleven LD and 11 age-matched control cats.MethodsCase-control study. Serum was obtained 1 and 4 hours (22 cats) and 24 hours (14 cats) after oral administration of 1.88 mg mirtazapine. Mirtazapine concentrations were measured by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Drug exposure and half-life were predicted using limited sampling modeling and estimated using noncompartmental methods. in vitro mirtazapine pharmacokinetics were assessed using liver microsomes from 3 LD cats and 4 cats without LD.ResultsThere was a significant difference in time to maximum serum concentration between LD cats and control cats (median [range]: 4 [1-4] hours versus 1 [1-4] hours; P = .03). The calculated half-life of LD cats was significantly prolonged compared to controls (median [range]: 13.8 [7.9-61.4] hours versus 7.4 [6.7-9.1] hours; P < .002). Mirtazapine half-life was correlated with ALT (P = .002; r = .76), ALP (P < .0001; r = .89), and total bilirubin (P = .0008; r = .81). The rate of loss of mirtazapine was significantly different between microsomes of LD cats (-0.0022 min-1 , CI: -0.0050 to 0.00054 min-1 ) and cats without LD (0.01849 min-1 , CI: -0.025 to -0.012 min-1 ; P = .002).Conclusions and clinical importanceCats with LD might require less frequent administration of mirtazapine than normal cats

The inequalities of mortgage conditions in an asset-based welfare system : Debt- and wealth-driven housing

Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastelen mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat kotitalouksien asuntolainojen ehtoihin Yhdysvaltojen asuntomarkkinoilla. Yhdysvaltojen asuntomarkkinat ovat pitkään olleet velkavetoiset, mutta hiljattain ne ovat alkaneet kääntymään yhä enemmän varallisuusvetoisiksi. Tämä kehitys sulkee yhä useamman ihmisen ulos asunnon omistamisesta. Erityisesti nuoret ja ne jotka eivät omista rahoitusomaisuutta ovat uhkana jäädä asunnon omistamisen ulkopuolelle. Asuntojen hinnat ovat eri rahoitusvälineiden takia hyvin pitkälti sidottuja asuntolainavakuudellistettuihin arvopaperimarkkinoihin. Tämä tarkoittaa sitä, että asunnon omistaminen on joko suoraan asunnon hintojen, tai epäsuoraan rahiotusomaisuuden omistamisen tärkeyden takia sidottu rahoitusmarkkinoihin. Tämä on hyvin tärkeä tarkastelun asia, sillä Yhdysvaltojen hyvinvointijärjestelmä perustuu hyvin paljon yksityiseen omaisuuteen, josta tärkein ja yleisin on asunto. Asunnon arvoa vastaan voi saada lainaa, jolla voi maksaa muun muassa terveydenhuollollisia, koulutukseen liittyviä ja työttömyyden aiheuttamia kuluja. Aineistoni on Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) ja Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) keräämä NATIONAL SURVEY OF MORTGAGE ORIGINATIONS (NSMO). Aineisto koostuu 43 506 asuntolainan omistavasta vastaajasta 2013-2020 vuosien välillä. Analyysimenetelminä käytin Pearsonin Khiin neliötestiä, Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon testiä, logistista regressioanalyysiä ja keskiarvoista marginaalivaikutusta (Average marginal effect). Analyysini pohjalta löysin että kotitaloudet, jotka eivät omistaneet rahoitusomaisuutta, olivat nuoria, eivät omistaneet korkeaa luottoluokitusta, tai omistivat korkean velka-tulosuhteen olivat todennäköisempiä saamaan asuntolainoja huonoimmilla ehdoilla. Analyysin tärkeimmiksi tekijöiksi nousivat kiinteistöpohjaisten omaisuuden omistaminen, velka-tulosuhde ja ikä. Tulokset mukailivat aiheen teoriapohjaa ja osoittivat että kotitalouksien on altistettava itsensä yhä enemmän rahoitusmarkkinoille saadakseen asuntolainan hyvillä ehdoilla. Tämä näyttäisi johtavan asuntomarkkinoita yhä eksklusiivisempaan suuntaan, joka tarkoittaa että yhä harvempi pystyy pärjäämään yksityiseen varallisuuteen perustuvassa hyvinvointijärjestelmässä

A Note on Toroidal Compactifications of the Type I Superstring and Other Superstring Vacuum Configurations with 16 Supercharges

We show that various disconnected components of the moduli space of superstring vacua with 16 supercharges admit a rationale in terms of BPS un-orientifolds, i.e. type I toroidal compactifications with constant non-vanishing but quantized vacuum expectation values of the NS-NS antisymmetric tensor. These include various heterotic vacua with reduced rank, known as CHL strings, and their dual type II (2,2) superstrings below D=6. Type I vacua without open strings allow for an interpretation of several disconnected components with N_V=10-D. An adiabatic argument relates these unconventional type I superstrings to type II (4,0) superstrings without D-branes. The latter are connected by U-duality below D=6 to type II (2,2) superstrings. We also comment on the relation between some of these vacua and compactifications of the putative M-theory on unorientable manifolds as well as F-theory vacua.Comment: Expanded discussion of rational un-orientifolds. Comments on disconnected components of type I moduli spaces. Several references added. Final version to appear in Nuclear Physics B528 (1998). 22 pages, Late

Non-commutativity, Zero modes and D-brane Geometry

The non-commutative geometry is revisited from the perspective of a generalized D p-brane. In particular, we analyze the open bosonic string world-sheet description and show that an effective non-commutative description on a D p-brane corresponds to a re-normalized world-volume. The world-volume correlators are analyzed to make a note on the non-commutative geometry. It is argued that the U(1) gauge symmetry can be viewed in a homomorphic image space for the non-commutative space of coordinates with an SO(p) symmetry. In the large B-field limit, the non-commutativity reduces to that among the zero modes and the world-volume description is precisely in agreement with the holographic principle.Comment: 15 pages, LaTex, v2: typos corrected, to appear in Nucl.Phys.