Parental Perceptions of the Rural School’s Role in Addressing Childhood Obesity

This study employed cross-sectional, descriptive design with convenience sampling to explore rural parent perceptions of child obesity, use of Body Mass Index (BMI) in schools, preferences for receipt of BMI information and, the rural school’s role in obesity prevention/treatment. The survey “Parental Perceptions of BMI and Obesity in the School-Age Child” was used. Of the 183 surveys distributed, 65 were returned (35.5%). Fifty-five percentage of parents were in agreement of school-based BMI screening. Fifty-four percentage of parents selected a combination of ways to receive BMI information (letter from school nurse, face-to-face conference with nurse, or via report card). Few parents (6.2%) were reluctant to schools addressing obesity. Significant relationships were identified between non-White, overweight parents who had overweight children (n = 3). They were more likely to disagree with removal of junk food, increasing physical activity, and recommending weight loss. Recommendations to involve parents in BMI screening are presented

Do contaminants originating from state-of-the-art treated wastewater impact the ecological quality of surface waters?

Since the 1980s, advances in wastewater treatment technology have led to considerably improved surface water quality in the urban areas of many high income countries. However, trace concentrations of organic wastewater-associated contaminants may still pose a key environmental hazard impairing the ecological quality of surface waters. To identify key impact factors, we analyzed the effects of a wide range of anthropogenic and environmental variables on the aquatic macroinvertebrate community. We assessed ecological water quality at 26 sampling sites in four urban German lowland river systems with a 0–100% load of state-of-the-art biological activated sludge treated wastewater. The chemical analysis suite comprised 12 organic contaminants (five phosphor organic flame retardants, two musk fragrances, bisphenol A, nonylphenol, octylphenol, diethyltoluamide, terbutryn), 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and 12 heavy metals. Non-metric multidimensional scaling identified organic contaminants that are mainly wastewater-associated (i.e., phosphor organic flame retardants, musk fragrances, and diethyltoluamide) as a major impact variable on macroinvertebrate species composition. The structural degradation of streams was also identified as a significant factor. Multiple linear regression models revealed a significant impact of organic contaminants on invertebrate populations, in particular on Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera species. Spearman rank correlation analyses confirmed wastewater-associated organic contaminants as the most significant variable negatively impacting the biodiversity of sensitive macroinvertebrate species. In addition to increased aquatic pollution with organic contaminants, a greater wastewater fraction was accompanied by a slight decrease in oxygen concentration and an increase in salinity. This study highlights the importance of reducing the wastewater-associated impact on surface waters. For aquatic ecosystems in urban areas this would lead to: (i) improvement of the ecological integrity, (ii) reduction of biodiversity loss, and (iii) faster achievement of objectives of legislative requirements, e.g., the European Water Framework Directive

Mechanisms of Surviving Burial: Dune Grass Interspecific Differences Drive Resource Allocation After Sand Deposition

Sand dunes are important geomorphic formations of coastal ecosystems that are critical in protecting human populations that live in coastal areas. Dune formation is driven by ecomorphodynamic interactions between vegetation and sediment deposition. While there has been extensive research on responses of dune grasses to sand burial, there is a knowledge gap in understanding mechanisms of acclimation between similar, coexistent, dune-building grasses such as Ammophila breviligulata (C3), Spartina patens (C4), and Uniola paniculata (C4). Our goal was to determine how physiological mechanisms of acclimation to sand burial vary between species. We hypothesize that (1) in the presence of burial, resource allocation will be predicated on photosynthetic pathway and that we will be able to characterize the C3 species as a root allocator and the C4 species as leaf allocators. We also hypothesize that (2) despite similarities between these species in habitat, growth form, and life history, leaf, root, and whole plant traits will vary between species when burial is not present. Furthermore, when burial is present, the existing variability in physiological strategy will drive species-specific mechanisms of survival. In a greenhouse experiment, we exposed three dune grass species to different burial treatments: 0 cm (control) and a one-time 25-cm burial to mimic sediment deposition during a storm. At the conclusion of our study, we collected a suite of physiological and morphological functional traits. Results showed that Ammophila decreased allocation to aboveground biomass to maintain root biomass, preserving photosynthesis by allocating nitrogen (N) into light-exposed leaves. Conversely, Uniola and Spartina decreased allocation to belowground production to increase elongation and maintain aboveground biomass. Interestingly, we found that species were functionally distinct when burial was absent; however, all species became more similar when treated with burial. In the presence of burial, species utilized functional traits of rapid growth strategy, although mechanisms of change were interspecifically variable

High transonic speed transport aircraft study

An initial design study of high-transonic-speed transport aircraft has been completed. Five different design concepts were developed. These included fixed swept wing, variable-sweep wing, delta wing, double-fuselage yawed-wing, and single-fuselage yawed-wing aircraft. The boomless supersonic design objectives of range=5560 Km (3000 nmi), payload-18 143 kg (40 000lb), Mach=1.2, and FAR Part 36 aircraft noise levels were achieved by the single-fuselage yawed-wing configuration with a gross weight of 211 828 Kg (467 000 lb). A noise level of 15 EPNdB below FAR Part 36 requirements was obtained with a gross weight increase to 226 796 Kg (500 000 lb). Although wing aeroelastic divergence was a primary design consideration for the yawed-wing concepts, the graphite-epoxy wings of this study were designed by critical gust and maneuver loads rather than by divergence requirements. The transonic nacelle drag is shown to be very sensitive to the nacelle installation. A six-degree-of-freedom dynamic stability analysis indicated that the control coordination and stability augmentation system would require more development than for a symmetrical airplane but is entirely feasible. A three-phase development plan is recommended to establish the full potential of the yawed-wing concept

Discovering My Nursing Philosophy

The author discusses how she discovered her personal nursing philosophy while working on a writing assignment. Topics explored include her decision to earn a bachelor\u27s degree in nursing for career advancement, her reflection into the responsibilities of nurses to other people, the environment, and the health care profession, and her commitment to evidence-based nursing practice

Discovering My Nursing Philosophy

The author discusses how she discovered her personal nursing philosophy while working on a writing assignment. Topics explored include her decision to earn a bachelor\u27s degree in nursing for career advancement, her reflection into the responsibilities of nurses to other people, the environment, and the health care profession, and her commitment to evidence-based nursing practice

QSEN Institute RN-BSN Task Force: White Paper on Recommendation for Systems-Based Practice Competency

The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute RN-BSN Task Force presents a white paper on Recommendation for a Systems-based Practice Competency. The task force proposes a seventh QSEN competency, systems-based practice, to improve patient quality and safety. Recommendations to integrate systems-based practice into both education and practice settings, consistent with job descriptions and promotion criteria, involve a comprehensive continuing education program for nurses upon interview, orientation, residency programming, performance evaluation, and license renewal

Fostering Future Leadership in Quality and Safety in Health Care through Systems Thinking

There is a critical need for leadership in quality and safety to reform today\u27s disparate spectrum of health services to serve patients in complex health care environments. Nurse graduates of degree completion programs (registered nurse–bachelor of science in nursing [RN-BSN]) are poised for leadership due to their recent education and nursing practice experience. The authors propose that integration of systems thinking into RN-BSN curricula is essential for developing these much needed leadership skills. The purpose of this article is to introduce progressive teaching strategies to help nurse educators achieve the student competencies described in the second essential of the BSN Essentials document (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2009), linking them with the competencies in Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN; L. Cronenwett et al., 2007) using an author-created model for curricular design, the Systems-level Awareness Model. The Systems Thinking Tool (M. A. Dolansky & S. M. Moore, 2013) can be used to evaluate systems thinking in the RN-BSN curriculum