Pasteurization and its discontents: Raw milk, risk, and the reshaping of the dairy industry

Milk is something many Americans consume every day, whether over cereal, in coffee or in a cup; as yogurt, cream, cheese or butter. The vast majority of that milk is pasteurized, or heated to the point where much of the bacteria in the milk dies. Pasteurization both slows spoilage of the milk and eliminates potentially harmful bacteria. The fact that we call heat-treated dairy simply milk is a testament to pasteurization\u27s widespread proliferation over the past century. Prior to the 1900s, milk was raw and unheated, and pasteurized milk was a radically new technology. My research delved into understandings of dairy in both the present and the past, looking in the first chapter at Vermont farmer resistance at the advent of pasteurization, and in the second at consumer resistance to pasteurization in the present time. A century ago, the dairy industry was in flux, facing pressure to change due to population shifts and rising demands. In lieu of food that could be traced to a neighbor or to a farm on the other side of town, urbanization meant that food could travel hundreds of miles before it reached its destination -- Vermont farmers could now send their fluid milk to the Boston and New York markets. Once milk got to the city, however, it was often riddled with bacteria and untraceable to its source. Cities and states struggled to regulate the safety of milk coming into their area. In 1908 the Vermont legislature passed a pasteurization law in an attempt to curb the spread of bovine tuberculosis, but farmers and creameries simply refused to follow it and the state legislature was forced to repeal the law two years later. Despite pushback to pasteurization, however, pressure from the cities forced its adoption, pushing the expense onto the middleman processors and distributors. This, in turn, helped to drive consolidation and bring about the dairy industry as we know it today -- an industry that many interviewees in my present-day research felt was deeply flawed. My second chapter focuses on raw milk consumers in Vermont. Those on each side of the raw milk discussion make broad -- and sometimes dire -- knowledge claims regarding the values and risks associated with consumption of the substance. Advocacy groups, agricultural associations, and various governmental authorities all voice divergent opinions regarding the safety and health benefits of raw milk consumption. As such, consumers navigate these contests of voices when deciding whether or not to drink raw milk. Yet raw milk consumers are not simply passive recipients of governmental, advocacy and media messaging, but rather consumers making rational decisions based on research, experience and values. In examining how raw milk consumers understand their actions and decisions, I bring this perspective to bear on the larger discussion of the risks and benefits of raw milk consumption. My investigation of the historical and present context of raw milk shed light not just on the subculture of those who choose to drink raw milk, or on the small group of farmers who fought back against pasteurization in 1909. It revealed common refrains over the course of more than a century, repeating patterns and, I hope, a lens through which to view the nuance and shifting possibilities in other issues in the food system, both past and current

Energy-Efficient Dry-Type Distribution Transformers: New Opportunities to Cut Energy Bills and Lock-in Long-Term Energy Savings

Nearly 90% of the electricity that powers the industrial sector flows through dry-type distribution transformers. These transformers are very efficient- most convert in excess of 95% of input power to output power. However, because transformers are generally energized 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, even small efficiency improvements can yield big energy and dollar savings for power users. Until now, energy-efficient dry-type transformers have been hard to identify. As a result, most users either have failed to specify efficiency at all or relied on the imperfect indicator of low temperature rise. Most manufactures have not offered an "energy-efficient" product line. Now, the National Electrical Manufacturers' Association (NEMA), the transformer manufacturers' trade association, has published a standard defining energy-efficient transformers. This new standard, NEMA standard TP-1, makes it easier for vendors, specifiers, contractors and end-users to identify and determine the cost-effectiveness of energy-efficient transformers. In addition, some manufacturers are beginning to offer equipment lines specifically designed to meet the energy efficiency levels defined in NEMA standard TP-1

Climate change and the middle atmosphere, part 1, the doubled CO2 climate.

The impact of doubled atmospheric CO2 on the climate of the middle atmosphere is investigated using the GISS global climate/middle atmosphere model. In the standard experiment, the CO2 concentration is doubled both in the stratosphere and troposphere, and the sea surface temperatures are increased to match those of the doubled CO2 run of the GISS 9 level climate model. Additional experiments are run to determine how the middle atmospheric effects are influenced by tropospheric changes, and to separate the dynamic and radiative influences. These include the use of the greater high latitude/low latitude surface warming ratio generated by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory doubled CO2experiments, doubling the CO2 only in either the troposphere or stratosphere, and allowing the middle atmosphere to react only radiatively.As expected, doubled CO2 produces warmer temperatures in the troposphere, and generally cooler temperatures in the stratosphere. The net result is a decrease of static stability for the atmosphere as a whole. In addition, the 100 mb warming maximizes in the tropics, leading to improved propagation conditions for planetary waves, and increased potential energy in the lower stratosphere. These processes generate increased eddy energy in the middle atmosphere in most seasons. With greater eddy energy comes greater eddy forcing of the mean flow and an increase in the intensity of the residual circulation from the equator to the pole, which tends to warm high latitudes. Increased gravity wave drag in some of the experiments also helps to intensify the circulation. The middle atmosphere dynamical differences are on the order of 10%–20% of the model values for the current climate, and, along with the calculated temperature differences of up to some 10°C, may have a significant impact on the chemistry of the future atmosphere including that of stratospheric ozone, the polar ozone “hole,” and basic atmospheric composition

Uncertainty distress: Theoretical underpinnings and clinical implications

Uncertainty distress is a psychological state defined as the set of negative emotions elicited by the unknown aspects of a given situation. The Uncertainty Distress Model (UDM; Freeston et al., 2020) highlights the role of threat, uncertainty, and intolerance of uncertainty in determining such distress in everyday life. Theoretically, the formulation of the UDM was inspired by three different research backgrounds, referring to threat models of anxiety and the concepts of \uabperceived uncertainty\ubb and \uabintolerance of uncertainty\ubb. In addition, clinical experiences in contexts characterized by high levels of uncertainty and threat (i.e., chronic diseases, dementia) and clinical considerations related to the current Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic have significantly contributed to this conceptualization. The current manuscript reviews the theoretical underpinnings and the clinical implications of the UDM. The main implications are not exclusively related to the field of psychopathology, since this model aims to provide an explanation for the \uabnormal\ubb responses to events that can impact people\u2019s lives. Future studies should empirically test its conceptual and applicative validity