A Rapid Assessment of Coral Reefs Near Hopetown, Abaco Islands, Bahamas (Stony Corals and Algae)

Coral reefs at 13 sites ranging in depth from 1-16 m near Hopetown, Abaco Islands, Bahamas were surveyed utilizing the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) benthos protocol. A total of 35 species of scleractinian corals and 2 species of calcareous hydrocorals were observed. The overall coral cover averaged just over 14%. Among corals that were at least 10 cm in diameter, small colonies (\u3c 40 cm diameter) predominated in all sites except for the Fowl Cay pinnacles where 68% were larger than 60 cm in diameter. Large colonies (\u3e 40 cm diameter) were also found in the Lynyard Cay spur-and-groove formations and the Sandy Cay fore reef. Zero-4% of the colonies were affected by disease. Total (recent + old) partial-colony mortality ranged from 9-31% (both extreme values being found in outer reef crests). Turf algae were the most common algal functional group overall. Macroalgae were ubiquitous, however, with relative abundance values of about 25-47%. Macroalgal indices (a proxy for biomass) ranged from 64 in the Sandy Cay back reef to 184 in the Fowl Cay outer reef crest

A 3-Month interdisciplinary Process Drama Program to Build Social Skills in Pre-Schoolers with ASD: A Feasibility Study

Objectives: To test the feasibility and effect of an interdisciplinary process drama program targeting social skill development in 3-5 year-old children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) characteristics To develop a paradigm for testing brain-behavior relationships related to social skills in these children using EEG and testing its ability to detect intervention-related changes. Background: Social skill deficits are a hallmark cause of disability in ASD. Such disability is of critical concern given the rising prevalence (1 in 54 Utah children) of ASD. [1] As children learn through social experiences, difficulty in social interactions can limit development and ability to succeed in school and eventually employment. One possible contributor to social interaction difficulties in ASD is a deficit in theory of mind (ToM), the ability to understand others\u27 perspectives, proposed to rely on memories of cognitive and emotional events that allow one to experience others\u27 situations as if they were one\u27s own. [2.3] Children with ASD have deficits in ToM [2,3] and show aberrant neural activation patterns in areas most typically activated during ToM tasks in healthy children. [4,5] An effective intervention fostering generalizable social skill development in children with ASD remains elusive. We propose to address this need with an interdisciplinary process drama intervention involving collaboration among occupational therapists (OT), theatre faculty/teachers, and speech language pathologists (SLP) to improve social interactions in preschoolers with ASD. Process drama may be an excellent medium for fostering social skill development due to the ability to create specific learning experiences in an autotelic manner [6] in which people experience the embodied cognition and emotions without conscious commitment to abstract social skill improvement goals. The scenes can emphasize social and emotional cues and explicit identification of scene-related feelings for the formation of social cognitive and emotional memories that can be recalled as the basis for later social functioning.[3] Process drama programs foster communication development in typically developing children [7] and a few studies have shown such programs enhance social skills of children aged 8-17 with ASD [8,9] However, targeting process drama intervention in preschool children may have the greatest potential for effect on ToM and subsequent social skill development. The overpruning hypothesis [10] proposes that ASD results from abnormal neural pruning in widespread neural networks, with weaker long-range connections being more vulnerable to major disruption. As neural connections strengthen through experience,[11] providing interventions targeting desired processing will strengthen associated connections making them less susceptible to pruning and resulting in preserved function. Peak synaptic density for auditory and prefrontal cortices, both involved in social skills, occurs between age 3-5 years [11], suggesting an optimal period for strengthening connections through intervention. Impact: The deficits in social skills of people with ASD significantly affect their ability to function in society. These deficits take a large toll on families and on independence and employability of the individual. Finding effective interventions to facilitate social skills would have a large impact on society by reducing disability in this prevalent population. Results: The primary goal of the proposed study is to gather preliminary data on potential utility of an interdisciplinary process drama intervention to improve social skills in children with ASD. We will address the following specific aims: 1) determine the feasibility of: a) the protocol for collecting neural activation data via EEG on preschoolers with ASD characteristics; b) conducting a 3 month, 3x/week process drama intervention program led by a collaborative team of theatre teachers, OTs and SLPs aimed at improving social skills. 2) Determine preliminary effects of this interdisciplinary intervention on: a) increasing positive social behaviors; b) changes in neural activation during social tasks

Effect of resonant magnetic perturbations on low collisionality discharges in MAST and a comparison with ASDEX Upgrade

Sustained ELM mitigation has been achieved on MAST and AUG using RMPs with a range of toroidal mode numbers over a wide region of low to medium collisionality discharges. The ELM energy loss and peak heat loads at the divertor targets have been reduced. The ELM mitigation phase is typically associated with a drop in plasma density and overall stored energy. In one particular scenario on MAST, by carefully adjusting the fuelling it has been possible to counteract the drop in density and to produce plasmas with mitigated ELMs, reduced peak divertor heat flux and with minimal degradation in pedestal height and confined energy. While the applied resonant magnetic perturbation field can be a good indicator for the onset of ELM mitigation on MAST and AUG there are some cases where this is not the case and which clearly emphasise the need to take into account the plasma response to the applied perturbations. The plasma response calculations show that the increase in ELM frequency is correlated with the size of the edge peeling-tearing like response of the plasma and the distortions of the plasma boundary in the X-point region.Comment: 31 pages, 28 figures. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article submitted for publication in Nuclear Fusion. IoP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from i

Weight, Diet, and Physical Activity-Related Beliefs and Practices Among Pregnant and Postpartum Latino Women: The Role of Social Support

Objectives : Eating and physical activity patterns may contribute to excessive pregnancy weight gain and postpartum retention that increase the risks of obesity and diabetes for both Latino mothers and their children. Social support is an important health determinant and may affect health-related beliefs and behaviors. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of social support on weight, diet, and physical activity-related beliefs and behaviors among pregnant and postpartum Latinas. Methods : A community-based participatory project, Promoting Healthy Lifestyles among Women, was conducted in southwest Detroit to plan interventions aimed at reducing risks of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Qualitative analyses of in-depth semistructured interviews with dyads of 10 pregnant and postpartum Latinas, and 10 people who influenced them were conducted. Results : Husbands and some female relatives were primary sources of emotional, instrumental, and informational support for weight, diet, and physical activity-related beliefs and behaviors for Latina participants. Holistic health beliefs and the opinions of others consistently influenced Latinas' motivation and beliefs about the need to remain healthy and the links between behavior and health. Absence of mothers, other female relatives, and friends to provide childcare, companionship for exercise, and advice about food were prominent barriers that limited women's ability to maintain healthy practices during and after pregnancy. Conclusion : The findings support evidence that low-income, recently immigrated pregnant and postpartum Latinas could benefit from community-based, family-oriented interventions that provide social support necessary to promote and sustain healthy lifestyles.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45320/1/10995_2005_Article_25.pd

New research directions on disparities in obesity and type 2 diabetes

Obesity and type 2 diabetes disproportionately impact U.S. racial and ethnic minority communities and lowâ income populations. Improvements in implementing efficacious interventions to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes are underway (i.e., the National Diabetes Prevention Program), but challenges in effectively scalingâ up successful interventions and reaching atâ risk populations remain. In October 2017, the National Institutes of Health convened a workshop to understand how to (1) address socioeconomic and other environmental conditions that perpetuate disparities in the burden of obesity and type 2 diabetes; (2) design effective prevention and treatment strategies that are accessible, feasible, culturally relevant, and acceptable to diverse population groups; and (3) achieve sustainable health improvement approaches in communities with the greatest burden of these diseases. Common features of guiding frameworks to understand and address disparities and promote health equity were described. Promising research directions were identified in numerous areas, including study design, methodology, and core metrics; program implementation and scalability; the integration of medical care and social services; strategies to enhance patient empowerment; and understanding and addressing the impact of psychosocial stress on disease onset and progression in addition to factors that support resiliency and health.This report discusses a workshop convened by the National Institutes of Health to understand how to (1) address socioeconomic and other environmental conditions that perpetuate disparities in the burden of obesity and type 2 diabetes; (2) design effective prevention and treatment strategies that are accessible, feasible, culturally relevant, and acceptable to diverse population groups; and (3) achieve sustainable health improvement approaches in communities with the greatest burden of these diseases.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154507/1/nyas14270_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154507/2/nyas14270.pd

Representing the function and sensitivity of coastal interfaces in earth system models

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ward, N. D., Megonigal, J. P., Bond-Lamberty, B., Bailey, V. L., Butman, D., Canuel, E. A., Diefenderfer, H., Ganju, N. K., Goni, M. A., Graham, E. B., Hopkinson, C. S., Khangaonkar, T., Langley, J. A., McDowell, N. G., Myers-Pigg, A. N., Neumann, R. B., Osburn, C. L., Price, R. M., Rowland, J., Sengupta, A., Simard, M., Thornton, P. E., Tzortziou, M., Vargas, R., Weisenhorn, P. B., & Windham-Myers, L. Representing the function and sensitivity of coastal interfaces in earth system models. Nature Communications, 11(1), (2020): 2458, doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16236-2.Between the land and ocean, diverse coastal ecosystems transform, store, and transport material. Across these interfaces, the dynamic exchange of energy and matter is driven by hydrological and hydrodynamic processes such as river and groundwater discharge, tides, waves, and storms. These dynamics regulate ecosystem functions and Earth’s climate, yet global models lack representation of coastal processes and related feedbacks, impeding their predictions of coastal and global responses to change. Here, we assess existing coastal monitoring networks and regional models, existing challenges in these efforts, and recommend a path towards development of global models that more robustly reflect the coastal interface.Funding for this work was provided by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) as part of the Predicting Ecosystem Resilience through Multiscale Integrative Science (PREMIS) Initiative. PNNL is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830. Additional support to J.P.M. was provided by the NSF-LTREB program (DEB-0950080, DEB-1457100, DEB-1557009), DOE-TES Program (DE-SC0008339), and the Smithsonian Institution. This manuscript was motivated by discussions held by co-authors during a three-day workshop at PNNL in Richland, WA: The System for Terrestrial Aquatic Research (STAR) Workshop: Terrestrial-Aquatic Research in Coastal Systems. The authors thank PNNL artist Nathan Johnson for preparing the figures in this manuscript and Terry Clark, Dr. Charlette Geffen, and Dr. Nancy Hess for their aid in organizing the STAR workshop. The authors thank all workshop participants not listed as authors for their valuable insight: Lihini Aluwihare (contributed to biogeochemistry discussions and development of concept for Fig. 3), Gautam Bisht (contributed to modeling discussion), Emmett Duffy (contributed to observational network discussions), Yilin Fang (contributed to modeling discussion), Jeremy Jones (contributed to biogeochemistry discussions), Roser Matamala (contributed to biogeochemistry discussions), James Morris (contributed to biogeochemistry discussions), Robert Twilley (contributed to biogeochemistry discussions), and Jesse Vance (contributed to observational network discussions). A full report on the workshop discussions can be found at https://www.pnnl.gov/publications/star-workshop-terrestrial-aquatic-research-coastal-systems

An exploration of the concept of community and its impact on participatory governance policy and service delivery in poor areas of Cape Town, South Africa

The inclusion of citizen participation as a means to the equitable delivery of public services has distinguished South Africa’s democratic development trajectory over the last 20 years. While equitable resource allocation remains high on the agenda of more recently democratised states, most of which have highly diverse and unequally resourced populations. Influencing the design of more inclusive participation is the notion of a universal citizenship that applies the concept of the equality of individuals to the needs, identities and sense of agency of citizens both between and within states. The liberal democratic theoretical conceptualisation of the individual centres on the notion of universal citizen, who is the recipient and embodiment of democracy through the rights bestowed through the democratic model. This conceptualisation has been criticised for its inability to deal with the imprecision of individual and collective political identities, especially as these evolve in newly democratic contexts. The construction of a single identity citizen living in communities imbued with homogenous characteristics is carried forward into the policy construction of participatory governance. This article explores and challenges the notion of the single identity citizen that belongs to one homogenous community that can be identified and drawn into formally constructed government spaces. The paper explores the construction of political and socio-economic identities and how notions of community are constructed by citizens, on the one hand, and government policies, on the other.IS

The Ups and Downs in Women's Employment: Shifting Composition or Behavior from 1970 to 2010?

This paper tracks factors contributing to the ups and downs in women’s employment from 1970 to 2010 using regression decompositions focusing on whether changes are due to shifts in the means (composition of women) or due to shifts in coefficients (inclinations of women to work for pay). Compositional shifts in education exerted a positive effect on women’s employment across all decades, while shifts in the composition of other family income, particularly at the highest deciles, depressed married women’s employment over the 1990s contributing to the slowdown in this decade. A positive coefficient effect of education was found in all decades, except the 1990s, when the effect was negative, depressing women’s employment. Further, positive coefficient results for other family income at the highest deciles bolstered married women’s employment over the 1990s. Models are run separately for married and single women demonstrating the varying results of other family income by marital status. This research was supported in part by an Upjohn Institute Early Career Research Award

Life beyond the eating disorder: Education, relationships, and reproduction

We investigated sociodemographic characteristics in women with and without lifetime eating disorders

The significance of repetitive hair-pulling behaviors in eating disorders

We studied the relation between intrusive and repetitive hair-pulling, the defining feature of trichotillomania, and compulsive and impulsive features in 1453 individuals with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. We conducted a series of regression models examining the relative influence of compulsive features associated with obsessive compulsive disorder; compulsive features associated with eating disorders; trait features related to harm avoidance, perfectionism and novelty seeking; and self harm. A final model with a reduced sample (n=928) examined the additional contribution of impulsive attributes. One out of 20 individuals endorsed hair-pulling. Evidence of a positive association with endorsement of compulsive behavior of the obsessive compulsive spectrum emerged. Hair-pulling may be more consonant with ritualistic compulsions than impulsive urges in those with eating disorders