America's Hispanic Children: Gaining Ground, Looking Forward

The purpose of the study was to "widen the lens" by highlighting the positive trends among Hispanic youth. More young Latino children are enrolling in center-based care programs which are more likely to be of a higher educational quality than home-based care and other alternatives. Other highlights include Latino students posting solid gains on national assessments in key subject areas, more Latinos than ever before earning a high school diploma, and a record number of Hispanics enrolling in two- or four-year colleges. A greater sense of responsibility among Latino youth was also revealed in the study, indicated by falling teen pregnancy rates -- declines have been greater in the last four years for Latinas than other ethnic groups -- and a decrease in smoking and binge drinking habits among high school seniors. Latino teens' use of technology is also promising. While less likely to own a cell phone than their peers, they are avid users of smartphones and tablets. The Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends Project reported Hispanics are the only group to see poverty rates decline and incomes increase, but despite these gains, Hispanics have the largest number of people living in poverty when compared with other minority groups. "Nearly one-third of Latino children live below the poverty line, and a roughly equal share, while not poor by official definition, has family incomes just adequate to meet basic needs," the Child Trends study states

Technologies for climate change adaptation: agricultural sector

This Guidebook presents a selection of technologies for climate change adaptation in the agricultural sector. A set of twenty two adaptation technologies are showcased that are primarily based on the principals of agroecology, but also include scientific technologies of climate and biological sciences complemented with important sociological and institutional capacity building processes that are required to make adaptation function. The technologies cover monitoring and forecasting the climate, sustainable water use and management, soil management, sustainable crop management, seed conservation, sustainable forest management and sustainable livestock management. Technologies that tend to homogenize the natural environment and agricultural production have low possibilities of success in conditions of environmental stress that are likely to result from climate change. On the other hand, technologies that allow for, and indeed promote, diversity are more likely to provide a strategy which strengthens agricultural production in the face of uncertain future climate change scenarios. In this sense, the twenty two technologies showcased in this Guidebook have been selected because they facilitate the conservation and restoration of diversity while at the same time providing opportunities for increasing agricultural productivity. Many of these technologies are not new to agricultural production practices, but they are implemented based on assessment of current and possible future impacts of climate change in a particular location. Agro-ecology is an approach that encompasses concepts of sustainable production and biodiversity promotion and therefore provides a useful framework for identifying and selecting appropriate adaptation technologies for the agricultural sector. The Guidebook provides a systematic analysis of the most relevant information available on climate change adaptation technologies in the agriculture sector. It has been compiled based on a literature review of key publications, journal articles, and e-platforms, and by drawing on documented experiences sourced from a range of organizations working on projects and programmes concerned with climate change adaptation technologies in the agricultural sector. Its geographic scope is focused on developing countries where high levels of poverty, agricultural production, climate variability and biological diversity currently intersect. Key concepts around climate change adaptation are not universally agreed. It is therefore important to understand local contexts – especially social and cultural norms - when working with national and sub-national stakeholders to make informed decisions about appropriate technology options. Thus, decision-making processes should be participative, facilitated, and consensus-building oriented and should be based on the following key guiding principles: increasing awareness and knowledge, strengthening institutions, protecting natural resources, providing financial assistance and developing context-specific strategies. For decision-making the Community–Based Adaptation framework is proposed for creating inclusive governance that engages a range of stakeholders directly with local or district government and national coordinating bodies, and facilitates participatory planning, monitoring and implementation of adaptation activities. Seven criteria are suggested for the prioritization of adaptation technologies: (i) The extent to which the technology maintains or strengthens biological diversity and is environmentally sustainable; (ii) The extent to which the technology facilitates access to information systems and awareness of climate change information; (iii) Whether the technology support water, carbon and nutrient cycles and enables stable and/or increased productivity; (iv) Income-generating potential, cost-benefit analysis and contribution to improved equity; (v) Respect for cultural diversity and facilitation of inter-cultural exchange; (vi) Potential for integration into regional and national policies and can be scaled-up; (vii) The extent to which the technology builds formal and information institutions and social networks. Finally, recommendations are set out for practitioners and policy makers: • There is an urgent need for improved climate modelling and forecasting which can provide a basis for informed decision-making and the implementation of adaptation strategies. This should include traditional knowledge. • Information is also required to better understand the behaviour of plants, animals, pests and diseases as they react to climate change. • Potential changes in economic and social systems in the future under different climate scenarios should also be investigated so that the implications of adaptation strategy and planning choices are better understood. • It is important to secure effective flows of information through appropriate dissemination channels. This is vital for building adaptive capacity and decision-making processes. • Improved analysis of adaptation technologies is required to show how they can contribute to building adaptive capacity and resilience in the agricultural sector. This information needs to be compiled and disseminated for a range of stakeholders from local to national level. • Relationships between policy makers, researchers and communities should be built so that technologies and planning processes are developed in partnership, responding to producers’ needs and integrating their knowledge

Predictors of Behavioral Health Among Firefighters in Their Third Year of Fire Service

Employee turnover is expensive, as job training can cost upwards of 30% of an employee’s annual salary (not including additional onboarding expenses; Boushey & Glynn, 2012). This is especially true among high stress, dangerous occupations that require specialized training such as firefighters (Envisage Technologies, 2016; Knoll, 2011; Patterson et al., 2010). Health status is a primary reason for job concerns that may lead to decline in job performance and employment separation (Hourani, Williams, & Kress, 2006; Virtanen, Kivimäki, Vahtera, Elovainio, Sund, Virtanen, & Ferrie, 2006). Two research areas that support this notion include literature on the biopsychosocial model and occupational stress. The purpose of the current study was twofold: 1) to assess pre-academy biopsychosocial factors that may predict positive health outcomes among firefighters after 3 years of service, and 2) to determine the impact of occupational stress on health status over time. Results indicate that social support from family, number of family mental health diagnoses, depression symptoms and occupational stress were the most salient predictors of total health in the third year of fire service. By pinpointing these markers of vulnerability early in a high-risk, high-stress career, investigators aim to enhance future training and prevention efforts for those in particularly dangerous occupations. Specifically, these findings highlight potentially useful domains to help identify those who may be “at-risk” as well as areas that may be targets for early intervention

Latent Profiles of Young Adults Based on E-Cigarette Outcome Expectancies

Background: While cigarette smoking has steadily declined, electronic cigarette use (e.g., e-cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems [ENDS]) has led a new generation to become addicted to nicotine (Cummings & Proctor, 2014; USDHHS, 2014). Some individuals believe these products have the potential to provide benefits in helping smokers quit; however, many harmful aspects have been uniquely associated with e-cigarette use (e.g., toxicity, vape-specific injuries, gateway effects, etc.). If e-cigarettes are to be established as useful cessation tools, researchers must better understand e-cigarette use beliefs and associated clinical targets. Purpose: To better inform e-cigarette prevention and intervention, investigators developed profiles of young adults with similar e-cigarette outcome expectancies and used demographic features, transdiagnostic emotional variables (i.e., anhedonia, anxiety sensitivity, and distress tolerance), and smoking status to predict participants’ group membership. Participants and Methods: Five hundred and six young adults (aged 18 to 40) were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete an anonymous survey created in Qualtrics. Nicotine users with varying nicotine use backgrounds were surveyed. The Youth E-Cigarette Outcome Expectancies Measure-Revised Long Version was used to assess participants’ e-cigarette outcome expectancies (Pokhrel et al., 2014, 2018). Based on e-cigarette expectancies, subgroups were derived using latent class analysis in Mplus Version 8.4 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017). After determining latent class profiles, demographic features and transdiagnostic emotional variables, measured using the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (Snaith et al., 1995), the Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory (Taylor et al., 2007), and the Distress Tolerance Scale (Simons & Gaher, 2005), were used to predict membership. Results: Analyses revealed three distinct classes of participants with similar e-cigarette use expectancies. Sex, race, education, smoking status, anhedonia, and anxiety sensitivity significantly predicted membership. Heightened anxiety sensitivity was associated with increased odds of “Vape Positive†group membership. Conclusions: Consistent with previous literature, identifying as female and being more educated appears to be connected to decreased positive e-cigarette expectancies. Anxiety sensitivity and anhedonia appear to be malleable clinical targets that predict young adults’ positive beliefs about e-cigarette use. Findings support conclusions that differences exist between e-cigarette use and traditional smoking patterns. Additional research will elucidate understanding of diverse groups’ e-cigarette use patterns

Water Management in PEM Fuel Cells: Controllability Analysis and Steady-state Optimization for Temperature Control

This paper presents a controllability study of the water management inside anode channel by regulating the stack temperature for PEM fuel cell systems with dead-ended anode. Moreover, this work includes the design of a steady-state target optimizer which calculates the temperature set-point profiles that minimize the stack degradation and the hydrogen leaks. The control architecture is successfully simulated and the results show promising performanc

The impact of COVID-19 on analysts’ sentiment about the banking sector

La aplicación de herramientas cuantitativas que facilitan el análisis de la inmensa cantidad de información disponible ha ido ganando cada día más importancia. Son varios los participantes del mercado que se han unido a esta tendencia, y los bancos centrales no escapan de ella. Gran parte de la información cualitativa es no estructurada, principalmente en forma de noticias, informes u otro tipo de textos. Por lo tanto, la automatización de este proceso puede incrementar el volumen de información disponible y el proceso de toma de decisiones. Este trabajo se enmarca en esta tendencia, mediante el uso de herramientas de análisis de sentimiento para determinar el impacto del COVID-19 en la opinión de los analistas sobre el sector bancario. Gracias a esta metodología, se logra convertir una información cualitativa, no estructurada, en un índice cuantitativo que permite comparar informes de diferentes períodos y países. Como resultado, se observa un empeoramiento del sentimiento sobre la banca europea, lo que coincide con una mayor incertidumbre en las cotizaciones bursátiles. Además, se aprecian diferencias entre países, así como una mayor divergencia en las opiniones reflejadas en los informes.The use of quantitative tools to analyse the huge amount of qualitative information has been acquiring increasing importance. Market participants and, of course, Central Banks have been involved in this trend. The vast majority of qualitative data can be qualified as non-structured and refers mainly to news, reports or another kind of texts. Its transformation into structured data can improve the availability of information and hence, decision making. This article applies sentiment analysis tools to text data in order to quantify the impact of Covid-19 on the analysts’ opinions. Using this methodology, it is possible to transform qualitative non-structured data into a quantitative index that can be used to compare reports from different periods and countries. The results show the pandemic worsens banking sentiment in Europe, which coincides with higher uncertainty in the stock market. There are also regional differences in the decline in sentiment as well as higher divergence is observed across opinions

Solar Thermal Plants Integration in Smart Grids

Solar energy penetration has been increasingly growing in recent years. Since solar energy is intermittent its integration in existing grids is difficult. This paper deals with the optimal integration of solar power plants in grids. The paper proposes a modification of energy hubs which allows to solve the optimization problem with a mixed integer programming algorithm in a distributed way. An introductory simulation study case is givenMinisterio de Educación DPI2008-05818Junta de Andalucía P07-TEP-02720Comisión Europea HD-MP

Codesarrrollo en los Andes: contextos y actores para una acción transnacional

Depto. de Antropología Social y Psicología SocialFac. de Ciencias Políticas y SociologíaTRUEpu