Targeting User Safety Through Education

Education is often the neglected “E” in the four E’s of safety. With changes to our transportation networks such as roundabouts and HAWK signals, the need for user education has never been greater. Learn about Drive Safe Michiana, a Michiana Area Council of Governments’ public safety program that targets these emerging safety topics in this presentation

On the discrepancy of some special sequences

AbstractWe obtain estimates for the discrepancy of the sequence (xs(d)(q;n))n=0∞, where s(d)(q;n) denotes the sum of the dth powers of the q-ary digits of the nonnegative integer n and x is an irrational number of finite approximation type. Furthermore metric results for a similar type of sequences are given

Acute Hypercarbia in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Presentations to a New Zealand Emergency Department

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the presence of chronic bronchitis or emphysema, which causes a progressive airway obstruction, characterised by airway hyperactivity (Palm & Decker 2003). In New Zealand there are increasing numbers of people presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with COPD. COPD exacerbation results in hypoxia and respiratory failure that can be debilitating to the patient because the normal coping mechanisms fail and the patient can end up in a spiralling illness that has a high mortality rate if left un-treated. Hypercarbia is a direct result of hypoventilation either from failed coping mechanisms or respiratory failure from exhaustion. The question lies with, which patients have this hypercarbia during an exacerbation? Treatment patterns within the ED depend largely on the diagnosis of hypercarbia on presentation with an exacerbation of COPD. A retrospective descriptive design was used to examine the records of all presentations to ED of patients with COPD over a 3-month period to determine whether there is a subset group of people who present with hypercarbia. Data from records were extracted using a specially devised data extraction tool. Of the findings there were 114 presentations, amongst those 114 presentations there were 71 individuals, a number of them presenting more than once within the three months. 80% of the 71 individuals have had a smoking history of which 53% were female. Of the 114 presentations, 76 had arterial blood gases taken during their ED presentation. Of these 76 presentations 30 had hypercarbia and 46 were non-hypercarbia. These 76 presentations involved 58 individuals, with some individuals presenting five times over the three-month period. Three groups emerged, some who were only hypercarbia (n= 18), some in the non-hypercarbia group (n=35) and 5 individuals who had presentations in both the hypercarbia and non-hypercarbia groups. Data showed that there was no definable subset group of hypercarbia patients within acute exacerbations of COPD presenting to the ED according to the variables. However the sample of presentations (with a blood gas) found within the study suffering hypercarbia was much higher (31.1%) than anticipated. Further analysis showed that the hypercarbia group had a significant lower forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and a combination diagnosis of emphysema or asthma and congestive heart failure. An implication to the clinician is that identification of hypercarbia within COPD exacerbation is problematically difficult until the late signs are shown with the individual. By that time effective treatment patterns may have changed from the initial presenting problem. Future areas of research within this field needs to lie within the community, when are these people starting the exacerbation and what leads them to progression presentation to the emergency department? Also we need to know whether these people are chronic sufferers of hypercarbia or presenting after a period of days exacerbation within their own home

Yang-Mills glueball masses from spectral reconstruction

We compute masses of the two lightest glueballs from spectral reconstructions of timelike interaction channels of the four-gluon vertex in Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory. The Euclidean spacelike dressings of the vertex are calculated with the functional renormalisation group. For the spectral reconstruction of these Euclidean data, we employ Gaussian process regression. The glueball resonances can be identified straightforwardly and we obtain $m_{sc} = 1870(75)~$ MeV as well as $m_{ps} = 2700(120)~$ MeV, in accordance with functional bound state and lattice calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase moderates effect of stress mindset on affect and cognition

There is evidence that altering stress mindset—the belief that stress is enhancing vs. debilitating—can change cognitive, affective and physiological responses to stress. However individual differences in responsiveness to stress mindset manipulations have not been explored. Given the previously established role of catecholamines in both placebo effects and stress, we hypothesized that genetic variation in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), an enzyme that metabolizes catecholamines, would moderate responses to an intervention intended to alter participants’ mindsets about stress. Participants (N = 107) were exposed to a stress mindset manipulation (videos highlighting either the enhancing or debilitating effects of stress) prior to engaging in a Trier Social Stress task and subsequent cognitive tasks. The associations of the COMT rs4680 polymorphism with the effect of stress mindset video manipulations on cognitive and affective responses were examined. Genetic variation at rs4680 modified the effects of stress mindset on affective and cognitive responses to stress. Individuals homozygous for rs4680 low-activity allele (met/met) were responsive to the stress-is-enhancing mindset manipulation as indicated by greater increases in positive affect, improved cognitive functioning, and happiness bias in response to stress. Conversely, individuals homozygous for the high-activity allele (val/val) were not as responsive to the stress mindset manipulation. These results suggest that responses to stress mindset intervention may vary with COMT genotype. These findings contribute to the understanding of gene by environment interactions for mindset interventions and stress reactivity and therefore warrant further investigations

Participation and performance trends in short-, medium, and long-distance duathlon

Participation and performance trends of male and female athletes have been thoroughly analyzed in various endurance sports. Knowing these trends can help coaches and athletes prepare for competitions and may influence their training strategy and career planning. However, duathlon events—consisted of two splits of running (Run1 and Run2) interspersed by a split of cycling (Bike)—have not been thoroughly studied, unlike other endurance sports. The present study aimed to compare participation and performance trends in duathletes who competed in duathlon races hosted by World Triathlon or affiliated National Federations between 1990 and 2021. A total of 25,130 results of age group finishers who competed in run-bike-run duathlon races of varying distances were analyzed with different general linear models. Races were divided into three distances: short-distance (up to 5.5 km run, 21 km bike, 5 km run), medium-distance (5–10 km run, 30–42 km bike, 7–11 km run) and long-distance (at least 14 km run, 60 km bike, 25 km run). On average, women represented 45.6% of all finishers in short-distance, 39.6% in medium-distance and 24.9% in long-distance duathlon races. Throughout the years, men were consistently faster than women in all three race legs (Run 1, Bike, and Run 2) in all three distances across all age groups, and women could not reduce the performance gap. Concerning the age of peak performance, duathletes of the age group 30–34 finished most often in the top three in short- and medium-distance duathlons, whereas male duathletes of the age group 25–29 and female duathletes of the age group 30–34 finished most often in the top three in long-distance duathlons. Women participated less, especially in longer distances, and were constantly slower than men. Duathletes of the age group 30–34 finished most often in the top three. Future studies should analyze participation and performance trends in further subgroups (e.g., elite athletes) and pacing behaviours

Impact of product name and seasonal context on the sensory evaluation of a seasonally themed beverage

Information can have a powerful impact on liking, however, little is known about the effect of product name on consumer perception. Moreover, the influence of season, as a sensory relevant context, has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of naming products with season evoking names and to compare responses between seasons. One hundred and fifty three consumers took part in either a summer (n=71) or winter (n=82) tasting of a drink named 'Winter Spice' or 'Refreshing Summer Berries'. Within each campaign, a cross-over design was applied and participants rated the drink for liking and sensory characteristics (check-all-that-apply). Neither the name nor the season had an impact on liking; however, both factors affected attribute description. The drink was described significantly more often as "spice", "Christmassy" and "mulled wine" when named 'Winter Spice', it was described more often as "blackcurrant" and "cherry" during the winter months. Practical applications: It appears possible to use product names to deliver different sensorial experiences without impacting negatively on liking providing that the names reflect adequately the product intrinsic qualities. Seasons appear to be a sensory relevant context, developing a greater understanding of the underpinning mechanisms is critical product development and marketing

Effect of the WeCareAdvisor™ on family caregiver outcomes in dementia: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are universal and associated with multiple negative outcomes. This pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the effect of using the WeCareAdvisor, an innovative web-based tool developed to enable family caregivers to assess, manage, and track BPSD. Methods This RCT enrolled 57 dementia family caregivers from community and clinical settings in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Baltimore, Maryland. Participants were randomly assigned to immediate use of the WeCareAdvisor tool (WCA, n = 27) or a Waitlist control group (n = 30) that received the tool after a one-month waiting period. Outcomes for the caregiver and the person they were caring for were assessed at baseline (T0) and one-month followup for both the WCA (T1) and Waitlist control (T2) groups. Results Caregiver mean age was 65.9 ± 14.0 years old. About half (49%) were spouses. Baseline characteristics were comparable between groups except for mean caregiver confidence which was higher in the control group (WCA 35.0 ± 10.0 vs. Waitlist control 39.7 ± 6.9, p = 0.04). There were no significant differences between the WCA and control groups in characteristics of the person with dementia. After their one-month of tool use (T1), WCA caregivers showed significant within group improvement in caregiver distress (− 6.08 ± 6.31 points, t = − 4.82, p < 0.0001) and behavioral frequency (− 3.60 ± 5.05, t = − 3.56, p = 0.002), severity (− 3.24 ± 3.87, t = − 4.19, p = 0.0003) and total behavioral score (− 6.80 ± 10.73, t = − 3.17, p = 004). In the same timeframe, Waitlist control caregivers showed a significant decrease in confidence (− 6.40 ± 10.30, t = − 3.40, p = 0.002). The WCA group showed greater improvement in distress compared to the Waitlist group (T0-T1; t = − 2.49, p = 0.02), which remained significant after adjusting for site and baseline distress. There were no significant between-group differences in caregiver confidence or other secondary outcomes. After their one month of tool use (T2), the Waitlist group also showed significant improvement in caregiver distress (− 3.72 ± 7.53, t = − 2.66, p = 0.013), stress (− 0.41 ± 1.02, t = − 2.19, p = 0.037), confidence (4.38 ± 5.17, t = 4.56, p < 0.0001), burden (− 2.76 ± 7.26, t = − 2.05, p = 0.05), negative communication (− 1.48 ± 2.96, t = − 2.70, p = 0.012) and behavioral frequency (− 1.86 ± 4.58, t = − 2.19, p = 0.037); distress remained significant after adjustment. Conclusions In this pilot RCT, WCA use resulted in a significant decrease in caregiver distress. Future research will identify whether longer use of WCA can impact other caregiver and behavioral outcomes. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02420535 (Date of registry: 4/20/2015, prior to the start of the clinical trial).https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143536/1/12877_2018_Article_801.pd