Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project at Dickey, Maine : Final Environmental Statement, Volume 1-4

The proposed Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project in northern Maine is a multipurpose installation on the St.John River. The combination hydroelectric power and flood control project is located in Aroostook County, Maine, near the Canadian border. The two proposed earth fill dams located at Dickey are 10,200 feet in length with a maximum height of 335 feet. They would impound 7.7 million acre feet of water at a maximum pool elevation 910 feet mean sea level. A second earth filled dam located 11 miles downstream at Lincoln School would serve as a regulatory dam. It would be 2100 feet in lenqth, 90 feet above the existing streambed

Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Report : Dickey-Lincoln School Lakes Project, Maine

The Dickey Lincoln School Lakes Project is a proposed multipurpose project located on the upper reaches of the St. John River in Aroostook County, Maine. Development would consist of two dams with associated reservoirs and hydroelectric generating facilities, five dikes and transmission lines. A more detailed description of the proposed project and its associated impacts is contained within the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed project

Dynamics of gene expression and the regulatory inference problem

From the response to external stimuli to cell division and death, the dynamics of living cells is based on the expression of specific genes at specific times. The decision when to express a gene is implemented by the binding and unbinding of transcription factor molecules to regulatory DNA. Here, we construct stochastic models of gene expression dynamics and test them on experimental time-series data of messenger-RNA concentrations. The models are used to infer biophysical parameters of gene transcription, including the statistics of transcription factor-DNA binding and the target genes controlled by a given transcription factor.Comment: revised version to appear in Europhys. Lett., new titl

ENSO-driven interhemispheric Pacific mass transports

Previous studies have shown that ENSO's anomalous equatorial winds, including the observed southward shift of zonal winds that occurs around the event peak, can be reconstructed with the first two Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) of equatorial region wind stresses. Using a high-resolution ocean general circulation model, we investigate the effect of these two EOFs on changes in warm water volume (WWV), interhemispheric mass transports, and Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). Wind stress anomalies associated with the first EOF produce changes in WWV that are dynamically consistent with the conceptual recharge oscillator paradigm. The ITF is found to heavily damp these WWV changes, reducing their variance by half. Wind stress anomalies associated with the second EOF, which depicts the southward wind shift, are responsible for WWV changes that are of comparable magnitude to those driven by the first mode. The southward wind shift is also responsible for the majority of the observed interhemispheric upper ocean mass exchanges. These winds transfer mass between the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere during El Niño events. Whilst water is transferred in the opposite direction during La Niña events, the magnitude of this exchange is roughly half of that seen during El Niño events. Thus, the discharging of WWV during El Niño events is meridionally asymmetric, while the WWV recharging during a La Niña event is largely symmetric. The inclusion of the southward wind shift is also shown to allow ENSO to exchange mass with much higher latitudes than that allowed by the first EOF alone

The Economic Resource Receipt of New Mothers

U.S. federal policies do not provide a universal social safety net of economic support for women during pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period but assume that employment and/or marriage will protect families from poverty. Yet even mothers with considerable human and marital capital may experience disruptions in employment, earnings, and family socioeconomic status postbirth. We use the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the economic resources that mothers with children ages 2 and younger receive postbirth, including employment, spouses, extended family and social network support, and public assistance. Results show that many new mothers receive resources postbirth. Marriage or postbirth employment does not protect new mothers and their families from poverty, but education, race, and the receipt of economic supports from social networks do

Evaluation of satisfaction with care in a midwifery unit and an obstetric unit: a randomized controlled trial of low-risk women

Publisher's version, source: http://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-0932-x.BACKGROUND Satisfaction with birth care is part of quality assessment of care. The aim of this study was to investigate possible differences in satisfaction with intrapartum care among low-risk women, randomized to a midwifery unit or to an obstetric unit within the same hospital. METHODS Randomized controlled trial conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Østfold Hospital Trust, Norway. A total of 485 women with no expressed preference for level of birth care, assessed to be at low-risk at onset of spontaneous labor were included. To assess the overall satisfaction with intrapartum care, the Labour and Delivery Satisfaction Index (LADSI) questionnaire, was sent to the participants 6 months after birth. To assess women’s experience with intrapartum transfer, four additional items were added. In addition, we tested the effects of the following aspects on satisfaction; obstetrician involved, intrapartum transfer from the midwifery unit to the obstetric unit during labor, mode of delivery and epidural analgesia. RESULTS Women randomized to the midwifery unit were significantly more satisfied with intrapartum care than those randomized to the obstetric unit (183 versus 176 of maximum 204 scoring points, mean difference 7.2, p = 0.002). No difference was found between the units for women who had an obstetrician involved during labor or delivery and who answered four additional questions on this aspect (mean item score 4.0 at the midwifery unit vs 4.3 at the obstetric unit, p = 0.3). Intrapartum transfer from the midwifery unit to an obstetric unit, operative delivery and epidurals influenced the level of overall satisfaction in a negative direction regardless of allocated unit (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Low-risk women with no expressed preference for level of birth care were more satisfied if allocated to the midwifery unit compared to the obstetric unit. TRIAL REGISTRATION The trial is registered at www.​clinicaltrials.​gov NCT00857129. Initially released 03/05/2009

'I didn't want to pass that onto my child, being afraid to go to the dentist': Making sense of oral health through narratives of connectedness over the life course

While previous sociological research on oral health has identified the relevance of personal relationships, there is more scope to analyse the mouth through a lens of connectedness. Recent qualitative interviews with 43 older people (65+) in England and Scotland found that participants constructed relational narratives to make sense of their oral health practices. By drawing on ideas of family practices, family display and personal life, we illustrate how the mouth can be understood relationally. Participants presented their own embodied experiences as connected to the actions of their parents. Narratives also reflected how, as parents and grandparents themselves, participants tried to shape the experiences of others. In this way, oral health practices were conceptualised as being about family. This can be seen in self‐narratives that demonstrated how participants located themselves as embedded in webs of ongoing relationships. We highlight the importance of narrated practices of thinking and feeling, whereby participants imagined doing oral health, and indeed family, in different ways. We thereby demonstrate how oral health practices are constituted through family connectedness and at the same time how these practices contribute to the constitution of family. Policy should therefore pay attention to family relations when promoting improvements in oral health practices

Exploring young people’s experiences and perceptions of mental health and well-being using photography

© 2019 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Introduction: The mental health of young people is a major global public health concern. A shift in focus towards children and young people’s mental health in the UK has emphasized young people’s voices, as of paramount importance in shaping the path for future quality care provision. The paper examines a study that aimed to explore young people’s perceptions of mental health and well-being using photographs. Method: The methodology employed for this study placed young people at the centre of the research process by using photographs to capture their experiences. Ten young people who attended a youth group used disposable cameras to take photographs of their experiences and perceptions of mental health and well-being. Semi-structured interviews with the young people elicited their narratives behind the images. Data were analysed using photo-elicitation and thematic analysis. Findings: Young people’s experiences of mental health and well-being were internalized and located predominantly in the private and hidden regions of their everyday lives. Stigma, social isolation and marginalization were prevalent whilst spirituality and connection with the environment expressed hope. Conclusion: Mental health appears to be firmly located in the private ‘back regions’ of young individuals’ lives, demonstrating that young people conceptualize these experiences as a vulnerable and hidden part of their being. Understanding the needs of this new generation of youth including the prevalence of stigma, risk of isolation and social exclusion are paramount. Future service provision needs to recognize the extent stigma impacts upon young people’s experiences of mental health and well-being

The economic and innovation contribution of universities: a regional perspective

Universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) have come to be regarded as key sources of knowledge utilisable in the pursuit of economic growth. Although there have been numerous studies assessing the economic and innovation impact of HEIs, there has been little systematic analysis of differences in the relative contribution of HEIs across regions. This paper provides an exploration of some of these differences in the context of the UK’s regions. Significant differences are found in the wealth generated by universities according to regional location and type of institution. Universities in more competitive regions are generally more productive than those located in less competitive regions. Also, traditional universities are generally more productive than their newer counterparts, with university productivity positively related to knowledge commercialisation capabilities. Weaker regions tend to be more dependent on their universities for income and innovation, but often these universities under-perform in comparison to counterpart institutions in more competitive regions. It is argued that uncompetitive regions lack the additional knowledge infrastructure, besides universities, that are more commonly a feature of more competitive regions