Strengthening Cultural Competency in California's Domestic Violence Field for High-Need, Underserved Populations

In 2012, The Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF)'s program area Blue Shield Against Violence (BSAV) launched a project called "Strengthening Cultural Competency in California's Domestic Violence Field for High-Need, Underserved Populations" (BSAV CC) to support and promote promising culturally competent practices within the domestic violence field. BSCF enlisted RDP Consulting (RDP) to manage the $2.6 million initiative and to provide capacitybuilding services, and provided two-year grants to 17 community partners across the state of California. The BSAV CC Project specifically sought to support domestic violence-related outreach to Tribal communities, African Americans, and recent immigrant populations.Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) received a grant from BSCF to support the learning and evaluation of this project. Over the two years of the evaluation, SPR conducted 78 phone interviews with community partners, RDP consultants, project-level evaluators, and field leaders. SPR also conducted one-day visits to 11 programs—visits that included interviews with executive directors, board members, outreach staff, key program partners, and clients. Finally, SPR attended project convenings and events, reviewed project documentation (e.g., proposals, reports), and administered two rounds of a social networking survey to all community partners. This Final Report highlights the outcomes of the two-year evaluation, at both the organizational and field levels

Land Cover Influences on Airborne Noise Propagation at USAF Installations

Mitigation of aircraft noise and encroachment by residential areas at various U.S. military installations remains a challenge and hampers effective military operations. The Air Force has established standard practices that utilize computational noise models to generate and display noise propagation from military installations. Despite great advances in models and mitigation action plans, the current USAF Noisemap modeling tool and methods do not consider the effects of variation in land cover. Moreover, such limitations could greatly affect the accuracy of predicting aircraft noise pollution. The standard modeling method assumes a ground cover impedance of 225 Kpa*s/m2, which generalizes the land cover characteristics as grass to reduce computational difficulties and man-hours. However, hard surfaces such as asphalt can have an impedance of 3000 Kpa*s/m2. We hypothesize that noise propagation from the source to the receiver can significantly vary with detailed land use and land cover changes. Therefore, a detailed comparison of land cover scenarios and their impacts on noise propagation at military installation was conducted in this study. Multiple scenarios were produced using four types of land cover maps (GIS-based, NLCD-based, Grass-Only, and Dominant -based) and flight operations. Moody AFB, GA, and its flight operations were selected as a case study. Statistical analyses showed that changing the land cover of aircraft runway and flightline to hard surfaces in the model led to significant increases in noise level at three out of ten sampled locations in comparison to the standard Grass-Only scenarios. However, this was observed only when the aircraft is on the ground (static operations). No significant difference was observed for other scenarios when compared to the grass-only, except when the NLCD-map size was reduced to only encompass the areas within the perimeter of Moody AFB, GA. Scenarios with more detailed land cover did not generate significant differences in noise when compared the Grass-Only. Further, randomizing the land cover types within a region v revealed noise propagation were most sensitive to changes in land impedance and location when compared to operations locations and impedance ranges. However, majority of the impedances were stratified between low or high values. Additionally, each scenarios modeling time was captured. Modeling time increase with land cover detail for each scenarios. The Dominant-based scenarios required the least amount of time to model. In conclusion, the current noise modeling practices using Grass-Only cover may not be affected by the land cover in many locations, but few scenarios that showed differences warrant further analysis using more installations, flight operations and 3D objects. This could inform USAF modelers whether extra computational effort is needed. This study used only A-10 aircraft at Moody AFB, GA and a future study that analyze various aircrafts is recommended to draw stronger conclusions on land cover change impact on noise propagation models

Aspects of Roaccutane prescription in South Africa

A nationwide postmarketing surveillanc-e study on the use and outcomes of use of isotretinoin has been conducted in South Africa A representative sample of prescribers of the drug was identified from drug utilisation data and the overall doctor response rate was 90,1 %. A total of 766 patients was enrolled in the study, of which 728 were analysable for safety and efficacy. More than half the patients prescribed isotretinoin were women, of whom only 48,25% were practising some form of contraception. The mean overall dosage prescribed was 0,64 mg/kg/day and the mean overall duration of therapy prescribed was 15,5 weeks. The mean dose and duration of therapy prescribed by dermatologists was significantly higher than that prescribed by general practitioners. Potentially dangerous drug interactions involving the concomitant use of isotretinoin with tetracyclines, vitamin A and oral contraceptives together with antibiotics were noted. Mucocutaneous drying effects were the most common adverse events and the incidence of these effects decreased with continuation of therapy. The known effectiveness of the drug was confirmed by the results of the study

An evaluation of the Kemtek 1000 sample processor

The Kemtek 1000 Sample Processor has been evaluated for precision, accuracy, speed and reliability. Precision was better than 1.0% at all volumes tested and accuracy within ±5%. A l00-tube assay could be set up within 15 min when patient specimens plus two reagents were sampled using a two probe system. Carry-over could be reduced to <0.01% by using a sufficient number of wash steps, the latter being related to the assay requirements. Evidence was found for adsorption of protein to the probe tubing but inaccuracies due to this could be reduced by introducing wash steps between samples. Problems over 12 months have been minor and quickly resolved. The authors were pleased with the way the processor performed and their staffhave confidence in leaving it to set up their assays

Preparing First-Generation College Students for Doctoral Persistence: A Formative Evaluation of the McNair Scholars Program

There is little diversity among earned doctorates in the United States. First-generation college students are especially at-risk for not matriculating to a doctoral degree. This applied dissertation provided an understanding of the obstacles faced by first-generation college students in doctoral programs by studying alumni of the McNair Scholars Program. The study examined the components of the McNair Scholars Program that can help ameliorate obstacles faced by first-generation college students as they enroll and persist into graduate school. This study utilized a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach to evaluate the components of the McNair Scholars Program that prepared students for successful persistence into graduate school and subsequent completion of an earned doctorate

Research and Application of Virtual Simulation Technology in the Aerospace Bearing Design and Manufacture

Bearings are widely used in aerospace and other fields, its performance directly affects the production efficiency and safety. Nowadays, virtual simulation technology has become an indispensable part of intelligent manufacturing field. As a virtual simulation technology, FEA has been widely used in bearing design. China needs to import many aerospace bearings every year in aerospace area, Chinese national defense and other high precision technology is limited because the blockade of advanced bearing technology. We can use dynamics modeling and virtual simulation technology to achieve the predictive design, and strive to achieve foreign level. In this paper, the author proposed a method of bearing design based on virtual simulation technology. The factors of bearing which affect the dynamic characteristics are considered, the process of design bearing based on virtual simulation is also considered. According to the different design parameters, the simulation results are used to verify the rationality, these can reduce the cost and improve the reliability. The virtual simulation technology is applied to design the 7016C angular contact ball bearing which used in aerospace area, and supported decision-making in structure design and data analyze. Finally, The feasibility of this method is verified by experiments.

\u27Most men drink... especially like when they play sports\u27 - alcohol advertising during sporting broadcasts and the potential impact on child audiences

Alcohol advertising during sporting broadcasts, as well as the sponsorship of sporting events by the alcohol industry, is common practice in Australia, as in many other countries. The strength of the association between alcohol and sports prompts consideration of the potential for children who watch televised sport to be exposed to a considerable amount of alcohol advertising, and to learn to associate alcohol with sport and sporting success. This paper reviews the current alcohol advertising regulations in Australia, particularly in reference to the protection of children. It then details a pair of studies designed to examine the extent and nature of alcohol advertising during sporting telecasts, and the potential effects on young people. The first, a frequency and content analysis of advertising during two popular Australian sports final series, found that alcohol advertising (particularly during a sporting competition with alcohol company sponsors) is extensive and contains both features known to be appealing to children and messages which could be interpreted as associating alcohol consumption with social and sporting success. The second, a qualitative study with grade 5 and 6 primary school students, found that young people have a high awareness of the alcohol sponsors and alcohol brands advertised during these sporting telecasts, and associate these products with sport and with positive personal characteristics and outcomes

Vitamin D and Musculoskeletal Status in Nova Scotian Women Who Wear Concealing Clothing

Bone and muscle weakness due to vitamin D deficiency is common among Muslim women who reside in sunny, equatorial countries. The purpose of this study was to determine if living in a northern maritime location additionally disadvantages women who wear concealing clothes. A cross-sectional matched pair design was used to compare women who habitually wore concealing clothing with women who dressed according to western norms. Each premenopausal hijab-wearing woman (n = 11) was matched by age, height, weight and skin tone with a western-dressed woman. Subjects were tested by hand grip dynamometry to assess muscular strength and by quantitative ultrasound at the calcaneus to assess bone status. Nutritional intake was obtained by 24 h recall. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (s-25(OH)D) status was determined in seven matched pairs. The hijab group had lower s-25(OH)D than women who wore western clothes (40 ± 28 vs. 81 ± 32 nmol/L, p= 0.01). Grip strength in the right hand was lower in the hijab-wearing women (p = 0.05) but this appeared to be due to less participation in intense exercise. Bone status did not differ between groups (p= 0.9). Dietary intake of vitamin D was lower in the hijab-wearers (316 ± 353 vs. 601 ± 341 IU/day, p= 0.001). This pilot study suggests that women living in a northern maritime location appear to be at risk for vitamin D insufficiency and therefore should consider taking vitamin D supplements