Listening to the Voices of Community Health Workers: A Multilevel, Culture-Centered Approach to Overcoming Structural Barriers in U.S. Latinx Communities

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are often incorporated into efforts to reduce health disparities for vulnerable populations. However, their voices are rarely the focus of research when considering how to increase their job effectiveness and sustainability. The current study addresses this gap by privileging the voices of 28 CHWs who work with Latinx communities in Nebraska through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Using a multilevel, Culture-Centered Approach (CCA) to Health Communication, we identified two key structural communication issues: (a) increasing language accommodation and (b) increasing (and stabilizing) network integration across three ecological levels of health behavior (individual, microsystem, and exosystem). This study shows the uniquely valuable perspective that CHWs have as they navigate hierarchical health care structures and community cultures to meet the needs of their Latinx clients. Findings suggest that CHWs should be included in health care organization and policy discussions to reduce health disparities for Latinx populations

Longitudinal Phonon Plasmon Mode Coupling in β-Ga\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3eO\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e

In this letter, we investigate a set of n-type single crystals of monoclinic symmetry β-Ga2O3 with different free electron concentration values by generalized far infrared and infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. In excellent agreement with our previous model prediction, we find here by experiment that longitudinal-phonon-plasmon coupled modes are polarized either within the monoclinic plane or perpendicular to the monoclinic plane. As predicted, all modes change the amplitude and frequency with the free electron concentration. The most important observation is that all longitudinal-phonon-plasmon coupled modes polarized within the monoclinic plane continuously change their direction as a function of free electron concentration

Vertical conduction properties of few-layer epitaxial graphene / n-type 4H-SiC heterojunctions at cryogenic temperatures

Vertical diodes of epitaxial graphene on n 4H-SiC were investigated. The graphene Raman spectraexhibited a higher intensity in the G-line than the 2D-line, indicative of a few-layer graphene film.Rectifying properties improved at low temperatures as the reverse leakage decreased over six ordersof magnitude without freeze-out in either material. Carrier concentration of 10 16 cm 3in the SiCremained stable down to 15 K, while accumulation charge decreased and depletion width increasedin forward bias. The low barrier height of 0.08 eV and absence of recombination-induced emissionindicated majority carrier field emission as the dominant conduction mechanism

Manure amendments for mitigation of dairy ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions: preliminary screening

 Amendments can be practical and cost-effective for reducing ammonia [NH3] and greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions from dairy manure.  In this study, the effect of 22 amendments on NH3 and GHG carbon dioxide [CO2], methane [CH4] and nitrous oxide [N2O] emissions from dairy manure were simultaneous investigated at room temperature (20℃).  Dairy manure slurry (2 kg; 1:1.7 urine: feces; 12% total solids) was treated with various amendments, representing different classes of product, following the suppliers’ recommended rates.  In this screening of products, one sample of each amendment was evaluated along with untreated manure slurry with repeated measurements over 24 h.  Gas emissions were measured after short (3 d) and medium (30 d) storage duration using a photoacoustic multi-gas analyzer.  Six amendment products that acted as microbial digest, oxidizing agent, masking agent or adsorbent significantly reduced NH3 by >10% (P = 0.04 to <0.001) after both 3 and 30 d.  Microbial digest/enzymes with nitrogen substrate appeared effective in reducing CH4 fluxes for both storage times.  Most of the masking agents and disinfectants significantly increased CH4 in both storage periods (P = 0.04 to <0.001).  For both CH4 and CO2 fluxes, aging the manure slurry for 30 d significantly reduced gas production by 11 to 100% (P<0.001).  While some products reduced emissions at one or both storage times, results showed that the ability of amendments to mitigate emissions from dairy manure is finite and re-application may be required even for a static amount of manure.  Simultaneous measurement of gases identified glycerol as a successful NH3 reduction agent while increasing CH4 in contrast to a digestive-microbial product that significantly reduced CH4 while enhancing NH3 release.Keywords: methane, greenhouse gas, emission, amendment, additive, dairy manure, ammonia, mitigatio