Can an established preschool obesity prevention programme (HENRY) be successfully delivered by trained volunteers?

Abstract IntroductionAlmost a quarter of 4-5 year olds are overweight. HENRY (Health, Exercise, Nutrition for the Really Young) delivers evidence-based interventions with consistently positive results when delivered by trained staff. This study tested whether this intervention could also be successfully delivered by trained volunteers.MethodThe programme was delivered one-to-one over eight 1-hour sessions. Baseline and post programme data was analysed for 87 parents and, for a sub-sample, at 6 months follow-up. Delivery was at the parent's home or community venue according to parent preference in four London boroughs. Approximately 80% of programmes were delivered by volunteers with a similar demographic profile to target parents and 20% by staff to enable a comparative evaluation.ResultsProgrammes provided by volunteers and staff showed similar statistically significant improvements in self-reported parent and child emotional wellbeing, parenting efficacy, and fruit and vegetable consumption. Additional benefits were seen in family eating (e.g. eating healthy meals and eating with others) and food purchasing (e.g. reading labels on food packaging) behaviours. Follow-up data showed that some changes were maintained six months later. Parent and volunteer ratings of the programme and training were very positive, with high retention (mean attendance of 7.2 out of 8 sessions).ConclusionVolunteers from similar backgrounds to target families can be recruited and trained to deliver structured obesity prevention programmes, resulting in the same positive lifestyle changes as those delivered by paid staff. External funding details Department of Health: Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund grant (Ref: 2013/National/055).Peer reviewe

One Big Happy Family? An Investigation into Students’ Perceptions of Group Dynamics on an MA TESOL Program

This study addresses the perceptions of a cohort of MA TESOL students regarding the evolution of group dynamics among them. Group dynamics refers here to the learner group’s internal characteristics and its evolution over time, which affect the learning and teaching process (Dörnyei and Murphy 2003). Two sets of open-ended questionnaires were administered to each member of the group (20 participants in total) to gather data, one at the beginning of the first term and one at the end. At the beginning of the term, the participants were asked to answer questions about some of the factors which potentially influence group dynamics. At the end of the term, they were invited to reflect and report on any changes in their views and any developments in the group dynamics of their cohort from their perspective. Using a grounded theory approach, the data from the two sets of the questionnaires were analyzed. The findings of the study contribute to observations and ideas within the academic field of language group dynamics and also importantly extend them in relation to the specific and unique MA TESOL context. Keywords: TESOL; TESOL classroom dynamics; student perceptions, intercultural dynamics; intercultural competenc

Consecutive Case Series of Melanoma Sentinel Node Biopsy for Lymphoseek Compared to Sulfur Colloids

Introduction: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is an important adjunct in the staging of patients with melanoma. Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy (LS) with radiolabeled isotopes is essential to localize sentinel nodes for removal. Our study compared the effectiveness of Lymphoseek to standard sulfur colloids (SC) in patients with melanoma undergoing SLNB. Methods: We queried our IRB-approved melanoma database to identify 370 consecutive patients who underwent SLNB from 2012-2016 with at least one year of follow up. There were 185 patients in each group. Data points included characteristics of the primary melanoma lymphoscintigraphy, and SLNB. Student’s t-test and Chi-Square were used to analyze the data with a p-value of \u3c0.05 being considered significant. Results: Patients were equally matched in regard to age, sex, and primary characteristics of their melanoma. In comparison to SC, Lymphoseek required lower radiation dosages (p\u3c0.001), shorter mapping times (p=0.008), and decreased number of sentinel nodes removed (p=0.03). There was no difference in the number of patients with positive nodes (p=0.5). Additionally, there were no statistical differences between the two radioactive tracers in regard to the number of patients with false negative SLNB. Conclusion: Lymphoseek has the potential to decrease radioactivity and mapping time in patients who need SLNB. With a decrease in the number of nodes removed without loss of sensitivity, there is a potential to avoid unnecessary node removal and thus complications such as lymphedema. Longer follow-up will help to determine if there is any increase in false negative rates despite fewer nodes removed

Inspiring the Next Generation of Explorers: Scientist Involvement in the Expedition Earth and Beyond Program

Scientists, science experts, graduate and even undergraduate student researchers have a unique ability to inspire the next generation of explorers. These science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experts can serve as role models for students and can help inspire them to consider future STEM-related careers. They have an exceptional ability to instill a sense of curiosity and fascination in the minds of students as they bring science to life in the classroom. Students and teachers are hungry for opportunities to interact with scientists. They feel honored when these experts take time out of their busy day to share their science, their expertise, and their stories. The key for teachers is to be cognizant of opportunities to connect their students with scientists. For scientists, the key is to know how to get involved, to have options for participation that involve different levels of commitment, and to work with educational specialists who can help facilitate their involvement. The Expedition Earth and Beyond (EEAB) Program, facilitated by the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center, is an Earth and planetary science education program designed to inspire, engage, and educate teachers and students by getting them actively involved with NASA exploration, discovery, and the process of science. One of the main goals of the program is to facilitate student research in the classroom. The program uses astronaut photographs, provided through the ARES Crew Earth Observations (CEO) payload on the International Space Station (ISS) as the hook to help students gain an interest in a research topic. Student investigations can focus on Earth or involve comparative planetology. Student teams are encouraged to use additional imagery and data from Earth or planetary orbital spacecraft, or ground-based data collection tools, to augment the astronaut photography dataset. A second goal of the program is to provide opportunities for meaningful connections between scientists and classrooms. To do this, EEAB offers multiple opportunities for scientist involvement. One opportunity involves having scientists work as mentors for student teams conducting research. These student teams, ranging from grades 4 through 12, are able to obtain guidance, suggestions, and input from STEM experts as they conduct a research investigation. Another opportunity for scientist involvement is participation in Classroom Connection Distance Learning (DL) events. These DL events entail interactive and engaging presentations that enable STEM experts to share their expertise with students and teachers (grades 3 through 12) from all across the nation. A third opportunity for scientist involvement involves participation in virtual student team science presentations. Student teams have the opportunity to share their research and results by presenting it to science experts through the use of WebEx, an easy-to-use online conferencing tool. The impact STEM experts have on students in today s classrooms is powerful. They serve as role models to these students, and they open students eyes to a potential career path they may not have known existed otherwise. The more scientists and STEM experts we can connect with students, the greater the impact we can make as we strive to inspire and prepare our nation s next generation of explorers

Opportunities for Non-Degree Executive Education in Taiwan

Few organizations today have remained untouched by globalization. Whether they are in direct competition with multinational businesses or simply experiencing the pressure of operating within a large competitive universe, virtually all firms now operate in a global economy. As a result of this global competition, U.S. and foreign executives alike have been confronted with the need to broaden their conceptualization and understanding of the impacts of these trends. In response to these needs, both universities and independent training organizations have developed innovative programs for executive training and education. Observers predict that demand for this type of education will grow substantially during the next decade, both within the United States and abroad. In anticipation of this demand and in response to the requirements of the global economy, educational institutions of many forms have begun to focus on international opportunities, both in terms of new markets and also in terms of subject material

Student Understanding and Engagement in a Class Employing COMPS Computer Mediated Problem Solving: A First Look

COMPS computer-mediated group discussion exercises are being added to a second-semester computer programming class. The class is a gateway for computer science and computer engineering students, where many students have difficulty succeeding well enough to proceed in their major. This paper reports on first results of surveys on student experience with the exercises. It also reports on the affective states observed in the discussions that are candidates for analysis of group functioning. As a step toward computer monitoring of the discussions, an experiment in using dialogue features to identify the gender of the participants is described

Coexistence and competition of magnetism and superconductivity on the nanometer scale in underdoped BaFe1.89Co0.11As2

We report muon spin rotation (muSR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy experiments on underdoped BaFe1.89Co0.11As2 which show that bulk magnetism and superconductivity (SC) coexist and compete on the nanometer length scale. Our combined data reveal a bulk magnetic order, likely due to an incommensurate spin density wave (SDW), which develops below Tmag \approx 32 K and becomes reduced in magnitude (but not in volume) below Tc = 21.7 K. A slowly fluctuating precursor of the SDW seems to develop alrady below the structural transition at Ts \approx 50 K. The bulk nature of SC is established by the muSR data which show a bulk SC vortex lattice and the IR data which reveal that the majority of low-energy states is gapped and participates in the condensate at T << Tc

Reduced-order modelling of vortex-induced vibration of catenary riser

A new reduced-order model capable of analyzing the vortex-induced vibration of catenary riser in the ocean current has been developed. This semi analytical-numerical approach is versatile and allows for a significant reduction in computational effort for the analysis of fluid-riser interactions. The incoming current flow is assumed to be steady, uniform, unidirectional and perpendicular to the riser plane of initial equilibrium curvatures. The equations of riser 3-D motion are based on a pinned-pinned, tensioned-beam or flexural cable, modelling which accounts for overall effects of riser bending, extensibility, sag, inclination and structural nonlinearities. The unsteady hydrodynamic forces associated with cross-flow and in-line vibrations are modelled as distributed van der Pol wake oscillators. This hydrodynamic model has been modified in order to capture the effect of varying initial curvatures of the inclined flexible cylinder and to describe the space-time fluctuation of lift and drag forces. Depending on the vortex-excited in-plane/out-of-plane modes and system fluid-structure parameters, the parametric studies are carried out to determine the maximum response amplitudes of catenary risers, along with the occurrence of uni-modal lock-in phenomenon. The obtained results highlight the effect of initial curvatures and geometric nonlinearities on the nonlinear dynamics of riser undergoing vortex-induced vibration

Task-specific experimental design for treatment effect estimation

Understanding causality should be a core requirement of any attempt to build real impact through AI. Due to the inherent unobservability of counterfactuals, large randomised trials (RCTs) are the standard for causal inference. But large experiments are generically expensive, and randomisation carries its own costs, e.g. when suboptimal decisions are trialed. Recent work has proposed more sample-efficient alternatives to RCTs, but these are not adaptable to the downstream application for which the causal effect is sought. In this work, we develop a task-specific approach to experimental design and derive sampling strategies customised to particular downstream applications. Across a range of important tasks, real-world datasets, and sample sizes, our method outperforms other benchmarks, e.g. requiring an order-of-magnitude less data to match RCT performance on targeted marketing tasks.Comment: To appear in ICML 2023; 8 pages, 7 figures, 4 appendice