Does environmental education benefit environmental outcomes in children and adolescents? A meta-analysis

Young people can be agents of sustainable change. To this end, environmental education programs aim to promote their environmental knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. We synthesized five decades of research into the effectiveness of environmental education for children and adolescents. We searched PsycINFO, ERIC, and Scopus and identified 169 studies (512 effect sizes; 176,007 participants) conducted in 43 countries, across 6 continents. Environmental education significantly improved environmental knowledge (g = 0.953), attitudes (g = 0.384), intentions (g = 0.256), and—mostly self-reported—behavior (g = 0.410). Heterogeneity in effect sizes was substantial; none of the tested moderators (including participant age, educational approach, and study design) accounted for this variance. Our findings demonstrate the potential for environmental education to improve students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behavior. They also reveal methodo- logical challenges for the field. Future research priorities include identifying effective environmental education components and approaches

Cardiac and metabolic effects in patients who present with a multinodular goitre

Twenty-six consecutive patients who presented with clinically euthyroid multinodular goitre were studied for an overnight fasting serum lipid profile and 24 h Holter monitoring. Mean serum TSH was 0.6 +/- 0.4 vs 2.4 +/- 1.3 mU/l (p < 0.0001) and mean TT3 2.4 +/- 0.4 vs 2.0 +/- 0.5 nmol/l (p = 0.009) in patients vs controls (n = 15) while mean FT4 was not different from controls. Total serum HDL, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were lower in patients but creatinine, ferritin and SHBG levels did not differ between patients and controls. The 24-hour ambulatory continuous ECG recordings did not demonstrate significant differences in mean, minimal and maximal heart rate between the study and the control group. Nocturnal heart rate, measured between 23.00 and 06.00 hours, also showed no differences between the two groups. Atrial fibrillation was absent in both the study and the control group. Premature atrial and ventricular complexes occurred equally frequently in both groups. Comparison of patients with a serum TSH below 0.4 mU/l (n = 11) and patients with a TSH above 0.4 mU/l revealed no differences. In conclusion, in consecutive patients who present with multinodular goitre, effects were found on the lipid profile, but not on the heart. It is argued that in this type of patients, cardiac effects depend on the degree of subclinical hyperthyroidism

Aspects of life history characteristics and physiological processes in smolting Pacific Lamprey, Lampetra tridentata, in a central Oregon coast stream

Rotary screw traps were used to estimate Pacific lamprey smolt yield, outmigration timing, age structure and sex ratio for Tenmile Creek basin, Lane County, Oregon. Traps were fished March to June and August to December 1994 and March to June and October to December 1995. Lamprey smolts caught in the traps were marked and released upstream. Recaptured fish were used to calculate trap efficiencies and daily and weekly estimates of outmigrating smolts. Little movement of smolts occurred before November. Outmigration peaked in late November and was complete both years by 2 December. Ages of smolts were determined using length-frequency analysis and by reading statoliths. Tenmile Creek Pacific lamprey smolts have an extended freshwater residency. Male to female ratios were approximately 1:1 both years. Larval, metamorphosing and smolting Pacific lamprey were examined for changes in skin guanine concentrations, gill (Na+K)-ATPase activities and plasma thyroid hormone levels during a 14 mo period. Seasonal peaks were observed in gill (Na+K)-ATPase activities and plasma thyroid hormone levels in larvae. Metamorphosing and smolting lamprey showed increases in skin guanine concentrations and gill (Na+K)-ATPase activities along with decreases in plasma thyroid hormone levels. Smolting lamprey challenged with artificial seawater showed no significant changes in the parameters observed

A Situational Alignment Framework for PACS

This paper reports the outcomes of a study on an integrated situational alignment framework for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) labeled as PISA. Following the design research cycle, complementary validation methods and pilot cases were used to assess the proposed framework and its operationalized survey. In this paper, the authors outline (a) the process of the framework’ development, (b) the validation process with its underlying iterative steps, (c) the outcomes of pilot cases, and (d) improvement opportunities to refine and further validate the PISA framework. Results of this study support empirical application of the framework to hospital enterprises in order to gain insights into their PACS maturity and alignment. We argue that the framework can be applied as a valuable tool for assessments, monitoring and benchmarking purposes and strategic PACS planning

UK commercial real estate valuation practice: does it now build in sustainability considerations?

Purpose This paper investigates the extent to which commercial property valuers in the UK refer to Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) professional standards and guidance on the inclusion of sustainability in valuation reports. Data collection, analysis and reporting related to sustainability attributes is examined, as well as the perceived importance of these attributes to clients and any value impacts that are associated with them. Design/methodology/approach An online survey of UK commercial property valuers was conducted from July to September 2019. The survey included both structured and open-ended questions. Findings Reference to RICS standards and guidance on sustainability has improved since earlier research. However, progress on data collection is still limited. At the time of the survey, UK valuers indicated that sustainability attributes were of more importance to owner-occupiers than investors and lenders. UK valuers also indicated that, out of a range of sustainability attributes, only certification was influencing market value (MV) and investment value (IV) to any great extent. Research limitations/implications The online survey had 53 responses and this limited the ability to draw definitive conclusions. Hence, whilst the results may be indicative of the perceptions of some valuers of the significance of sustainability-related matters in the UK, the sample is not large enough to be considered representative of the opinions of property valuers per se in the UK. Practical implications Explicit reflection of sustainability in market or investment values is still limited in the UK valuation practice, but there are challenges faced by valuers that need further investigation, including difficulties in pricing sustainability attributes. Originality/value This is the first empirical investigation of the perception of sustainability by valuers in the UK commercial property market since the 2012 survey reported by Michl et al. (2016)

Efficient Double Fragmentation ChIP-seq Provides Nucleotide Resolution Protein-DNA Binding Profiles

Immunoprecipitated crosslinked protein-DNA fragments typically range in size from several hundred to several thousand base pairs, with a significant part of chromatin being much longer than the optimal length for next-generation sequencing (NGS) procedures. Because these larger fragments may be non-random and represent relevant biology that may otherwise be missed, but also because they represent a significant fraction of the immunoprecipitated material, we designed a double-fragmentation ChIP-seq procedure. After conventional crosslinking and immunoprecipitation, chromatin is de-crosslinked and sheared a second time to concentrate fragments in the optimal size range for NGS. Besides the benefits of increased chromatin yields, the procedure also eliminates a laborious size-selection step. We show that the double-fragmentation ChIP-seq approach allows for the generation of biologically relevant genome-wide protein-DNA binding profiles from sub-nanogram amounts of TCF7L2/TCF4, TBP and H3K4me3 immunoprecipitated material. Although optimized for the AB/SOLiD platform, the same approach may be applied to other platforms