Summer Employment and Tobacco Use Among College Students

Research has shown that tobacco use among college students is influenced by the social environment, especially among a subset of smokers known as social smokers. Although many college campuses now have tobacco-free policies that could restrict social use of tobacco products, these policies often do not extend to common places of summer employment for college students that have similar social environments. Currently, no recommended tobacco policy exists for such summer programs, and little research has been done to assess their need. The objective of this study was to examine trends in tobacco use among the college-aged summer staff members of a seasonal non-profit organization. At the beginning and end of the summer employment period, an online cross-sectional survey was distributed to each eligible staff member (n=124) to examine trends in tobacco use. A total of 63 participants responded to the pre-summer survey (response rate=50.8%), while 60 complete responses were recorded for the post-summer survey (response rate=48.4%). No identifying information was collected from participants, and individual participants were not traced from pre-summer to post-summer. In the post-summer survey, 22.8% (n=13) of respondents reported an overall increase in tobacco use over the summer, while 3.5% (n=2) reported a decrease in tobacco use and 73.7% (n=42) reported no change. Additionally, of the 19 respondents who reported smoking a cigarette in the past 6 months, 0% self-identified as a smoker. However, 58.9% of these individuals identified as social smokers by indicating that they more commonly smoked in social situations. These results align with past findings about the social smoker identity and indicate the potential increase in tobacco use during summer employment. This study demonstrates the need for further research into the role of workplace influences on tobacco use among college students in order to guide potential policy changes.No embargoAcademic Major: Public Healt

Summer Employment and Tobacco Use among College Students

Background: Research has shown that tobacco use among college students is influenced by the social environment, especially amonga subset of smokers known as social smokers. Although many college campuses now have tobacco-free policies that could restrictsocial use of tobacco products, these policies often do not extend to common places of summer employment for college students thathave similar social environments. Currently, no recommended tobacco policy exists for such summer programs, and little research hasbeen done to assess their need.Methods: The objective of this study was to examine trends in tobacco use among the college-aged summer employees of a non-profit organization. Participants included the college-aged summer employees of a seasonal non-profit organization based in the Appalachian region from May through August 2015. At the beginning and end of the summer employment period, an online cross-sectional survey was distributed to each eligible staff member to examine trends in tobacco use.Results: Among the 60 follow-up respondents, 22.8% (n=13) reported an overall increase in tobacco use over the summer, while 3.5%(n=2) reported a decrease in tobacco use and 73.7% (n=42) reported no change.Conclusions: These results indicate that college students are at risk of increasing their tobacco use during summer employment. There is a need for further research into the role of summer workplace influences on tobacco use among college students

Prospectus, November 5, 1997

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1997/1028/thumbnail.jp

Prospectus, November 19, 1997

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1997/1030/thumbnail.jp

Development and Implementation of an Influenza Point-of-Care Testing Service in a Chain Community Pharmacy Setting

Point-of-care testing is becoming increasingly commonplace in community pharmacy settings. These tests are often used in the management of chronic disease, such as blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c and lipid levels, but can also be used for acute conditions such as influenza infection and group A streptococcus pharyngitis. When used for these acute infections, point-of-care tests can allow for pharmacist-initiated treatment. In this study, an influenza point-of-care testing service was developed and implemented in a chain community pharmacy setting and a retrospective review was conducted to assess the service. Of patients tested, 29% tested positive for influenza A and/or B; 92% of patients testing positive received a prescription as a result. While health insurance cannot be billed for the service due to current pharmacy reimbursement practices, this did not appear to negatively affect patient willingness to participate. As point-of-care testing services become more commonplace in community pharmacy settings, patient awareness will similarly increase and allow for more widespread access to acute outpatient care

In-situ estimation of ice crystal properties at the South Pole using LED calibration data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory instruments about 1 km3 of deep, glacial ice at the geographic South Pole using 5160 photomultipliers to detect Cherenkov light emitted by charged relativistic particles. A unexpected light propagation effect observed by the experiment is an anisotropic attenuation, which is aligned with the local flow direction of the ice. Birefringent light propagation has been examined as a possible explanation for this effect. The predictions of a first-principles birefringence model developed for this purpose, in particular curved light trajectories resulting from asymmetric diffusion, provide a qualitatively good match to the main features of the data. This in turn allows us to deduce ice crystal properties. Since the wavelength of the detected light is short compared to the crystal size, these crystal properties do not only include the crystal orientation fabric, but also the average crystal size and shape, as a function of depth. By adding small empirical corrections to this first-principles model, a quantitatively accurate description of the optical properties of the IceCube glacial ice is obtained. In this paper, we present the experimental signature of ice optical anisotropy observed in IceCube LED calibration data, the theory and parametrization of the birefringence effect, the fitting procedures of these parameterizations to experimental data as well as the inferred crystal properties.</p

TXS 0506+056 with Updated IceCube Data

Past results from the IceCube Collaboration have suggested that the blazar TXS 0506+056 is a potential source of astrophysical neutrinos. However, in the years since there have been numerous updates to event processing and reconstruction, as well as improvements to the statistical methods used to search for astrophysical neutrino sources. These improvements in combination with additional years of data have resulted in the identification of NGC 1068 as a second neutrino source candidate. This talk will re-examine time-dependent neutrino emission from TXS 0506+056 using the most recent northern-sky data sample that was used in the analysis of NGC 1068. The results of using this updated data sample to obtain a significance and flux fit for the 2014 TXS 0506+056 "untriggered" neutrino flare are reported

Galactic Core-Collapse Supernovae at IceCube: “Fire Drill” Data Challenges and follow-up

The next Galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make astrophysical measurements using neutrinos, gravitational waves, and electromagnetic radiation. CCSNe local to the Milky Way are extremely rare, so it is paramount that detectors are prepared to observe the signal when it arrives. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a gigaton water Cherenkov detector below the South Pole, is sensitive to the burst of neutrinos released by a Galactic CCSN at a level >10σ. This burst of neutrinos precedes optical emission by hours to days, enabling neutrinos to serve as an early warning for follow-up observation. IceCube\u27s detection capabilities make it a cornerstone of the global network of neutrino detectors monitoring for Galactic CCSNe, the SuperNova Early Warning System (SNEWS 2.0). In this contribution, we describe IceCube\u27s sensitivity to Galactic CCSNe and strategies for operational readiness, including "fire drill" data challenges. We also discuss coordination with SNEWS 2.0