71 research outputs found
Infographic: Black Unicorns - Pre-College Access to STEM and Non-Revenue Sports
This infographic was created to support the article titled Black Unicorns: STEM Access for Black Student-Athletes in Non-Revenue Sports. The article is for the 3rd Annual Conference of CoNECD - Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity. The infographic covers Black students\u27 pre-college access to non-revenue generating sports and STEM. Suggested recommendations are included
Utilization of a Community-based Participatory Approach to Design and Implement a Peer-led Parenting Pilot Intervention to Influence Child Nutritional and Physical Activity Behaviors
Parents and primary child guardians within the household play critical roles in shaping their children’s nutritional and physical activity behaviors, which are among the individual-level determinants of childhood obesity and other chronic conditions. There are well-established correlations between race, socioeconomic status and the risk for obesity calling for both contextually- and individual-centered interventions that are community-driven. The Using Quality Parenting (UQP) pilot intervention was a peer-led, parenting education intervention developed in collaboration with community residents in Atlanta, Georgia to influence child nutritional and physical activity behaviors in African American low socioeconomic status communities. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework was used to conduct a mixed-methods needs assessment designed to the UQP curriculum. The UQP program targeted parents of children ages 6-14. The overarching aim was to increase quality parenting and address community identified child obesity disparities and inequities in early and middle childhood. The topics pertaining to parenting to children’s health/well-being addressed by the UQP included nutrition, physical activity, socio-emotional development, positive parenting, coping skills, child advocacy, and community development. Analyses were conducted using PSAW 18 statistical software. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, means, standard deviations, and ranges for the individual survey items were conducted. A t-test was performed comparing pre- and post-program participation. A repeated measure analysis of variance was conducted on the items that demonstrated a significant t-test. The analytic sample was composed of 46 African American parents, with over 50% of the sample earning an annual household income of $25,000 or less. Participating parents reported significantly higher levels of water consumption for their children post-program in comparison to pre-test reports (p = .010). Additionally, based on t-test analyses, parents reported that their children consumed significantly higher levels of proteins, grains, fruits and vegetables at each meal, post-program (p=0.03). These findings highlight the potential efficacy of community-informed, parent-led interventions in improving health disparities and related outcomes for children
The Atomic to Molecular Transition and its Relation to the Scaling Properties of Galaxy Disks in the Local Universe
We extend existing semi-analytic models of galaxy formation to track atomic
and molecular gas in disk galaxies. Simple recipes for processes such as
cooling, star formation, supernova feedback, and chemical enrichment of the
stars and gas are grafted on to dark matter halo merger trees derived from the
Millennium Simulation. Each galactic disk is represented by a series of
concentric rings. We assume that surface density profile of infalling gas in a
dark matter halo is exponential, with scale radius r_d that is proportional to
the virial radius of the halo times its spin parameter . As the dark
matter haloes grow through mergers and accretion, disk galaxies assemble from
the inside out. We include two simple prescriptions for molecular gas formation
processes in our models: one is based on the analytic calculations by Krumholz,
McKee & Tumlinson (2008), and the other is a prescription where the H_2
fraction is determined by the kinematic pressure of the ISM. Motivated by the
observational results of Leroy et al. (2008), we adopt a star formation law in
which in the regime where the molecular gas
dominates the total gas surface density, and where atomic hydrogen dominates. We then fit these models to
the radial surface density profiles of stars, HI and H_2 drawn from recent high
resolution surveys of stars and gas in nearby galaxies. We explore how the
ratios of atomic gas, molecular gas and stellar mass vary as a function of
global galaxy scale parameters, including stellar mass, stellar surface
density, and gas surface density. We elucidate how the trends can be understood
in terms of three variables that determine the partition of baryons in disks:
the mass of the dark matter halo, the spin parameter of the halo, and the
amount of gas recently accreted from the external environment.Comment: Made some minor changes according to the reviewer's suggestion.
Accepted by MNRA
Dwarf galaxy formation with H2-regulated star formation
We describe cosmological galaxy formation simulations with the adaptive mesh
refinement code Enzo that incorporate a star formation prescription regulated
by the local abundance of molecular hydrogen. We show that this H2-regulated
prescription leads to a suppression of star formation in low mass halos (M_h <
~10^10 M_sun) at z>4, alleviating some of the dwarf galaxy problems faced by
theoretical galaxy formation models. H2 regulation modifies the efficiency of
star formation of cold gas directly, rather than indirectly reducing the cold
gas content with "supernova feedback". We determine the local H2 abundance in
our most refined grid cells (76 proper parsec in size at z=4) by applying the
model of Krumholz, McKee, & Tumlinson, which is based on idealized 1D radiative
transfer calculations of H2 formation-dissociation balance in ~100 pc
atomic--molecular complexes. Our H2-regulated simulations are able to reproduce
the empirical (albeit lower z) Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, including the low
Sigma_gas cutoff due to the transition from atomic to molecular phase and the
metallicity dependence thereof, without the use of an explicit density
threshold in our star formation prescription. We compare the evolution of the
luminosity function, stellar mass density, and star formation rate density from
our simulations to recent observational determinations of the same at z=4-8 and
find reasonable agreement between the two.Comment: replaced with version published in Ap
Cancer Control Plannersʼ Perceptions and Use of Evidence-Based Programs
The Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) surveyed 282 cancer control planners to inform its efforts to increase the use of evidence-based cancer control programs (EBPs; programs that have been scientifically tested and successfully changed behavior). Respondents included planners from organizations in state Comprehensive Cancer Control coalitions as well as other governmental and non-governmental organizations, and community-based coalitions. Respondents provided information about personal and organizational characteristics, their cancer control programs, their attitudes toward EBPs, and their awareness and use of Web-based resources for EBPs. Although findings showed strong preferences for cancer control programs that have been shown to work, less than half of respondents (48%) had ever used EBP resources. Regardless of whether they had used EBP resources, almost all respondents (97%) indicated that further training would help them and their organization adopt and adapt EBPs for use in their communities. The most frequently endorsed training needs were finding and securing additional resources (such as funding and technical assistance), followed by adapting EBPs for cultural appropriateness. The CPCRN consortium is using these findings to develop a Web-based interactive training and decision support tool that is responsive to the needs identified by the survey respondents
A modified star formation law as a solution to open problems in galaxy evolution
In order to reproduce the low mass end of the stellar mass function, most
current models of galaxy evolution invoke very efficient supernova feedback.
This solution seems to suffer from several shortcomings however, like
predicting too little star formation in low mass galaxies at z=0. In this work,
we explore modifications to the star formation (SF) law as an alternative
solution to achieve a match to the stellar mass function. This is done by
applying semi-analytic models based on De Lucia & Blaizot, but with varying SF
laws, to the Millennium and Millennium-II simulations, within the formalism
developed by Neistein & Weinmann. Our best model includes lower SF efficiencies
than predicted by the Kennicutt-Schmidt law at low stellar masses, no sharp
threshold of cold gas mass for SF, and a SF law that is independent of cosmic
time. These simple modifications result in a model that is more successful than
current standard models in reproducing various properties of galaxies less
massive than 10^{10}Msun. The improvements include a good match to the observed
auto-correlation function of galaxies, an evolution of the stellar mass
function from z=3 to z=0 similar to observations, and a better agreement with
observed specific star formation rates. However, our modifications also lead to
a dramatic over-prediction of the cold mass content of galaxies. This shows
that finding a successful model may require fine-tuning of both star formation
and supernovae feedback, as well as improvements on gas cooling, or perhaps the
inclusion of a yet unknown process which efficiently heats or expels gas at
high redshifts.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted by MNRA
Estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer cells transfected with the estrogen receptor exhibit increased RARα gene expression and sensitivity to growth inhibition by retinoic acid
Using structural equation modelling to untangle sanitation, water and hygiene pathways for intervention improvements in height-for-age in children <5 years old
Cancer Control Plannersʼ Perceptions and Use of Evidence-Based Programs
The Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) surveyed 282 cancer control planners to inform its efforts to increase the use of evidence-based cancer control programs (EBPs; programs that have been scientifically tested and successfully changed behavior). Respondents included planners from organizations in state Comprehensive Cancer Control coalitions as well as other governmental and non-governmental organizations, and community-based coalitions. Respondents provided information about personal and organizational characteristics, their cancer control programs, their attitudes toward EBPs, and their awareness and use of Web-based resources for EBPs. Although findings showed strong preferences for cancer control programs that have been shown to work, less than half of respondents (48%) had ever used EBP resources. Regardless of whether they had used EBP resources, almost all respondents (97%) indicated that further training would help them and their organization adopt and adapt EBPs for use in their communities. The most frequently endorsed training needs were finding and securing additional resources (such as funding and technical assistance), followed by adapting EBPs for cultural appropriateness. The CPCRN consortium is using these findings to develop a Web-based interactive training and decision support tool that is responsive to the needs identified by the survey respondents
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