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Using Inclusive Sport for Social Change in Malawi, Africa
Get PDFThis report draws upon the first year of the Youth Enrichment through Sports (YES)-Africa cooperative agreement focused on sport for social change involving five sub-Saharan African countries. The YES-Africa program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, is designed to enhance cross-cultural understanding and collaboration between individuals and nations. The YESAfrica Malawi exchange builds capacity for sport leaders in Malawi to implement inclusive sport and recreation for youth with disabilities. This case study employs a content analysis of international and national legislative and policy agendas addressing inclusion of youth with disabilities within the context of sport, and explores barriers to policy implementation through interviews with seven key stakeholders and a review of structured field notes. Findings suggest that while Malawi’s legislative and policy landscape appears to adequately address the needs of youth with disabilities broadly, implementation is limited by social, physical, and socio-environmental barriers. We explore contributions of TR professionals in addressing key policy priorities in developing countries
Downstream changes in river avulsion style are related to channel morphology
No full textOne of the most dramatic events in river environments is the natural diversion, or avulsion, of a channel across its floodplain. Though rarely witnessed, avulsions can cause massive floods, and over geologic time they create most of the fluvial stratigraphic record. Avulsions exhibit behavior ranging from reoccupying abandoned channels to constructing new channels and splay complexes. To quantify avulsion behavior, or style, we measure avulsion-related floodplain disturbance in modern environments. We show that for 63 avulsions from Andean, Himalayan, and New Guinean basins, avulsion style correlates with channel morphology and changes systematically downstream. Avulsions in braided rivers reoccupy abandoned channels, whereas avulsions in meandering rivers often produce flooding and sediment deposition during channel construction. These downstream changes in avulsion style can explain the abrupt transition from channel-dominated to floodplain-dominated facies commonly observed in foreland basin stratigraphy. These dynamics also explain why some avulsions are more hazardous than others
Forecasting Your Future: Nutrition Matters Curriculum with Teacher Training Promotes Students to Try New Fruits and Vegetables
No full textBackground: Many high school students do not consume the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables. Objective: This study evaluated student outcomes from a new nutrition curriculum that includes messages from the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans with a teacher training component for high school Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) teachers. Methods: A cluster-randomized controlled study was conducted with 1104 students in FACS classes from 35 schools, taught by teachers trained in implementing a new curriculum (intervention) and teachers using their usual curricula (control). Students completed online surveys at the beginning and end of the semester, that is, pre- and postexposure to the nutrition curricula. Intention-to-treat analyses as hierarchical linear modeling were performed to determine if the intervention students had significant changes compared with the control students for knowledge of nutrition concepts, familiarity of, preferences for, affinity toward, number of times trying new, and daily times eating fruits and vegetables. Per-protocol analyses used the same hierarchical linear model but instead of control and intervention groups, students were split into 3 levels describing the amount of the new curriculum they received (0%, 1–50%, and 51–100%). Results: Students exposed to 51–100% of the new curriculum tried more fruits and vegetables than both the control students and the students that received 1–50% of the curriculum (P = 0.009 for fruits and P = 0.002 for vegetables). Additionally, there were higher increases in the number of times intervention students tried a new fruit (P = 0.027) and vegetable (P = 0.022) compared with the control students, regardless of the amount of curriculum received. Conclusions: Our findings show that the curriculum, Forecasting Your Future: Nutrition Matters, has promise for increasing exposure to new fruits and vegetables for students. If teachers use most of the curriculum, students are likely to try more new fruit and vegetables, which could ultimately contribute to improved health
Volunteer Management in Charity Storehouses: Experience, Congestion and Operational Performance
No full textWe study volunteer management at a charity storehouse operated by a large faith‐based organization. The storehouse runs entirely on volunteer efforts. We investigate the role of volunteer experience and storehouse congestion in the preparation of orders using a multi‐method approach. First, we conduct a field study to explore these relationships and collect data at the level of volunteers’ teams. These teams can pair volunteers with either different levels of experience (mixed pairing) or equal levels of experience (no‐mixed pairing). Second, we estimate the effects of volunteer experience and storehouse congestion on the order processing times empirically. Third, we build a simulation model to study how operational decisions—volunteers’ pairing in teams and whether to allow or impede storehouse congestion—affect two performance metrics: on‐time order preparation rate and additional time to prepare the orders, in steady conditions. Then, we simulate disaster conditions at the storehouse, that is, simultaneous surges in supply of volunteers and demand of orders. Contrary to extant literature on team collaboration, we find that no‐mixed pairing outperforms mixed pairing under disaster conditions with storehouse congestion. In fact, no‐mixed pairing improves the on‐time order preparation by 4.32% and the additional time to prepare the orders by 14.42% compared to mixed pairing. Moreover, under disaster conditions, a “controlled congestion” policy at the storehouse delivers the best performance metrics
HIV treatment cascade for older adults in rural South Africa
No full textObjectives: The HIV treatment cascade is a powerful framework for understanding progress from initial diagnosis to successful treatment. Data sources for cascades vary and often are based on clinical cohorts, population cohorts linked to clinics, or self-reported information. We use both biomarkers and self-reported data from a large population-based cohort of older South Africans to establish the first HIV cascade for this growing segment of the HIV-positive population and compare results using the different data sources. Methods: Data came from the Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) 2015 baseline survey of 5059 adults aged 40+ years. Dried blood spots (DBS) were screened for HIV, antiretroviral drugs and viral load. In-home surveys asked about HIV testing, diagnosis and antiretroviral therapy (ART) use. We calculated proportions and CIs for each stage of the cascade, conditional on attainment of the previous stage, using (1) biomarkers, (2) self-report and (3) both biomarkers and self-report, and compared with UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets. Results: 4560 participants had DBS results, among whom 1048 (23%) screened HIV-positive and comprised the denominator for each cascade. The biomarker cascade showed 63% (95% CI 60 to 66) on ART and 72% (95% CI 69 to 76) of those on ART with viral suppression. Self-reports underestimated testing, diagnosis and ART, with only 47% (95% CI 44 to 50) of HIV-positive individuals reporting ART use. The combined cascade indicated high HIV testing (89% (95% CI 87 to 91)), but lower knowledge of HIV-positive status (71% (95% CI 68 to 74)). Conclusions: Older South Africans need repeated HIV testing and sustained ART to reach 90-90-90 targets. HIV cascades relying on self-reports are likely to underestimate true cascade attainment, and biomarkers provide substantial improvements to cascade estimates
Legacy and emerging semi-volatile organic compounds in sentinel fish from an Arctic formerly used defense site in Alaska
No full textThe Arctic is subject to long-range atmospheric deposition of globally-distilled semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) that bioaccumulate and biomagnify in lipid-rich food webs. In addition, locally contaminated sites may also contribute SVOCs to the arctic environment. Specifically, Alaska has hundreds of formerly used defense (FUD) sites, many of which are co-located with Alaska Native villages in remote parts of the state. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of SVOC contamination on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island through the analysis of sentinel fish, the ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius), collected from Troutman Lake located within the watershed of an FUD site and adjacent to the Yupik community of Gambell. We measured the concentrations of legacy and emerging SVOCs in 303 fish samples (81 composites), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organophosphate esters (OPEs) and their diester metabolites, and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PBDEs and PCBs were the most abundant SVOC groups found in stickleback with ΣPBDE and ΣPCB median concentrations of 25.8 and 10.9 ng/g ww, respectively, followed by PFAS (median ΣPFAS 7.22 ng/g ww). ΣOPE and ΣOPE metabolite concentrations were lower with median concentrations of 4.97 and 1.18 ng/g ww, respectively. Chemical patterns and distributions based on correlations and comparison with SVOC concentrations in stickleback from other parts of the island suggest strong local sources of PCBs, PBDEs, and PFAS on St. Lawrence Island
Equivalence of three-particle scattering formalisms
No full textIn recent years, different on-shell 3 → 3 scattering formalisms have been proposed to be applied to both lattice QCD and infinite-volume scattering processes. We prove that the formulation in the infinite volume presented by Hansen and Sharpe in [M. T. Hansen and S. R. Sharpe, Phys. Rev. D 92, 114509 (2015).] and subsequently Briceño et al. in [R. A. Briceño, M. T. Hansen, and S. R. Sharpe, Phys. Rev. D 95, 074510 (2017).] can be recovered from the B -matrix representation, derived on the basis of S -matrix unitarity, presented by Mai et al. in [M. Mai, B. Hu, M. Döring, A. Pilloni, and A. Szczepaniak, Eur. Phys. J. A 53, 177 (2017).] and Jackura et al. in [A. Jackura, C. Fernández-Ramírez, V. Mathieu, M. Mikhasenko, J. Nys, A. Pilloni, K. Saldaña, N. Sherrill, and A. P. Szczepaniak (JPAC Collaboration), Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 56 (2019).] Therefore, both formalisms in the infinite volume are equivalent and the physical content is identical. Additionally, the Faddeev equations are recovered in the nonrelativistic limit of both representations
Quantification of d- and l-2-Hydroxyglutarate in Drosophila melanogaster Tissue Samples Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
No full textThe fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as an ideal system in which to study 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG) metabolism. Unlike many mammalian tissues and cell lines, which primarily accumulate d- or l-2HG as the result of genetic mutations or metabolic stress, Drosophila larvae accumulate high concentrations of l-2HG during normal larval growth. As a result, flies represent one of the few model systems that allows for studies of endogenous l-2HG metabolism. Moreover, the Drosophila genome not only encodes key enzymes involved in the synthesis and degradation of d-2HG, but the fly has also been used as to investigate the in vivo effects of oncogenic isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (IDH1/2) mutations. All of these studies, however, rely on mass spectrometry-based methods to distinguish between the d- and l-2HG enantiomers. While such approaches are common among labs studying mammalian cell culture, few Drosophila studies have attempted to resolve and measure the individual 2HG enantiomers. Here we describe a highly reproducible gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based protocol that allows for quantitative measurements of both 2HG enantiomers in Drosophila homogenates
Horizontal and Vertical Conflict: Experimental Evidence
No full textWe experimentally explore the connections between horizontal conflict of interests (citizens have heterogeneous preferences over collective decisions) and vertical conflict of interests (agents in charge of implementing collective decisions earn political rents). We identify two sets of models that incorporate both types of conflicts: electoral models with endogenous rents, and common‐agency models. We adapt these models to a laboratory setting and test their main theoretical predictions. In both cases we find support for the proposition that more intense horizontal conflict leads to higher rents. Our findings have important implications. At the macro level, they help explaining the persistence of corruption in very unequal societies. At the micro level, our findings suggest that anti‐corruption programs should allocate more resources (e.g., inspectors and auditors) to areas with intense horizontal conflicts
Redefining Clean Water Regulations Reduces Protections for Wetlands and Jurisdictional Uncertainty
No full textThe 2015 Clean Water Rule is being enforced in 26 states, with a legal stay resulting in the prior rules being enforced in the remaining 24 states, and a proposed re-definition open for public comment. These rules define which streams and wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act and which require a permit for development, fill, or discharge of water and pollutants. In the Wabash River Basin, as much as 39% of wetlands in the basin would lose their current federal protections. The 2015 Clean Water Rule did not expand jurisdictional scope, but the proposed rule would significantly contract protections in our study basin. The proposed re-definition shifts uncertainty from the “significant nexus” test to definitions of stream intermittency and typical hydrologic conditions