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Nutrition Literacy, Neighborhood, and Diet
No full textObjective: This study examined the influence of nutrition literacy and neighborhood on diet quality within the Mexican-origin population residing in the United States, addressing a gap in existing literature that lacks focus on specific Latinx subgroups.
Design: This study used a descriptive, correlational design to examine the relationships between nutrition literacy, neighborhood ranking, and diet quality.
Sample: A total of 130 Mexican origin participants living in the United States completed all components of this study.
Measurements: Participants completed demographics, the Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument (NLit), Area Deprivation Index (ADI), and Diet History Questionnaire III (DHQ3).
Results: Compared to the national average of 59, participants’ average score was 63.16. When examining subgroups of diet quality,participants scored poorly compared to the national average for saturated fats, seafood, and plant proteins. Nutrition literacy wasa predictor of total protein foods, seafood, and plant proteins, while the ADI was a predictor of increased refined grains score.
Conclusion: The present study provides insights about the influencing factors of diet quality in this population. Given the essential role diet has in shaping health outcomes and preventing chronic illness, addressing dietary subgroups within the Latinx population is critical to accurately informing nursing interventions and patient education
Pains You Can’t Ignore: Attentional Demand and the Problem of Intensity
No full textMuch of the focus on pain in the literature is the nature of pain’s badness. This paper addresses the relatively overlooked problem of intensity. I construe intensity as the degree to which pains demand involuntary attention, the degree to which a pain can’t be ignored. I use a global workspace framework to explain intensity, a view that is uniquely situated to explain the relevant empirical evidence. I construe intensity theoretically via a pain’s mode of representation, how pain is represented rather than what is represented. This has the advantage of integrating the major views on pain’s badness. Novel explanations result from intensity as attentional demand and each view’s perspective on badness
Local Governments, Pandemic Aid, and Community Violence Intervention
No full textExpenditures on police departments account for significant portions of local government budgets in the United States. Yet activism on police reform and changing views on the causes of violence have called into question law enforcement’s role in public safety. While intergovernmental transfers have historically supported traditional policing, the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) affords cities the opportunity to disrupt the status quo by providing them with the federal funds and flexibility to reshape their public safety policies around Community Violence Interventions (CVIs). This article examines how 13 cities that participated in a White House convened collaborative used CSLFRF aid to support CVIs. Our analysis reveals significant variation in how these cities in allocated CSLFRF dollars to CVI programs, suggesting that the combination of federal aid and White House encouragement has thus far led to incremental policy changes, whose durability remains an open question
Experimental Investigation of Prechamber Enabled Mixing-Controlled Combustion With Natural Gas – A Pathway to Ultra-Low Methane Emissions
No full textWith increasing focus on the global climate crisis, there is strong interest in exploring ways to decarbonize many industries. Natural gas reciprocating engines are used for power generation, gas compression, and pipeline transmission. Due to its low reactivity, most natural gas engines today are premixed lean burn spark ignited (SI) engines. These engines produce criteria pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO), but due to their premixed nature, also produce relatively large amounts of unburned methane (CH4) emissions. This study explores advanced combustion strategies for natural gas engines, particularly focusing on prechamber enabled mixing-controlled combustion (PCMCC), aiming to enhance performance and reduce methane emissions in large-bore natural gas engines. PCMCC uses an actively fueled prechamber to ignite direct injected natural gas, resulting in a non-premixed mixing-controlled combustion event that dramatically reduces methane emissions. Single-cylinder engine experiments were conducted to compare current premixed spark ignition technology and the PCMCC concept. PCMCC with natural gas fuel can achieve a consistent ∼75 % to 99 % reduction in methane emissions over a wide range of NOx emission levels. With the use of internal EGR, PC MCC NOx emissions were reduced to ∼1 g/kW-hr, which is similar to current engine technology, while maintaining ultra-low methane slip of ∼0.1 g/kW-hr, which is ∼99 % lower than current engine technology. Both concepts deliver equal gross indicated thermal efficiencies at similar compression ratios. However, due to its non-premixed nature, PCMCC operates without the fear of knock or preignition, and thus can operate at higher compression ratios providing an advantage in thermal efficiency compared to its premixed spark ignition counterpart. This study shows that PCMCC has potential to be a disruptive natural gas engine technology to dramatically reduce methane emissions, and thus greenhouse gas emissions, in the near term
Heat-Pipe-Based Thermal Management System Design for a 250-kW GaN-Based Integrated Modular Motor Drive
No full textIntegrated modular motor drive (IMMD) is an effective approach for realizing high-efficiency, high-power-density, and fault-tolerant electric machines. However, designing an efficient thermal management system (TMS) for the motor drive becomes a challenge, particularly due to space constraints. This article presents the design of a TMS based on 3-mm heat pipes for a 250-kW IMMD intended for aviation applications. The power electronics module is simulated using PLECS software where an electrothermal analysis is conducted. A simplified thermal resistance model of the system is developed to estimate the die junction temperature of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. The performance of the proposed TMS is evaluated through experimental tests and compared to an off-the-shelf heat sink. The results demonstrate that, at a fluid temperature of 24∘ C, the designed TMS outperforms the off-the-shelf heat sink. Additionally, the designed TMS was tested with a fluid temperature of 41∘ C, matching the temperature of the coolant fluid in the final application. The results indicated that the maximum estimated die junction temperature of the GaN semiconductors is 95.16∘ C while generating the rated power loss in the converter
The Effect of Narcissism and Contract Frame on Employee Performance in the Presence of an \u3cem\u3eEx Ante\u3c/em\u3e Target
No full textIncentive contracts containing ex ante targets are prevalent in organizations. Although prior research indicates that contract frame has no significant impact on employee performance when an ex ante target is assigned, we provide a more nuanced view by examining the role of narcissism in this relationship. Results indicate when an ex ante target is assigned, less narcissistic employees perform better than more narcissistic employees regardless of contract frame. In addition, target difficulty plays a role. When narcissism is lower, employees working under a less difficult target perform better than those working under a more difficult target, but there is no effect of contract frame. When narcissism is higher, we find an interaction between contract frame and target difficulty. When the target is less difficult, employees higher in narcissism perform better under the penalty than the bonus contract frame, whereas the opposite is the case when the target is more difficult
Exploring the Effect of Counterstereotype and Perspective Taking in Reducing Bias and Promoting Empathy in Police
No full textRacism in policing continues to be a serious issue in the United States (U.S.). While most efforts to reduce racism, focus on changing implicit (i.e., nonconscious) racial biases, other factors may also influence behavior. Intergroup emotion theory posits that emotions, especially empathy, may play a powerful role in changing behavior. In this study, using community-based participatory research design we created and tested a virtual reality (VR) experience designed to reduce implicit racial bias through perspective taking and counter-stereotypical information. Fifty-six police officers from a large city took part in the study. They completed questionnaires and an implicit association task (IAT) before and after the VR experience to measure empathy and racial bias. After using the tool, officers showed a significant drop in implicit racial bias. The parts of the VR experience that included counterstereotypes increased empathy, as well as the components that encouraged officers to engage in perspective taking. Importantly, the empathy that officers reported during the VR experience was predictive of a stronger interest in working with community members through community building activities. This study shows that empathy, an emotion that can build connections, is a key factor to meaningful change in policing through bias reduction and empathy building
On Average Sizes and Enumeration of Minimal Edge Covers
No full textAn edge cover M of a graph G is a subset of edges such that every vertex G of is an end-vertex of some edge in M. An edge cover is called a minimal edge cover if it does not properly contain another edge cover. Let mec (G) be the number of minimal edge covers of G, and let mec (G) be the average size of a minimal edge cover of G. We consider the extremal values of mec (G) and mecav (G) when G is restricted to various families of graphs. In particular, we determine the graphs G which minimize mec (G) among all graphs with fixed order, and among the family of 2-regular graphs with fixed order. We also determine the graphs which maximize mec (G) within the families of trees, of unicyclic graphs with fixed order, and of 2-regular graphs with a fixed order. Finally, we provide a characterization of all extremal graphs for the maximum and minimum values of mecav (G) among all graphs G with fixed order
