30233 research outputs found
Sort by
The Italian food environment may confer protection from hyper-palatable foods: evidence and comparison with the United States
No full textBackground
Multi-national food corporations may saturate country-level food systems with hyper-palatable foods. However, the degree to which global food corporations have been integrated into country-level food systems may vary. Italy has largely retained local food production and may have low hyper-palatable food (HPF) availability in the food supply. The study quantified the prevalence of HPF in the Italian food system and compared the hyper-palatability of similar foods across Italy and the United States, which has wide HPF saturation.
Methods
A national food system dataset was used to characterize HPF availability in Italy. A representative sample of foods commonly consumed in both Italy and the US were collected and compared. Foods represented six categories: cookies/biscotti, cakes/merendine, salty snacks, industrial bread, frozen pizza and protein/cereal bars. A standardized definition from Fazzino et al. identified HPF.
Results
Less than one third (28.8%) of foods in the Italian food system were hyper-palatable. US HPF items had significantly higher fat, sugar, and/or sodium across most food categories (p values = 0.001 to 0.0001). Italian HPF items had higher fiber and/or protein relative to US HPF from the same category (p values = 0.01 to 0.0001).
Conclusion
The Italian food system may confer protection from HPF exposure. HPF products in Italy had lower palatability-related nutrients and higher satiety-promoting nutrients
Recommended by Librarians: A Computational Citation Analysis Methodology for Identifying and Examining Books Promoted in LibGuides
No full textThe dataset and the series of Jupyter notebooks created for the collection and analysis of the data used in this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.17161/1808.34184.To study library guides, as published on Springshare’s LibGuides platform, new approaches are needed to expand the scope of the research, ensure comprehensiveness of data collection, and reduce bias for content analysis. Computational methods can be utilized to conduct a nuanced and thorough evaluation that critically assesses the resources promoted in library guides. Web-based library guides are curated by librarians to provide easy access to high-quality information and resources in a variety of formats to support the research needs of their users. Recent scholarship considers library guides as valuable resources and as de facto publications, highlighting the need for critical study. In this article, the authors present a novel model for comprehensively gathering data about a specific genre of books from individual LibGuide pages and applying computational methods to explore the resultant data. Beginning with a pre-selected list of 159 books, we programmatically queried the titles using the LibGuides Community search engine. After cleaning and filtering the resultant data, we compiled a list of 20,484 book references (of which 6,212 are unique) on 1,529 LibGuide pages. By testing against inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure relevancy, we identified a total of 281 titles relevant to our topic. To gain insights for future study, citation analysis metrics are presented to reveal patterns of frequency, co-occurrence, and bibliographic coupling of books promoted in LibGuides. This proof-of-concept could be adopted for a variety of applications, including assessment of collections, public services, critical librarianship, and other complex questions to enable a richer and more thorough understanding of the information landscape of LibGuides
How Do Communication Quality and Relationship Quality Relate to Impairment Level in People with Dementia?
No full textThese are the slides from a presentation given at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention on 12/06/2024Dementia is a condition impacting millions of individuals each year. Speech-language pathologists (SLP) can support communication partners of people with dementia (PWD) by understanding the correlation between relationship quality and communication quality of partners as it relates to impairment level in PWD. This research will evaluate partners’ perceptions of communication quality and relationship quality while considering PWD impairment level as a covariate factor. Researchers hypothesize that relationship quality and communication quality will result in a positive correlation and impairment level will serve as a mediating factor. These results can support SLPs practice working with PWD and partners, as seen through the presentations of these factors throughout the progression of dementia
DATASET: Results from Cyclic Tests of Earthquake-Resistant Rectangular Walls with Mechanically-Spliced High-Strength Reinforcement
No full textThis dataset contains results of the tests reported in the following:
Neupane, U., Lequesne, R. D., Lepage, A., and Darwin, D., 2025, Mechanically-Spliced High-Strength Steel Bars in Earthquake-Resistant Walls, SM Report No. 165, The University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., Lawrence, KS. https://hdl.handle.net/1808/35869This dataset includes results from tests of three reinforced-concrete walls with mechanical splices at the base under reversed cyclic lateral displacements. Details of the specimens are reported in Neupane et al. (2025). The reported data include drift ratio, lateral force (of each actuator), lateral wall displacement at the elevation of the actuator (called “P6_HL_WS10”), reinforcement strain, 3D coordinates of optical (Optotrak) markers on the bottom 100 in. of the wall, and the total lateral force. The data are provided in separate text files for each of the three specimens. An “Instrumentation Details” file is also provided that shows the location and naming scheme for each of the instruments
Defining the Infinite: Technologic and Transatlantic Perspectives of the (Neo)Baroque in Iberia and Latin America
No full textThe following dissertation explores and defines the Baroque as a recursive, atemporalaesthetic expression that comes about as a reaction to the technological advances of its time. As different technologies develop and progress, they open windows of infinite knowledge that were previously unknown. This knowledge, beyond what was once understood and accepted prior to any technological change, can become terror-inducing. In light of these overwhelming infinites, the baroque artist uses the limits of painting, music, architecture, or literature to contain or rebind those infinites into some finite form. Among other examples of this aesthetic reaction to technological advance, this dissertation analyzes the development of perspectival painting and the vanishing point that eventually allowed for Diego de Velázquez’s Las meninas; the advance of the printing press that gave way to Cervantes’s Don Quixote; the shifts and developments in the sciences that inspired Sor Juana’s Primero sueño; and the twentieth-century advent of global war and destruction that resulted in novels such as Alejo Carpentier’s Los pasos perdidos and João Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas.With such a definition of the Baroque, this dissertation shows how we can and must move beyond the normative conceptualization of a singularly “historical Baroque” toward an understanding that includes the same recursive essence found in modern and postmodern instantiations of the same aesthetic occurrence (Neobaroque, hyper-Baroque, ultra-Baroque, etc.). As we begin to understand the Baroque not as an historical framework, but as an essence that repeats across time, texts like the above begin to inform each other in a transatlantic exchange of ideas and finite bindings of the infinite. The ultimate aim in this conceptualization of a recursive Baroque is to set the stage for further scholarship beyond this dissertation that might help us understand the seemingly hyper-Baroque era of our contemporary Internet age
Acute effects of lower limb wearable resistance on horizontal deceleration and change of direction biomechanics
No full textThis study aimed to investigate the acute effects of lower limb wearable resistance on maximal horizontal deceleration biomechanics, across two different assessments. Twenty recreationally trained team sport athletes performed acceleration to deceleration assessments (ADA), and 5-0-5 change of direction (COD) tests across three load conditions (unloaded, 2% of BW, 4% of body weight (BW)), with load attached to the anterior and posterior thighs and shanks. Linear mixed effect models with participant ID as the random effect, and load condition as the fixed effect were used to study load-specific biomechanical differences in deceleration mechanics across both tests. Primary study findings indicate that for the ADA, in the 4% BW condition, participants exhibited significantly greater degrees of Avg Approach Momentum, as well as significant reductions in deceleration phase center of mass (COM) drop, and Avg Brake Step ground contact deceleration (GCD) in both the 2% BW, and 4% BW condition, compared to the unloaded condition. In the 5-0-5 tests, participants experienced significant reductions in Avg Approach Velocity, Avg deceleration (DEC), and Stopping Time in the 4% BW condition compared to the unloaded condition. Similar to the ADA test, participants also experienced significant reductions in Avg Brake Step GCD in both the 2% BW and 4% BW conditions, and significant increases in Avg Approach Momentum in the 4% BW condition, compared to the unloaded condition. Therefore, findings suggest that based on the test, and metric of interest, the addition of lower limb wearable resistance led to acute differences in maximal horizontal deceleration biomechanics. However, future investigations are warranted to further explore if the use of lower limb wearable resistance could present as an effective training tool in enhancing athlete's horizontal deceleration and change of direction performance
Investigating Predictive Bias in Curriculum-Based Measures of Oral Reading Fluency and its Consequences
No full textCurriculum-based measurements (CBM) are used in schools to screen students for academic difficulties. Oral reading fluency curriculum-based measures (CBM-R) are the most popular, yet several studies have identified predictive bias in CBM-Rs in relation to key variables (e.g., race, sex). Despite a massive increase in the use of these measures as screeners, studies of predictive bias have not been conducted recently, and studies have not quantified how predictive bias may affect decisions about students. The present study used moderated multiple regression (MMR) to investigate if predictive bias was present in third (n = 484) and fifth (n = 460) grade student CBM-R data as tied to key demographic variables (e.g., sex, ethnicity/race, socio-economic status). From the analyses of third grade data, slope bias was identified in relation to sex. CMB-Rs predicted Kansas Assessment Program English Language Arts exam (KAP ELA) scores slightly better for girls than for boys. Ethnicity/race and lunch status led to statistically significant intercept bias. White students’ predicted KAP ELA reading scores were underestimated by CBM-Rs while African American and Hispanic students’ predicted KAP ELA reading scores were overestimated by CBM-Rs. Predicted scores of students paying for lunch were underestimated. Predicted scores of students receiving free/reduced lunch were overestimated. From the fifth grade analyses, slope bias was found for ethnicity/race. CBM-Rs predicted KAP ELA reading scores better for White students than for African American students. Lunch status also led to statistically significant intercept bias. Predicted scores of students paying for lunch were underestimated while predicted scores of students receiving free/reduced lunch were overestimated. Next, this study determined how many students were affected by predictive bias by comparing the number of students identified as non-proficient readers by common and group specific regression equations and cut scores. When group optimal cut scores were used versus a common cut score, the number of White third grade students identified decreased by 37%, but the number of Hispanic and African American students identified remained the same. When group optimal cut scores were used, the number of high SES third grade students identified decreased by 38%, while the number of low SES third students identified increased by 20%. For fifth grade students, the number of high SES students identified decreased by 27% while the number of low SES students identified increased by 16%. The practical implication of these findings is that when students are screened, some are either not receiving the necessary services or are wrongly receiving unnecessary services based on group status. As a screening tool, CBM-Rs need to be reviewed within the context of educational decision-making processes to safeguard against misidentification and to ensure proper provision of services
Kansas Statistical Abstract 2023 (58th Edition)
No full textThe Kansas Statistical Abstract contains the latest available state, county, and city-level data for Kansas on population, vital statistics and health, housing, education, business and manufacturing, exports, employment, income, finance, state and local government, crime, recreation, communications, transportation, agriculture, climate, and energy and natural resources.The Kansas Statistical Abstract contains the latest available state, county, and city-level data for Kansas on population, vital statistics and health, housing, education, business and manufacturing, exports, employment, income, finance, state and local government, crime, recreation, communications, transportation, agriculture, climate, and energy and natural resources
Pragmatic factors facilitating children’s universal quantification: Evidence from child Turkish
No full textThese are the slides from a presentation given at The 49th Annual Boston University Conference On Language Development on 11/10/2024.This study explores Turkish-speaking children’s universal quantification, by examining two pragmatic factors which may reduce their quantifier spreading (q-spreading), erroneous rejection of universally-quantified statements like “Every child is carrying a box” when there is a box nobody is carrying as well as box-carrying children. Experiment 1 examined a Turkish-specific grammatical factor involving the focus-marking question particle mI. When mI is attached to the quantified-subject, conveying the “It is every child that is carrying a box” interpretation, children gave more adult-like responses, revealing the effect of focus marking helping them avoid q-spreading. Experiment 2 examined a discourse factor, manipulating the Question Under Discussion in the experimental discourse; children provided more adult-like responses when the quantification was clearly presented as the topic at hand. Our findings confirm children’s successful universal quantification with pragmatic support, serving as the first to reveal the role of a language-specific grammatical factor (focus marking) facilitating children’s quantification
Thermodynamic and Process Analysis of Extractive Distillation for Separating Refrigerant R-410A Using Imidazolium-Cyano-Based Ionic Liquids
No full textThese are the slides from a presentation given at 2024 AIChE Annual Conference on 10/29/2024.Refrigeration technology is critical in society, especially in data center air conditioning, food chain preservation, and medical applications. However, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the current replacement for ozone-layer-depleting (hydro)chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs) refrigerants, generally have global warming potentials (GWP) thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. Hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) and low GWP HFCs will represent the next-generation refrigerants. Most of the HFC refrigerants in current use are azeotropic mixtures of HFCs. For instance, R-410A (residential and commercial AC) is a mixture of difluoromethane (HFC-32), which has a relatively low GWP, and pentafluoroethane (HFC-125) with a high GWP. HFC-32 has a future in refrigerant HFO blends, while HFC-125 can be reused in new materials. As azeotropes, traditional distillation is incapable of separating the components. We and others have shown the use of extractive distillation with ionic liquids (ILs) as an alternative to recover and recycle refrigerants in a circular economy model. n-1-Alkyl-3-methylimidazolium tetracyanomethanide ([R-MIm][TCM])-cyano-based, e.g. [C2C1im][tcm], [C4C1im][tcm], [C6C1im][tcm], and [C8C1im][tcm] can be used as entrainers in an extractive distillation system. The Peng Robinson – Boston Mathias EoS is used to regress experimental VLE data and provide a model for equilibrium extractive distillation simulations. A sensitivity analysis reveals the optimum techno-economic parameters. High-purity products (>99.5 wt%) were obtained with [C2C1im][tcm], providing superior results over the other ILs investigated. Outcomes from this effort significantly support the design of state-of-the-art industrial applications to reduce global warming emissions from the refrigeration sector