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Impact of Intervention Strategies on Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review
No full textBackground
Despite well-documented health benefits, fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake remains below recommended levels globally.
Objectives
This scoping review aimed to identify effective intervention strategies to increase F&V intake.
Methods
We searched PubMed and Web of Science (February 2023) for intervention studies assessing impact on F&V intake. Eligibility criteria included studies published in English since 2012, a valid control group, ≥2 weeks duration, and ≥50 participants per intervention arm. Analysis was done by intervention comparison. Findings were described by summarizing proportion of intervention comparisons reporting statistically significant increases in fruit, vegetable and/or combined F&V intake across standalone (nutrition communication, social protection, agriculture or food environment restructuring) and multi-component strategies.
Results
A total of 284 intervention comparisons (223 unique studies) were included. The majority of comparisons (191/284) came from high-income countries (HICs) and 93/284 from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Nutrition communication was the most common standalone strategy, with 121/218 comparisons reporting positive impacts on fruit, vegetable and/or combined F&V intake. Fewer studies evaluated standalone social protection (13/284), food environment restructuring (4/284), or agriculture strategies (3/284). Among the limited interventions, 7/13 social protection and 3/4 food environment restructuring comparisons reported positive impacts, while none of the three standalone agricultural interventions did. Multi-component interventions demonstrated potential with 28/46 comparisons having positive impacts.
Conclusions
Some of the intervention strategies showed potential for increasing fruit and/or vegetable intake. However, given the heterogeneity of the interventions, small number of studies for some strategies and limited evidence from LMICs, more rigorous, context-specific research is needed.The FRESH Initiative is being implemented by CGIAR researchers from IFPRI, CIMMYT, The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, IWMI, and CIP in close partnership with the World Vegetable Center, Applied Horticultural Research, the University of Sydney, the Institute of Development Studies, Wageningen University & Research, the University of California, Davis, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, and the Philippines Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute, along with other partners. We would like to thank all funders who support this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund: www.cgiar. org/funders.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0379572125135020
The Unbearable Opacity of How MCPS Writes to Parents
No full textOne of the biggest complaints against Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in Maryland and 17th nationwide, is communication style. When Superintendent Thomas Taylor took office in 2024 set a new tone with a funny snow day video, but as the school district seeks a major overhaul of school attendance boundaries, the school district is losing control over its strategy and communications. Sunil Dasgupta talks to Michael Ricci, a MCPS parent and former communications director for Governor Larry Hogan and US House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner, about MCPS’ inscrutable style and how to fix the problem. Music by Anna Rubin.https://open.spotify.com/episode/71A6ELhDY2B21lYqW2Cwg
Evidence for Subtropical Dynamical Changes in Reunion Ozone Trends (1998-2021)
No full textWe provide trend estimates for total, stratospheric, and tropospheric ozone columns over Reunion (21.1°S, 55.5°E) from 1998 to 2021, using only Système d’Analyze par Observation Zénithale and Southern Hemisphere Additional OZonesonde observations. Trends are derived using Trend-Run, a multiple linear regression model, and a dynamic linear model (DLM) to identify potential turning points. Overall, total ozone exhibits a positive trend (3.0 1.5 DU/decade), with increases in both stratospheric (1.1 1.6 DU/decade) and tropospheric ozone (2.2 1.0 DU/decade). DLM identifies a turning point in stratospheric ozone in 2008, with a clear decrease in stratospheric ozone before this point and an increase afterward. We also determined changes in the lapse rate tropopause (LRT), the subtropical barrier position, and ERA5 wind and geopotential fields during the same period to investigate possible links between mid-tropospheric ozone increase and transport-related perturbations. Although trends in LRT height and temperature are barely significant, they suggest a recent deepening of the troposphere, indicative of climate change. Intensification of the anticyclonic gyre over Southern Africa and a weakening of the Mascarene anticyclone are found. This suggests that, independent of possible changes in ozone precursor emissions over Africa or South America, dynamics are driving increases of ozone and ozone precursors over Reunion from 1998 to 2021. Furthermore, the rate of Reunion's free tropospheric trends exceeds that observed at all other southern hemisphere ozonesonde stations, including those in tropical, subtropical and mid-latitude regions.The authors acknowledge the CNRS-NRF IRP ARSAIO (Atmospheric Research in Southern Africa and Indian Ocean) project for supporting research activities, as well as the Conseil Régional de la Réunion and the European FEDER for the Ph.D. scholarship of Tristan Millet. The authors are grateful for the support provided by the MOUSSACA project through the federation Observatoire des Milieux Naturels et des Changements Globaux (OMNCG) of the OSU-Réunion (Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers à La Réunion, UAR 3365). The authors thank the SHADOZ and SAOZ Principal Investigators for providing the data used in this study and for ensuring the quality of the observations. They also thank Marko Laine for his valuable explanations and support in understanding the mechanisms of the DLM. The authors acknowledge the support of OPAR (Observatoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère à la Réunion) and OSU-Réunion, funded by CNRS (INSU), Météo-France, and Université de La Réunion. Finally, the authors wish to express their deep gratitude, in memory of Françoise Posny, principal investigator of the SHADOZ data at Reunion from 1998 to 2021, whose dedication and contributions made this research possible.https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2025EA00439
Intimate Partner Violence and Time to Making an Abortion Appointment in the United States.
No full textObjectiveIntimate partner violence (IPV), the experience of physical and sexual violence, stalking, and/or psychological aggression within an existing or prior intimate relationship, may influence reproductive autonomy and abortion access. This study examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and time to scheduling abortion services for pregnant people in the United States (U.S).Study DesignData come from the Guttmacher Institute’s Abortion Patient Survey (APS), a nationally representative non-hospital sample of U.S. women seeking abortions in 2014 (n=7013). We estimated survey-weighted logistic regression to model the association between IPV victimization (physical and sexual) and two-week delays in abortion scheduling, controlling for a variety of sociodemographic variables.ResultsThe prevalence of any IPV was 5.02%, and 17.30% of participants had abortion scheduling delays of at least two weeks. In bivariate models, experiencing IPV was associated with 1.62 times the odds of abortion scheduling delays compared to those who were not experiencing IPV (95% CI 1.26, 2.09). In multivariable models controlling for sociodemographic covariates victimization was associated with 1.41 times the odds of abortion scheduling delays compared to non-victimization (95% CI 1.06, 1.86).ConclusionsIPV was associated with a 2-week delay in scheduling an abortion procedure following making the decision to obtain an abortion. In the increasingly restrictive policy climate, IPV-related delays in scheduling services may make abortions functionally inaccessible. Universal IPV screening and education provisions in healthcare settings (including primary care, gynecology and obstetrics) and community-based settings and for individuals seeking abortions are necessary to ensure timely access to safe and legal abortions.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362500532
Interested: How Susan S. White, Shareholder Advocacy, and 50 Years of Indigenous Activism Changed the Game and the Name of the Washington Football Team
No full textThis qualitative, descriptive case study utilized oral history informed by Indigenous research methodologies to explore how Susan White (Oneida of Wisconsin, 1963-2018) led an intertribal coalition of asset managers to address the problem of convincing the Washington, DC, NFL team to abandon their racist former name and mascot. I describe the shareholder advocacy process in that social movement and the confluence of factors that may have enabled the effectiveness of that tactic. Black-led movements generated opportunities at both the start and end of this movement. Indigenous activists utilized a range of tactics over the decades to pressure the team. Public opinion responded to the two trademark lawsuits (one plaintiff, Norbert Hill, Jr., is a narrator in this project). In 2020, the visibility of Black Lives Matter peaked after George Floyd was lynched. Other movements also gained widespread support. Over decades, Susan built relationships, establishing a coalition of socially responsible investment (SRI) leaders that continues to support Indigenous-led initiatives, including name change movements, today. This study finds that her determination, engagement, motivation, and perseverance enabled the movement's outcome. The popularity of corporate anti-racism in summer 2020 was an opportune moment for re-engagement; then, the partnerships she had created enabled the coalition's quick response. This dissertation discusses the dependence of white heteropatriarchal masculine identity formation on stereotyped representations of Black and Indigenous masculinity. Gridiron (or American) football fandom can provide a sense of community and belonging that were lost in the invention of whiteness itself—and thus can also become a space for performing white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy. Challenging the usage of Indigenous mascots promotes Indigenous self-determination and resists genocide. It also achieves those goals simply by virtue of the impacts of any social movement, which is inherently successful for those who participate in it, witness it, and/or learn of it. This project intervenes in the common assumption that the U.S. Black civil rights movement was the inspiration that sparked Indigenous activism in the 1970s. While the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement (AIM) did offer support to each other, both started locally based on observed local needs. Likewise, Susan’s work was part of the Oneida Nation’s larger financial and cultural reclamation and revitalization projects for sovereignty and survivance. One significant factor in this story is this use of shareholder advocacy, a form of activist investing, to effect cultural change, rather than the more typical profit motive. Its history reveals that socially motivated investing is not just a recent offshoot of profit-motivated activist investing, but rather, its own form of activist investing. Another factor is the movement’s target: a privately-owned corporation. The coalition instead targeted its publicly-traded sponsors, FedEx, Nike, and PepsiCo. A further feature is the activists’ decision to invest rather than divest or boycott. They made a conscious, strategic decision to not only participate in capitalism, but also to exploit it for their own particular ends. This case study supports the claim that long-term, coalitional movements can achieve their stated goal(s). The outcome of this movement is a testament to the power of Indigenous activism, and its success strengthens ongoing Indigenous movements and shareholder advocacy work
How Punishment Precedes Trial in State Courts
No full textHow broken is the criminal-justice system? If you are charged, you might have to pay for your own pre-trial supervision, that is, if you can make bail. The cost may be high enough that you take a plea deal even if you are innocent. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Natasha Dartigue, Maryland Public Defender and the new president-elect of the Maryland Bar Association, about pre-trial detention, bail reform, and disproportionate outcomes in state courts. Music by Silver Spring power pop band, The Airport77s.https://open.spotify.com/episode/7k5BfQEDtkbBD3HUZvIIu
Freeze Casting of Porous Copper with Lamellar Morphology from Cupric Oxide Suspensions for Enhancing Through-Plane Thermal Conductivity
No full textAbstract
This study reports porous copper with lamellar morphology produced with the freeze casting method, in which aqueous suspensions of cupric oxide particles (1 µm–2 µm) were frozen under controlled cooling rates, followed by ice sublimation, reduction to copper, and sintering. The effects of the cooling rate (0.008–0.08 °C·s⁻¹), the particle loading (6.0 vol %–13.0 vol %), and the concentration of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (1.2 wt %–3.6 wt %) on the through-plane efective thermal conductivity and structural characteristics of the as-produced material were investigated. Over a narrow range of cooling rates (0.016–0.026 °C·s⁻¹), continuous lamellae formed, and the porous copper structures with 6.0 vol %–13.0 vol % particle loadings demonstrated an average porosity of 66.7–89.5 %, an average through plane effective thermal conductivity of 9.5 W m⁻¹ ⋅ K⁻¹ –12.9 W m⁻¹ ⋅ K⁻¹, and average lamellar thickness and spacings less than 50 μm. The highest through-plane effective thermal conductivity of 16.7 Wm-1·K-1 was obtained at 65.7 % porosity with suspensions of 13.0 vol % particle loading. These results suggest that freeze cast porous copper has a higher through-plane effective thermal conductivity than commercial copper foams for a given porosity. The fastest cooling rate (0.08 °C·s⁻¹) resulted in engulfment of particle aggregates by the freezing front. The effective thermal conductivity along the freezing direction is not uniform, showing a less than 10.0 % difference in the samples produced with the cooling rate of 0.016 °C·s⁻¹. Increasing the PVA concentration from 1.2 wt % to 3.6 wt % showed an insignificant influence on the non-uniformity of this property, but decreased its value due to the enlarged tilt angles.This research was partially supported by UMBC Catalyst Technology Fund and Commercialization & ENTR RESEARCH (CENTRE) Funding Initiative.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10765-025-03578-
Feasibility of robust estimates of ozone production rates using a synergy of satellite observations, ground-based remote sensing, and models
No full textOzone pollution is secondarily produced through a complex, non-linear chemical process. Our understanding of the spatiotemporal variations in photochemically produced ozone (i.e., PO₃) is limited to sparse aircraft campaigns and chemical transport models, which often carry significant biases. Hence, we present a novel satellite-derived PO₃ product informed by bias-corrected TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) HCHO, NO₂, surface albedo data, and various models. These data are integrated into a parameterization that relies on HCHO, NO₂, HCHO / NO₂, jNO₂, and jO¹D. Despite its simplicity, it can reproduce ∼ 90 % of the variance in observationally constrained PO₃, with minimal biases in moderately to highly polluted regions. We map PO₃ across various regions with respect to July 2019 at a 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution, revealing accelerated values (> 8 ppbv h⁻¹) for numerous cities throughout Asia and the Middle East, resulting from elevated ozone precursors and enhanced photochemistry. In Europe and the United States, such high levels are only detected over Benelux, Los Angeles, and New York City. PO₃ maxima are observed in various seasons and are attributed to changes in photolysis rates, non-linear ozone chemistry, and fluctuations in HCHO and NO₂. Satellite errors result in moderate errors (10 %–20 %) in PO₃ estimates over cities on a monthly average basis, while these errors exceed 50 % in clean areas and under low light conditions. Using the current algorithm, we demonstrate that satellite data can provide valuable information for robust PO₃ estimation. This capability expands future research through the application of data to address significant scientific questions about locally produced ozone hotspots, seasonality, and long-term trends.This research has been supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant no. 80NSSC23K1250). Funders facilitating the collection of data used in this article (rather than funders of this work specifically) are included in the Acknowledgementshttps://acp.copernicus.org/articles/25/2061/2025
2D material-based plasmonic phototransistors under strong optical excitations
No full textPeriodic arrays of metallic structures are commonly placed on top of two-dimensional (2D) materials to enhance the local electric field and light absorption, particularly for light detection and generation. However, such enhancement often leads to substantial increases in local temperature under high-power optical excitations. This study explores the feasibility of devising a novel phototransistor with moderate field enhancement yet superior thermal management. Our approach involves strategically placing metal nanoparticles beneath the 2D material and atop silicon pillars. Heat is efficiently transferred to the substrate, mitigating thermal accumulation by leveraging the high thermal conductivity of both metals and silicon. Through multi-physics numerical modeling, our analysis reveals that the proposed design has higher quantum efficiency under high-power excitations than plain and plasmonic phototransistors decorated with metal nanoparticles atop.This work was supported by internal funding from the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) through the Interdisciplinary Research Programs (IRP) initiative.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10825-025-02348-
Groundbreaking taxonomy of metaverse characteristics
No full textThe Metaverse, a dynamic and immersive virtual realm, has captured the imagination of researchers and enthusiasts worldwide. This survey paper aims to introduce a groundbreaking taxonomy for the characteristics of the Metaverse offering a structured and adaptable framework that extends beyond existing categorizations by incorporating dynamic transformations. Unlike prior taxonomies, which often focus on fixed attributes, our approach emphasizes the dynamic evolution of Metaverse characteristics. Through an extensive review of published literature, this study explores key technological, social, economic, and ethical dimensions of the Metaverse. It introduces a process-oriented classification based on 23 distinct characteristics, including immersification, spatiotemporalification, interactification, persistentification, presentification, personification, unification, imaginification, economification, uncertaintification, and credification. By mapping these evolving aspects, we provide a structured and future-proof foundation for understanding the Metaverse’s continuous development. This survey establishes a new standard for comprehensiveness and innovation, shedding light on the diverse facets that have been explored in literature. Through this novel taxonomy, we provide a detailed map of the current landscape and offer insights that pave the way for future research and development in this burgeoning digital frontier.This work was supported in part by the ITRC Support Program under Grant IITP 2023 RS 2022 00156354 and in part by the Metaverse Support Program to Nurture the Best Talents under Grant IITP 2023 RS 2023 00254529 funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea and the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation IITPhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10462-025-11243-