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Reasons for COVID-19 vaccination late in the pandemic: A qualitative study
No full textThis study elicited reasons for initiating COVID-19 vaccination in April 2022 or later. We interviewed patients (n = 51) from 2 healthcare systems in central Massachusetts. Participants were 66.7 % female, 39.2 % White non-Hispanic, 15.7 % Black non-Hispanic, and 39.2 % Hispanic. The most common reason for vaccination was that it was required for something the participant wanted to do, cited by 40/51 participants as the main reason for vaccination. Social influences, reported by 27/51 participants, were mostly (n = 22/27) described as secondary reasons. Increased disease risk appraisal and/or increased confidence in the vaccine were noted by 24/51 participants, also predominantly as secondary reasons (n = 14/24). Requirements to be vaccinated for work, school, or to participate in activities are an important lever for promoting COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Commonly cited as secondary reasons, social influences and factors that increase disease risk appraisal and/or vaccine confidence may serve to create a foundation for vaccine requirements. © 202
Reflections on preparing regional chapters for NCA5
Get PDFRegional chapters in the National Climate Assessment (NCA) report provide a comprehensive synthesis of how climate change is impacting United States regions and are extensively used to support climate change decision-making by local communities and policymakers. The regional chapter author teams are tasked with assessing the climate trends, risks, and responses across a range of sectors and across a vast and diverse geography, while making content locally relevant. Regional chapters have evolved in many ways since the third NCA (NCA3), often shifting from focusing on climate stressors and hazards to addressing more diverse human-centric impacts (e.g., human health), inequities, and other barriers to action. The fifth NCA (NCA5) author teams were constructed to be intentionally diverse, including more social scientists and cultural practitioners. Here, regional chapter authors provide reflections on the assessment process and identify some best practices for developing an effective regional chapter. These include building a diverse and complementary author team, utilizing technical contributors to enhance the technical and geographical expertise of the team, and conducting extensive public engagement with local communities and policymakers throughout the process. To improve future regional NCA chapters, we identify several recommendations: (1) thoughtful analysis and possible revision of regional boundaries, (2) inclusion of authors from underrepresented regions on national-scale topic chapters, (3) structured cross-chapter engagement among regional chapters, (4) a holistic communications plan for the post-release period, and (5) better coordination with sub-national climate assessments. © The Author(s) 2025
An Ecocritical Study of Puerto Rican Culture: Disaster Nation
No full textThis book contrasts Puerto Rico’s eco-political history with its narrative and symbolic routes of disaster, trauma, and resilience, noting points of convergence and divergence. Since hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 there has been an explosion of creative and critical works that depict and analyze the aftermath of disaster, and this book systematically documents the continuities and discontinuities of how disasters are represented and underrepresented from earlier eras to the present. This book offers a politically-challenging cultural analysis that goes beyond orthodox Puerto Rican cultural thinking. © 2025 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Adapting check-in/check-out for specific use in K-12 settings for students with internalizing behavior
No full textCheck-in/Check-out (CICO) is commonly used to support externalizing behavior, but with thoughtful adaptations, educators can use the approach to support internalizing behavior. In this paper we provide a comprehensive, nine-step process offering students and families consistent, daily feedback on targeted behaviors. We (a) define internalizing behaviors and describe methods for early detection and support, (b) provide an overview of CICO and its evidence base, and (c) describe the nine steps of CICO, including several adaptations for students with internalizing behaviors (i.e. extremely shy, anxious, and/or withdrawn). Adapting CICO’s components can enhance student outcomes across academic and social domains. Throughout this article, effective implementation strategies within a tiered system of supports, such as the Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-tiered (Ci3T) model of prevention are described, and we provide illustrations of how it is possible to directly support students with internalizing behaviors. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Cooperative agreement between countries of the North Atlantic Ocean reduces marine plastic pollution but with unequal economic benefits
Get PDFPlastic pollution in the world’s oceans threatens ecosystems and biodiversity. The connected nature of the marine environment suggests that coordinated actions by countries sharing an ocean border may provide more effective pollution control than unilateral actions by any one country. However, countries often fail to cooperate, even when joint economic benefits would be higher under cooperation. Here we present a modelling framework to determine the potential economic benefits of cooperative marine plastic pollution management. The framework integrates an estimated plastic transfer matrix from a particle tracking model with game theory to derive the economic benefits of international cooperation for 16 countries bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. Subject to modelling uncertainties, a fully cooperative agreement yields aggregate annual net benefits of around $36 billion and a 64% reduction in emissions. The net benefits of cooperation persist over alternative scenarios and considering the impact of uncertainties but vary in magnitude and distribution
Investigation of Sleep Disorders and Related Influencing Factors Among the Elderly in Southeast Coastal Regions of China: A Cross-Sectional Survey Analysis
Get PDFObjective: To assess the sleep status and prevalence rate of the elderly in southeast coastal areas of China, and analyze related factors. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted among elderly individuals in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, situated in the southeast coastal areas of China, using a multi-stage random sampling method. A total of 903 elderly people aged ≥ 60 years were selected for the survey. The questionnaire aimed to assess their sleep status using PSQI and to evaluate related factors using Self-designed General Information and Health Behavior Questionnaires, SAS, GDS-15, ESS, AD8, SHAP, WHOQOL-BREF, among other tools. Logistic regression was applied to analyze the influencing factors of sleep disorders. Results: Among the 903 elderly individuals who participated in the survey, 316 cases (35.0%) had a PSQI score \u3e 7. Females exhibited a higher prevalence rate of poor subjective sleep quality (24.9% vs 17.6%) and difficulty falling asleep (32.8% vs 22.5%) compared to males. Drinking green tea (OR = 0.1.841, 95% CI, 1.220–2.777, P \u3c0.05) had the strongest association with poor sleep. The duration of nap time ranging from 30 to 90 minutes (OR = 0.492, 95% CI= 0.340–0.713, P \u3c 0.001) and specifically a 90-minute nap (OR = 0.441, 95% CI = 0.234–0.832, P \u3c 0.05) were both significantly associated with a decreased risk of experiencing poor sleep quality. Conclusion: The prevalence in this population is 35%. Several factors contribute to this prevalence, including tea consumption, anxiety, daytime sleepiness, cognitive decline, environmental influences, awareness of sleep health, knowledge about sleep, and detrimental habits. Specifically, the consumption of green tea negatively impacts sleep quality, while taking naps longer than 30 minutes is associated with a reduced risk of poor sleep. These findings can inform the development of targeted preventive strategies and interventions aimed at mitigating sleep disorders in the elderly population
The Scarlet – Volume CIII, No. 8 (March 14, 2025)
Get PDFThe March 14, 2025 edition of The Scarlet (est. 1939), Clark University\u27s student-run newspaper. The Scarlet is intellectually and editorially independent of the University.https://commons.clarku.edu/scarlet/1101/thumbnail.jp
Forest Carbon Modeling Improved Through Hierarchical Assimilation of Pool-Based Measurements
Get PDFAccurate assessment of forest carbon dynamics is a critical element of appraising forest-based Natural Climate Solutions. National forest inventory and analysis (FIA) data provide valuable pool-based estimates of carbon stocks, but have been underutilized to inform carbon cycle modeling for forest carbon dynamics with stand development. This study introduces a hierarchical data assimilation (HDA) framework to optimize modeling parameters by incrementally assimilating measured carbon pool data into the model. We found that most carbon stocks could be reproduced by constrained parameters after each HDA step. Using aboveground live biomass (AGB) alone in HDA was able to reproduce the AGB trajectories but introduced biases in estimating the downstream dead biomass and soil carbon pools. Assimilating dead biomass measurements narrowed the posterior space of parameter solutions and improved consistency between measured and modeled carbon dynamics. The HDA framework also reduced uncertainties on modeled carbon fluxes. Young stands were found to release less carbon when the model was informed by dead biomass compared to simulations guided by aboveground biomass alone. The remaining mismatches between modeled and FIA pool estimates could be attributed to wide uncertainty in some FIA estimates, differing definitions of functional carbon pools, and structural rigidity in the model. Together, this study underscores the importance of pool-based measurements in forest carbon modeling, which improves the model-observation fit and reduces process-model uncertainty
Implementation and evaluation of a group peer mentoring and leadership development program for research faculty in academic medicine
Get PDFIntroduction: Research faculty often experience poor mentoring, low vitality, and burnout. We report on our logic model inputs, activities, measurable outcomes, and impact of a novel mentoring intervention for biomedical research faculty: The C-Change Mentoring & Leadership Institute. We present a) a detailed description of the curriculum and process, b) evaluation of the program\u27s mentoring effectiveness from the perspective of participants, and c) documentation of mentoring correlated with key positive outcomes. Methods: A yearlong facilitated group peer mentoring program that convened quarterly in person was conducted twice (2020-2022) as part of an NIH-funded randomized controlled study. The culture change intervention aimed to increase faculty vitality, career advancement, and cross-cultural competence through structured career planning and learning of skills essential for advancement and leadership in academic medicine. Participants were 40 midcareer MD and PhD research faculty, half women, and half underrepresented by race or ethnicity from 27 US medical schools. Results: Participants highly rated their mentoring received at the Institute. Extent of effective mentoring experienced correlated strongly with the measurable outcomes of enhanced vitality, self-efficacy in career advancement, research and work-life integration, feelings of inclusion in the program, valuing diversity, and skills for addressing inequity. Conclusions: The mentoring model fully included men and women and historically underrepresented persons in medicine and minimized problems of power, gender, race, and ethnicity discordance. The intervention successfully addressed the urgencies of sustaining faculty vitality, developing faculty careers, facilitating cross-cultural engagement and inclusion, and contributing to cultivating cultures of inclusive excellence in academic medicine. © The Author(s), 2025
Actors and Institutions
No full textThe chapter examines actors and institutions that respond to humanitarian crises, which can generally be categorised as state or non-state actors. It introduces state actors as the primary humanitarian entities. Starting with state actors is essential because they bear primary responsibility for managing disasters and responding to them. State constitutions, international law, and international norms recognise the primacy of states. State actors also include regional and global intergovernmental organisations that states create and mandate to respond to transnational problems such as disasters that one government alone cannot manage. Although the UN and its systems function as a state actor, the chapter author treats the UN as a unique institutional entity because of its global reach, because of its ability to coordinate the entire system, and for driving reforms across the world. The author also notes that state actors and institutions work alongside and together with a range of non-state actors across all levels of governance. Ultimately, this chapter shows that the future of humanitarianism will be defined by how state and non-state actors work together