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BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010 was a major test of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which the United States federal government mandates for response to all disasters. At the time, this disaster was perhaps the greatest event in scope and duration under NIMS disaster management guidelines since they were revised in 2008 (the third edition was published in 2017). Ten years later, NIMS provides procedures for operating a joint information center (JIC), but still offers no guidelines for ethical communication. This case study examines the ethical implications of 178 news releases distributed by the Deepwater Horizon Incident JIC. Qualitative analysis found that communication was conducted in an open, ethical manner, with few exceptions. Conflicts emerged, however, that may have compromised ethical standards. The authors conclude with recommendations to inform ethical decision making by JIC communicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electron energy loss spectra of gaseous thiophene and thiolane in the regions of S 2p, S 2s, and C 1s are presented along with the x-ray photoelectron yield (NEXAFS) spectra of both gases in the region of S 1s excitation. The thiophene spectra are compared to the corresponding NEXAFS spectra of solid (multilayer) and monolayer thiophene on Pt (111). MS-Xα calculations of the C 1s, S 2p, and S 1s excitation spectra of free thiophene are also reported. Intercomparison of the gas, surface, and calculated spectra allows a complete interpretation of the spectral features and facilitates determination of the molecular orientation of thiophene with respect to the surface in both the compressed [thiophene on Pt (111) at 150 K] and relaxed [thiophene on Pt (111) at 180 K] monolayer phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

K shell excitation spectra of the aromatic molecules benzene and pyridine in the gas phase are compared to those for the solids (ices) and for monolayers chemisorbed on Pt(111). The gas phase and solid spectra are essentially identical and even the spectra for the chemisorbed molecules exhibit the same resonances. Because of the orientation of the molecules upon chemisorption the latter spectra show a strong polarization dependence as a function of x-ray incidence. This polarization dependence in conjunction with a multiple scattering Xα calculation for the benzene molecule allows us to assign the origin of all K shell resonances. The resonances are found to arise from transitions to π* antibonding orbitals and to σ* shape resonances in the continuum. The shape resonances are characterized by potential barriers in high (l=5 and 6) angular momentum states of the excited photoelectron. The polarization dependence and energy position of the resonances allow the molecular orientation on the surface to be determined and show that the change in the carbon–carbon bond length is less than 0.02 Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra of ethylene on Pt(111) at 90 and 300 K have been measured and compared to the spectra calculated using the multiple scattering Xα method for cluster models of adsorbed ethylene and ethylidyne. The results indicate that ethylene is adsorbed in the di-σ configuration (sp3 hybridization) at 90 K, and that the π* orbital retains its identity in this configuration, with no component along the C–C axis. The spectrum obtained at 300 K is attributed to ethylidyne (CCH3) and the calculated spectrum for a cluster consisting of this species bonded symmetrically to three Pt atoms is in good agreement with experiment. The calculations show that the multiple scattering molecular cluster approach is a useful technique for interpreting the NEXAFS spectra of adsorbed molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the hope of raising children to become responsible and active citizens with upstanding values, many youth-related organizations have focused their efforts on providing quality opportunities to encourage early participation in civic engagements. Many organizations actively engage in social media to fulfill their goals most effectively. Social media offer the potential to promote those opportunities, communicate with youth, and eventually facilitate positive youth development. Considering the importance of social media among youth, it is critical to understand how to use it as a tool to foster youth development. Therefore, utilizing the positive youth development (PYD) framework, this study examines the role of Facebook communications in developing six traits—competence, confidence, connection, character, compassion, and contribution—and their effects on youth civic engagement by analyzing a 4-H club case. Mixed methods are used to conduct a two-step study. The first step analyzes communication patterns of the national 4-H Facebook page through content analysis of posts from 2009 to early 2015. For the second step, seven in-depth interviews were conducted with recent 4-H alumni, who used the official 4-H Facebook page during their period of membership. The findings emphasized the critical role of social media in fostering positive development of youth and future civic engagement, and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This methodological article explores the intersection of qualitative fieldwork methods in crisis communication and disaster management. While crisis communication is a popular topic of research in the public relations genre, there is relatively no methodological work to serve as a precedent for a participant-observation study of communication during an unfolding disaster event. Likewise, disaster management literature that is based in qualitative fieldwork methods has not examined the communication practices of a disaster response organization. This article explores the various challenges in conducting fieldwork in real-time disaster communication and describes how the researcher overcame those challenges to conduct a participant-observation study of the American Red Cross' communication efforts during the 2009 Red River Valley floods in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among people aged 65 years and older and assess the value of a postal survey in obtaining this information. A questionnaire was sent to 2011 subjects (957 men) drawn by age-stratified random sampling from the age-sex registers of four New Forest group practices (1:3.3 sample). A total of 1803 replied, a 96.2% response after excluding 136 who had died or moved from the area. The accuracy of replies was verified for 355 (20%) randomly selected subjects. Forty per cent had no respiratory symptoms. Exertional breathlessness was common (38%), increasing in prevalence with age but not with smoking history, and was the only symptom reported by 10% of subjects. Only 14.2% were current smokers; more of the subjects aged 85 years and over were lifelong non-smokers. Two hundred and ninety-six (16.4%) had chronic bronchitis, which was more common among smokers; 151 (8.4%) gave a history of asthma, of whom half (76) had active asthma, which was slightly less common among the very elderly subjects. Only 489 (27.1%) of subjects had seen their doctors with chest symptoms during the preceding 2 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon K-shell excitation spectra of gaseous cyclic hydrocarbons, both saturated (cyclopropane, cyclobutane, cyclopentane, cyclohexane) and unsaturated (cyclopentene, cyclohexene, and cyclooctatetraene), have been recorded by electron energy loss spectroscopy under dipole-dominated conditions. These are compared to the NEXAFS spectra of multilayers and monolayers of C4H8, C5H8, C6H12, and C8H8 on Pt(111). Multiple scattering Xα calculations of the spectra of cyclopropane, cyclobutane, and cyclohexane are also reported. In most cases the gas and solid spectra are essentially the same indicating that intramolecular transitions dominate in the condensed phase. The NEXAFS polarization dependence of the condensed phases has assisted spectral assignments and the determination of the molecular orientation in the monolayer phase. In the saturated species a sharp feature about 3 eV below the carbon 1s ionization threshold is identified as a transition to a state of mixed Rydberg/valence character with the π*(CH2) valence component dominating. Except for cyclopropane the positions of the main σ * resonances correlate with the C–C bond lengths in a manner similar to that reported previously for noncyclic aliphatic molecules. In the spectra of monolayer C6H12, C5H8, and C8H8 spectral broadening and weak additional features are observed which are attributed to molecule–surface interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the recent improvement in additive manufacturing technologies, we designed a detector that can be fully printed with a standard and commercial 3D printer. The main goals of this research concern the marginal design and construction costs, the reproducibility/modularity of the products, and the reduced assembly time. During the first phase of this research, after determining the most suitable material, we produced 10 examples of detector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frail elderly patients often present with non-specific symptoms and a common diagnosis made is urinary tract infection (UTI) based on a positive urine dipstick. The Royal College of Physicians acute care toolkit 3 recommended against performing a routine dipstick of urine in these patients unless they had clinical signs of sepsis or had urinary symptoms.Method: Patients over the age of 75 who were admitted via the acute unselected take to Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust were assessed at random. The presenting complaint and the diagnosis from the consultant post take ward round were included in our analysis with the biochemical and microbiology results.Results: 47 patients were reviewed. Presenting complaints included fever (14.9%), delirium (34%), collapse / falls (23.4%), urinary symptoms (6.4%), non-specific symptoms (21.3%).Dipstick urine was positive for nitrates and/or leucocytes in 70.2% of patients. 46/47 (97.8%) were treated with antibiotics for a presumed UTI. Trimethoprim was used in 47.9%, Cefuroxime in 39.1% and in 8.7% of patients, a variety of other antibiotics were used.A midstream urine sample (MSSU) was sent in 39/46 (84.7%) of the patients who were given a diagnosis of a UTI. Of those, 14/39 (35.9%) were positive with a microorganism. However, only 7 of these patients had symptoms or signs of sepsis consistent with a clinically significant urinary tract infection (ie 15% of those treated).Conclusion: Dipstick urine should not be used to diagnose UTIs as it leads to over-diagnosis and the over-use of antibiotics with the concomitant risk of multi-resistant organisms and clostridium difficile infection. Positive urine culture is obtained in only a small proportion of those with positive dipstick tests. It is very important to differentiate between a clinically significant UTI or asymptomatic bacteruria as other causes of sepsis or clinical deterioration could be missed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frail elderly patients often present with non-specific symptoms and a common diagnosis made is urinary tract infection (UTI) based on a positive urine dipstick. The Royal College of Physicians acute care toolkit 3 recommended against performing a routine dipstick of urine in these patients unless they had clinical signs of sepsis or had urinary symptoms.Method: Patients over the age of 75 who were admitted via the acute unselected take to Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust were assessed at random. The presenting complaint and the diagnosis from the consultant post take ward round were included in our analysis with the biochemical and microbiology results.Results: 47 patients were reviewed. Presenting complaints included fever (14.9%), delirium (34%), collapse / falls (23.4%), urinary symptoms (6.4%), non-specific symptoms (21.3%).Dipstick urine was positive for nitrates and/or leucocytes in 70.2% of patients. 46/47 (97.8%) were treated with antibiotics for a presumed UTI. Trimethoprim was used in 47.9%, Cefuroxime in 39.1% and in 8.7% of patients, a variety of other antibiotics were used.A midstream urine sample (MSSU) was sent in 39/46 (84.7%) of the patients who were given a diagnosis of a UTI. Of those, 14/39 (35.9%) were positive with a microorganism. However, only 7 of these patients had symptoms or signs of sepsis consistent with a clinically significant urinary tract infection (ie 15% of those treated).Conclusion: Dipstick urine should not be used to diagnose UTIs as it leads to over-diagnosis and the over-use of antibiotics with the concomitant risk of multi-resistant organisms and clostridium difficile infection. Positive urine culture is obtained in only a small proportion of those with positive dipstick tests. It is very important to differentiate between a clinically significant UTI or asymptomatic bacteruria as other causes of sepsis or clinical deterioration could be missed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]