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Gastrointestinal worm infections (GWI) constrain pig production and zoonotic pig parasites make pork unsafe for human consumption. This study determined the distributions, determinants and dynamics of GWI and also the effect of the infection on production parameters in pigs reared in Enugu State, Nigeria. The GWI were determined by faecal egg counts following standard procedure. Sixty piggeries and 564 pigs were randomly selected for the study. Questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain data on some production parameters and risk practices aiding GWI in the piggeries. An overall prevalence of 88.3% (53/60) and 68.1% (384/564) at farm and individual pig levels respectively were recorded. High egg counts of single and mixed infections involving Strongyle, Ascaris and Trichuris species were found. The infection predominated in young (74.1%, 240/324) and female (72.3%, 272/376) pigs during the rainy/wet season (74.5%, 204/274). Rearing pigs of different ages together, feeding pigs with untreated abattoir/poultry waste, and unhygienic on-farm feed compounding were the major risk practices underpinning acquisition and spread of GWI. Infected piggeries had less litter weight and reduced mean weight at weaning and maturity. Pre-weaning piglet mortality was 15.5%. The seasonality and preponderance of the infection in young and female pigs are useful epidemiological findings which could be exploited for development of an effective control strategy against the parasitic infections. An overhaul of parasitic disease control measures in piggeries in Enugu State is imperative for greater productivity and profitability in swine production, and to boost availability of safe and wholesome pork for human consumption. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12639-021-01377-y.

Early tsunami warning critically hinges on rapid determination of the tsunami hazard potential in real-time, before waves inundate critical coastlines. Tsunami energy can quickly characterize the destructive potential of generated waves. Traditional seismic analysis is inadequate to accurately predict a tsunami’s energy. Recently, two independent approaches have been proposed to determine tsunami source energy: one inverted from the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) data during the tsunami propagation, and the other derived from the land-based coastal global positioning system (GPS) during tsunami generation. Here, we focus on assessing these two approaches with data from the March 11, 2011 Japanese tsunami. While the GPS approach takes into consideration the dynamic earthquake process, the DART inversion approach provides the actual tsunami energy estimation of the propagating tsunami waves; both approaches lead to consistent energy scales for previously studied tsunamis. Encouraged by these promising results, we examined a real-time approach to determine tsunami source energy by combining these two methods: first, determine the tsunami source from the globally expanding GPS network immediately after an earthquake for near-field early warnings; and then to refine the tsunami energy estimate from nearby DART measurements for improving forecast accuracy and early cancelations. The combination of these two real-time networks may offer an appealing opportunity for: early determination of the tsunami threat for the purpose of saving more lives, and early cancelation of tsunami warnings to avoid unnecessary false alarms.

We conducted an exploratory research study looking at fathering interactions as they relate to the wraparound care given by the Partnership for Kids or PARK Project, a school-based system of care in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The questions posed by our research focused on how fathers’ positive interaction measured by their levels of engagement and accessibility can moderate the effect of the school-based system of care intervention on the mental health outcomes of children with serious emotional disturbances. We found that, although not statistically significant, children’s access to their father did have a moderating effect on CBCL scores for internalizing behaviors and total problems. There was very small change in CBCL scores for externalizing behaviors. Further, the moderating effect of father accessibility and father engagement had a lasting effect as a moderator through 12 months into the intervention, especially with regard to internalizing behavior scores.

Children’s exposure to potentially traumatic events is related to negative mental health outcomes. To promote more positive outcomes, protective factors that can buffer the impact of these experiences need to be identified. The present study examined whether lower parental stress might function as a protective factor for children enrolled in a behavioral health system of care. Specifically, the relationship between a history of interpersonal trauma (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing domestic violence) and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors were examined, as was the role of parenting stress in helping to explain this relationship. The sample included African American and Latino children (ages 5–19) from low-income families, who have a serious emotional disturbance, and received services in a school-based system of care. Results of path analyses revealed that parenting stress mediated the relationship between trauma exposure and internalizing problem behaviors. For the relationship between trauma exposure and externalizing problem behaviors, mediation approached significance. The findings suggest that family factors, such as parenting stress, could be potential modifiable protective factors for these children. Systems of care can use this information to encourage the implementation of more family-focused treatments and interventions.

Following the devastating 11 March 2011 tsunami, two deep-ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis (DART®)(DART® and the DART® logo are registered trademarks of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, used with permission) stations were deployed in Japanese waters by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Two weeks after deployment, on 7 December 2012, a Mw 7.3 earthquake off Japan’s Pacific coastline generated a tsunami. The tsunami was recorded at the two Japanese DARTs as early as 11 min after the earthquake origin time, which set a record as the fastest tsunami detecting time at a DART station. These data, along with those recorded at other DARTs, were used to derive a tsunami source using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tsunami forecast system. The results of our analysis show that data provided by the two near-field Japanese DARTs can not only improve the forecast speed but also the forecast accuracy at the Japanese tide gauge stations. This study provides important guidelines for early detection and forecasting of local tsunamis.

The present study examined the cumulative effects of risk and protective factors on internalizing and externalizing problems for a sample of youth who were diagnosed with a severe emotional disturbance and enrolled in an urban school-based system of care. The sample included 139 Latino and African American children (ages 5-19; 65 % male) and their families. After controlling for demographic variables, the results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that cumulative risk and protection were significantly related to internalizing problem behaviors, and cumulative protection was negatively related to externalizing problem behaviors. The findings support the importance of including or increasing strength building approaches, in addition to risk reduction, in order to maximize prevention and intervention efforts for system-of-care populations.

During the devastating 11 March 2011 Japanese tsunami, data from two tsunami detectors were used to determine the tsunami source within 1.5 h of earthquake origin time. For the first time, multiple near-field tsunami measurements of the 2011 Japanese tsunami were used to demonstrate the accuracy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) real-time flooding forecast system in the far field. To test the accuracy of the same forecast system in the near field, a total of 11 numerical models with grids telescoped to 2 arcsec (~60 m) were developed to hindcast the propagation and coastal inundation of the 2011 Japanese tsunami along the entire east coastline of Japan. Using the NOAA tsunami source computed in near real-time, the model results of tsunami propagation are validated with tsunami time series measured at different water depths offshore and near shore along Japan’s coastline. The computed tsunami runup height and spatial distribution are highly consistent with post-tsunami survey data collected along the Japanese coastline. The computed inundation penetration also agrees well with survey data, giving a modeling accuracy of 85.5 % for the inundation areas along 800 km of coastline between Ibaraki Prefecture (north of Kashima) and Aomori Prefecture (south of Rokkasho). The inundation model results highlighted the variability of tsunami impact in response to different offshore bathymetry and flooded terrain. Comparison of tsunami sources inferred from different indirect methods shows the crucial importance of deep-ocean tsunami measurements for real-time tsunami forecasts. The agreement between model results and observations along Japan’s coastline demonstrate the ability and potential of NOAA’s methodology for real-time near-field tsunami flooding forecasts. An accurate tsunami flooding forecast within 30 min may now be possible using the NOAA forecast methodology with carefully placed tsunameters and large-scale high-resolution inundation models with powerful computing capabilities.

A new method for real-time tsunami forecasting will provide NOAA’s Tsunami Warning Centers with forecast guidance tools during an actual tsunami event. PMEL has developed the methodology of combining real-time data from tsunameters with numerical model estimates to provide site- and event-specific forecasts for tsunamis in real time. An overview of the technique and testing of this methodology is presented.

A method is derived to forecast theextreme heights of later waves in Pacific-widetsunamis, for locations in the vicinity of real-timereporting tide gages. The forecast for wave peaks hasthe form ηF(t) = ηB(t) + ηe(t),where ηe = Aσ exp [- (t - to)/τ ]. Here, the forecast begins attime t = to, which is 4 h after tsunamidetection at a tide gage, σ is the standarddeviation of tsunami-band fluctuations observed in the2-h time interval before the forecast begins,ηB is a background water level predictionthat includes the tides and lower frequencyoscillations, τ = 48 h is an e-folding decayconstant, and A = 3.0 is a constant coefficient.Placing a minus sign in front of ηe providesa forecast for wave troughs. This form for theforecast, and the values of the parameters, arejustified using probability theory and Monte Carlosimulations based on 3000 synthetic tsunami timeseries. The method is then tested successfully (i.e.,agreement within 0.5 m) against six past Pacific-widetsunamis, as observed at U.S. tide gages. These casestudies include the five major tsunamis to produceloss of life and/or substantial damage to U.S. coastalcommunities during the Twentieth Century. The sixthstudy is the 1994 Shikotan tsunami, which is thelatest Pacific-wide tsunami to trigger tsunamiwarnings for U.S. regions. Algorithms for detectinglocal tsunami onset and generating forecasts are givenin an appendix, together with a description of thewavelet method used to generate the synthetic tsunamiseries.

An X-ray preionized spiker-sustainer XeCl-excimer laser operating at high repetition frequency (1000 Hz) and 220 W of average laser power is demonstrated. The pulse energy and the pulse duration (160 ns) are virtually independent of the repetition frequency. Comparison with aC-L-C circuit shows superior properties of spiker-sustainer excitation for high-frequency operation. Furthermore, a variation of the overshoot mode is proposed.

The pharmacokinetics of Chlormezanone (CM) has been determined after a single oral dose of 400 mg CM in 5 young volunteers (28 y) and in 8 elderly patients (79 y). In the young subjects, CM was rapidly absorbed and distributed, and was slowly eliminated with a half-life of 38 h major metabolites were not detected in plasma or urine. Only 3% of CM was excreted unchanged in urine. In elderly patients absorption was delayed but not reduced; the Cmax and AUC did not differ from those in younger subjects, the elimination rate was reduced compared to the younger subjects (mean 54 h). The increase was in part related to the reduction in renal function and metabolism observed in aging. However, the change in pharmacokinetics was moderate and no adjustment in dosage seems necessary for treatments of limited duration in elderly patients.

Excellent deep ocean records have been obtained of two tsunamis recently generated in the Alaskan Bight on 30 November 1987 and 6 March 1988, providing the best available data set to date for comparison with tsunami generation/propagation models. Simulations have been performed with SWAN, a nonlinear shallow water numerical model, using source terms estimated by a seafloor deformation model based on the rectangular fault plane formalism. The tsunami waveform obtained from the model is quite sensitive to the specific source assumed. Significant differences were found between the computations and observations of the 30 November 1987 tsunami, suggesting inadequate knowledge of the source characteristics. Fair agreement was found between the data and the model for the first few waves of the 6 March 1988 tsunami. Model estimates of the seismic moment and total slip along the fault plane are also in fair agreement with those derived from the published Harvard centroid solution for the 6 March 1988 event, implying that the computed seafloor deformation does bear some similarity to the actual source.