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This case study of one university's students and their support-seeking behaviors offers an initial explanation of what types of social support students sought during the pandemic and if their needs were met. This study fills a gap in the literature, as it addresses where students actually sought support during this time of crisis, and based on this analysis, we offer applications for how universities can be ready to support students even more effectively the next time an unexpected crisis occurs. Implications for institutional social support services at universities and more accessible opportunities for institutional support are discussed. As universities continue to evolve to meet holistic student needs during this stressful time, the evaluation of students' access to support is discussed. Thus, this investigation bridges a divide between college students' COVID-related stress and support services by measuring their support-seeking behaviors during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 40 years fundamental and application research into Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) has been explored by academia, industry, and government laboratories. To date however, SERS has achieved little commercial success as an analytical technique. Researchers are tackling a variety of paths to help break through the commercial barrier by addressing the reproducibility in both the SERS substrates and SERS signals as well as continuing to explore the underlying mechanisms. To this end, investigators use a variety of methodologies, typically studying strongly binding analytes such as aromatic thiols and azarenes, and report SERS enhancement factor calculations. However a drawback of the traditional SERS enhancement factor calculation is that it does not yield enough information to understand substrate reproducibility, application potential with another analyte, or the driving factors behind the molecule–metal interaction. Our work at the US Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center has focused on these questions and we have shown that thermodynamic principles play a key role in the SERS response and are an essential factor in future designs of substrates and applications. This work will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various experimental techniques used to report SERS enhancement with planar SERS substrates and present our alternative SERS enhancement value. We will report on three types of analysis scenarios that all yield different information concerning the effectiveness of the SERS substrate, practical application of the substrate, and finally the thermodynamic properties of the substrate. We believe that through this work a greater understanding for designing substrates will be achieved, one that is based on both thermodynamic and plasmonic properties as opposed to just plasmonic properties. This new understanding and potential change in substrate design will enable more applications for SERS based methodologies including targeting molecules that are traditionally not easily detected with SERS due to the perceived weak molecule–metal interaction of substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sensitive chemical aerosol Raman detector (CARD) has been developed for the trace detection and identification of chemical particles in the ambient atmosphere. CARD includes an improved aerosol concentrator with a concentration factor of about 40 and a CCD camera for improved detection sensitivity. Aerosolized isovanillin, which is relatively safe, has been used to characterize the performance of the CARD. The limit of detection (SNR = 10) for isovanillin in 15 s has been determined to be 1.6 pg/cm³, which corresponds to 6.3 × 109 molecules/cm³ or 0.26 ppb. While less sensitive, CARD can also detect gases. This paper provides a more detailed description of the CARD hardware and detection algorithm than has previously been published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The records of 335 patients admitted to the general medicine wards and to the medical intensive and coronary care unit (MICCU) at Brooke Army Medical Center were retrospectively reviewed to assess the frequency of advance directives and "do not resuscitate" (DNR) designations. Two hundred sixty-seven (79.7%) were admitted to the ward and 68 (20.3%) were admitted to the MICCU. Advance directives were executed in 14.9% of patients. DNR designations were made for 21 (7.9%) patients on the ward and 11 (16.2%) patients in the MICCU (p = 0.064). There were no statistical differences in mean length of stay, presence of advance directives, or documentation of advance directives in ward versus MICCU patients. However, there was a statistical difference in the number of deaths in the MICCU as compared with that on the ward (9.7 vs. 2.7%, p < 0.05). The frequency of advance directives and DNR designations did not differ between ward and MICCU patients in this population, although there was a trend for greater DNR designations in the MICCU environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]