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BACKGROUND: At the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, schools closed across the United States. Given the impact of virtual learning and lost access to school resources, schools eventually reopened with COVID‐19 mitigation protocols in place. This qualitative study sought to understand parental perceptions of school‐based COVID‐19 mitigation strategies. METHODS: Using a phenomenology approach, nine focus groups were completed with 40 parents of children in grades K‐8 representing eight Maryland counties. Based on acceptance of masking policies (as indicated on a survey), parents were sorted into 2 groups—lower and higher masking acceptance. A thematic analysis was conducted for each group and themes were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The main themes were related to parents' general sentiments regarding COVID‐19, compliance, pandemic‐related changes over time, changes in personal opinions, and in‐person learning. Both groups described challenges related to inconsistent COVID‐19 mitigation policies and practices, the challenges of rapid and frequent changes in guidelines during the pandemic, and the benefits of in‐person learning. CONCLUSIONS: Parents of elementary and middle school children, regardless of general acceptance of masking policies, shared concerns about implementation and guidance regarding school‐based mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doctoral completion and times-to-completion are issues of growing concern in the university community. Research on student completion difficulties has focused on student characteristics and student-supervisor relations. This article addresses the administration of graduate programs--more specifically, graduate deans' knowledge of and attitudes toward doctoral completion rates and times-to-completion. A survey was carried out involving graduate deans from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Data showed most deans were unable to report doctoral completion percentages and completion times. Still, they rated completion at their universities as relatively good. Their lack of information may hinder attempts to improve trends in doctoral completion. Improved surveillance of students' progress in doctoral programs may aid deans in evaluating the impact of program requirements and economic factors on doctoral completion and graduate studies in general.

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the public to considerable scientific uncertainty, which may promote vaccine hesitancy among individuals with lower tolerance of uncertainty. In a national sample of US adults in May–June 2020, we examined how both perceptions of uncertainty about COVID-19 and trait-level differences in tolerance of uncertainty arising from various sources (risk, ambiguity, and complexity) are related to vaccine hesitancy-related outcomes, including trust in COVID-19 information, COVID-19 vaccine intentions, and beliefs that COVID-19 vaccines should undergo a longer testing period before being released to the public. Overall, perceptions of COVID-19 uncertainty were not associated with trust in information, vaccine intentions, or beliefs about vaccine testing. However, higher tolerance of risk was associated with lower intentions to get vaccinated, and lower tolerance of ambiguity was associated with lower intentions to get vaccinated and preferring a longer period of vaccine testing. Critically, perceptions of COVID-19 uncertainty and trait-level tolerance for uncertainty also interacted as predicted, such that greater perceived COVID-19 uncertainty was more negatively associated with trust in COVID-19 information among individuals with lower tolerance for risk and ambiguity. Thus, although perceptions of uncertainty regarding COVID-19 may not reduce trust and vaccine hesitancy for all individuals, trait-level tolerance of uncertainty arising from various sources may have both direct and moderating effects on these outcomes. These findings can inform public health communication or other interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined temporal and social comparisons of physical health status. Participants in two waves of the MIDUS cohort ranging in age from young adult to young-old (N = 2,408) rated current, past, and future physical health, as well as peer health. Past health was generally rated as better than current health (particularly among young adults). Young adults expected better future health; young-old adults expected declining health. All groups recalled their health as better than they reported a decade earlier. Middle-aged and young-old respondents expected more decline than they reported ten years later; young adults' ratings were consistent. The two older groups believed they were healthier than same-age peers, whereas younger respondents believed they were less healthy (though as healthy as the other age groups). The nature and trajectories of temporal and social comparisons of physical health across the lifespan suggest the need to examine their consequences for health behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In McCoy v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized an expanded Sixth Amendment autonomy right for capital defendants, allowing them to maintain their factual innocence at trial at all costs. The Court's concern with such defendants' dignity has an intuitive appeal, and its holding followed neatly from the Court's Sixth Amendment cases. But McCoy has some troubling implications for another strand of the Court's capital jurisprudence: the requirement that death sentences be proportional both to the offense and to the offender. The core of proportionality is the bifurcated capital trial, which channels aggravating and mitigating evidence--that is, evidence pertaining to the appropriate penalty--into a separate hearing. But staunchly maintaining innocence at the guilt phase of a capital trial--as McCoy now enables capital defendants to do--will often undermine common mitigation strategies at the penalty phase. Moreover, McCoy can be read as shifting control of penalty-phase strategic decisions--classically the province of the lawyer--away from the lawyer and toward capital defendants. In these two ways, McCoy quietly privileges a capital defendant's autonomy over the proportionality requirement, offering some support for the notion that a defendant may waive his right to present mitigating evidence, notwithstanding the need for an individualized accounting of culpability in capital sentencing. The proportionality requirement protects both individual defendants and society's interest in just, accurate sentencing. By intimating that waiver of mitigation is consistent with that requirement, the seemingly pro-defendant outcome in McCoy may contribute to the trend of narrowing the proportionality doctrine into oblivion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the political-economy of baseball in the Dominican Republic from a critical perspective. As such, the presence of American major league teams is seen to have a deleterious structural effect on the autonomy and quality of baseball in the Dominican Republic. In particular, in attempting to develop the game, U.S. interests-like those of other multinationals-are underdeveloping the game. A second dimension to this study views baseball as an American popular cultural form that functions to soften the regular, hostile responses of Dominicans to American political and economic domination of their country. Thus, while serving to reproduce U.S. control, baseball takes on the appearance of a benevolent, even helpful, cultural institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Multiple Northeast U.S. communities have discovered per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in drinking water aquifers in excess of health-based regulatory levels or advisories. Regional stakeholders (consultants, regulators, and others) need technical background and tools to mitigate risks associated with exposure to PFAS-affected groundwater. OBJECTIVES: The aim was to identify challenges faced by stakeholders to extend best practices to other regions experiencing PFAS releases and to establish a framework for research strategies and best management practices. METHODS AND APPROACH: Management challenges were identified during stakeholder engagement events connecting attendees with PFAS experts in focus areas, including fate/transport, toxicology, and regulation. Review of the literature provided perspective on challenges in all focus areas. Publicly available data were used to characterize sources of PFAS impacts in groundwater and conduct a geospatial case study of potential source locations relative to drinking water aquifers in Rhode Island. DISCUSSION: Challenges in managing PFAS impacts in drinking water arise from the large number of relevant PFASs, unconsolidated information regarding sources, and limited studies on some PFASs. In particular, there is still considerable uncertainty regarding human health impacts of PFASs. Frameworks sequentially evaluating exposure, persistence, and treatability can prioritize PFASs for evaluation of potential human health impacts. A regional case study illustrates how risk-based, geospatial methods can help address knowledge gaps regarding potential sources of PFASs in drinking water aquifers and evaluate risk of exposure. CONCLUSION: Lessons learned from stakeholder engagement can assist in developing strategies for management of PFASs in other regions. However, current management practices primarily target a subset of PFASs for which in-depth studies are available. Exposure to less-studied, co-occurring PFASs remains largely unaddressed. Frameworks leveraging the current state of science can be applied toward accelerating this process and reducing exposure to total PFASs in drinking water, even as research regarding health effects continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cross-sectional studies suggest many people are unaware that cancer risk increases with age, but this misbelief has rarely been studied prospectively, nor are its moderators known.Purpose: To assess whether people recognize that cancer risk increases with age and whether beliefs differ according to gender, education, smoking status, and family history of cancer.Methods: First, items from the cross-sectional Health Information National Trends Survey (n = 2069) were analyzed to examine the association of age and perceived cancer risk. Second, the prospective National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (n = 3896) was used to assess whether perceived cancer risk changes over a decade. Third, beliefs about the age at which cancer occurs were analyzed using the US Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer survey (n = 1080). As a comparator, perceived risk of heart disease was also examined.Results: Cross-sectionally, older age was associated with lower perceived cancer risk but higher perceived heart disease risk. Prospectively, perceived cancer risk remained stable, whereas perceived heart attack risk increased. Seventy percent of participants reported a belief that cancer is equally likely to affect people of any age. Across three surveys, women and former smokers/smokers who recently quit tended to misunderstand the relationship between age and cancer risk and also expressed relatively higher perceived cancer risk overall.Conclusions: Data from three national surveys indicated that people are unaware that age is a risk factor for cancer. Moreover, those who were least aware perceived the highest risk of cancer regardless of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: After sunset, a stable boundary layer (SBL) develops close to the ground, while the upper region of the daytime mixed layer becomes the residual layer (RL). Mixing between the SBL and RL is often quite limited and the RL is thought to be a reservoir for daytime mixed-layer pollutants under such conditions. However, ozone (O3) profiles observed in Maryland, U.S. suggest that the RL is not always a reservoir of O3 in that region. Nocturnal low-level jets (LLJs) and/or other mechanisms are speculated to enhance vertical mixing between the SBL and RL, which influences the vertical O3redistribution. Nocturnal surface O3 maxima, an RL with reduced O3 levels, and a concurrent strong LLJ were observed in Maryland on the night of August 9–10, 2010. Surface O3 measurements in the region and three-dimensional air quality simulations suggest that horizontal advection cannot explain the nocturnal O3 maxima and concurrent decrease of O3 levels within the RL. A sensitivity study with a single column (1D) chemistry model was performed to investigate the role of LLJs in generating turbulent mixing within the nighttime boundary layer and to identify related impacts on O3 concentrations at night and on the following day. The strong shear associated with the LLJ enhanced turbulent mixing and weakened the decoupling of the RL and SBL substantially. Ozone was actively mixed down from the RL to the surface, causing secondary nocturnal surface O3 maxima. Near the surface, O3 was efficiently removed by chemical reactions and dry deposition, which resulted in lower O3 peak values on the next day. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the U.S. court case Flynn v. Holder, in which the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that bans on organ donation compensation do not apply to peripheral blood stem cell apheresis. Topics include the U.S. National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's request for an en banc review of the judgment.

Objective To explore laypersons’ understanding of individualized cancer risk estimates, and to identify conceptual problems that may limit this understanding. Background Risk prediction models are increasingly used to provide people with information about their individual risk of cancer and other diseases. However, laypersons may have difficulty understanding individualized risk information, because of conceptual as well as computational problems. Design A qualitative study was conducted using focus groups. Semi-structured interviews explored participants’ understandings of the concept of risk, and their interpretations of a hypothetical individualized colorectal cancer risk estimate. Setting and participants Eight focus groups were conducted with 48 adults aged 50–74 years residing in two major US metropolitan areas. Participants had high school or greater education, some familiarity with information technology, and no personal or family history of cancer. Results Several important conceptual problems were identified. Most participants thought of risk not as a neutral statistical concept, but as signifying danger and emotional threat, and viewed cancer risk in terms of concrete risk factors rather than mathematical probabilities. Participants had difficulty acknowledging uncertainty implicit to the concept of risk, and judging the numerical significance of individualized risk estimates. The most challenging conceptual problems related to conflict between subjective and objective understandings of risk, and difficulties translating aggregate-level objective risk estimates to the individual level. Conclusions Several conceptual problems limit laypersons’ understanding of individualized cancer risk information. These problems have implications for future research on health numeracy, and for the application of risk prediction models in clinical and public health settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cigarettes with candy, fruit and alcohol flavors have been introduced in recent years as extensions to popular cigarette brands, raising concerns in the public health community that the enticing names, creative packaging, and intense flavorings of these products may be especially appealing to youth. This study used two national surveys to examine the prevalence of use of Camel Exotic Blends, Kool Smooth Fusion, and Salem Silver Label brands during 2004-2005 among older adolescents and young adult smokers aged 17-26 years and adult smokers aged ≥25 years. Overall use of any of these flavored brands in the past 30 days was 11.9% among smokers aged 17-26 years and 6.7% among smokers aged ≥25 years. A significant gradient in use was seen across age, with the highest rates of utilization among 17-year-old (22.8%) and 18-19-year-old smokers (21.7%) (p<.001). Uniquely flavored cigarette brands seem to be most attractive to the youngest smokers and should be prohibited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As the United States population ages, an unprecedented proportion of the population will be aged 70 and older. Knowledge of alcohol use and its consequences in this age group is not well known. In light of the disparate findings pointing to negative outcomes with excessive drinking yet also benefits of moderate drinking, the true risk of alcohol use in late life needs more investigation. Methods: This study examined the correlates and 2-year health outcomes related to alcohol use in 7,434 elders aged 70 years or older. Data was collected as part of the Assets and Health Dynamics of the Oldest Old (AHEAD), a nationwide health and economic study of elders. Data from Wave 1 and Wave 2 of AHEAD are presented. Frequency and quantity of drinking was assessed by self-report as was health status, lifetime alcohol or psychiatric problems, presence of chronic illness, functional impairment, and depressive symptoms. Cognitive status was assessed using a brief measure. Results: Approximately 44% of the sample reported any alcohol use in the past three months, with the majority of drinking less than daily. Daily drinking was associated with being Caucasian, married, in relatively good health, and having good affective and cognitive status. Drinking was not associated with negative health outcomes two years later and was protective against stroke and functional impairment. Decline in drinking between Wave 1 and Wave 2 was strongly associated with poor health. Conclusion: This study offers no evidence of negative health outcomes for drinking moderately and confirms the U-shaped curve often found in studies of alcohol and health. Nonetheless, cessation of drinking was associated with poor health suggesting the health benefits of moderate drinking may result from selection of a healthy group of people capable of sustained moderate drinking. Public health recommendations for moderate drinking must take this phenomenon into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the present study was to isolate the unique contribution of physical injury to the subsequent development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method: Participants were 60 injured soldiers and a comparison group of 40 soldiers (matched by rank, military role, and length of service) who took part in the same combat situations but were not injured. Current and lifetime diagnoses were determined by using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. In addition, an extensive battery of self-report questionnaires was given to assess severity of PTSD, anxiety, depression, and dissociative symptoms. The average time that elapsed between the injury and the inter- view, was 1 5.5 months (SD=7.3). Results: Ten (16.7%) of the 60 injured survivors but only one (2.5%) of the 40 comparison soldiers met diagnostic criteria for PTSD at the time of the interview (odds ratio=8.6, 95% confidence interval= 1.1-394.3). Moreover,wounded participants had significantly higher scores than their noninjured counterparts on all clinical measures. Finally, presence of PTSD was not related to severity of injury or severity of the trauma. Conclusions: The findings clearly indicate that bodily injury is a major risk factor-rather than a protective one-for PTSD. While supporting the notion that bodily injury contributes to the appraisal of the traumatic Sent as more dangerous, the data also suggest that this heightened level of perceived threat is not a simple, straightforward function of the severity of injury or of the traumatic event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the emergence of media capitalism in Los Angeles, California. Changes in the cultural and economic conditions; Discussion of methodological problems; Presentation of Los Angeles image in Hollywood films.

The number of adolescent pregnancies in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. Loneliness and adolescent sexuality, however, have not been previously studied. This descriptive study investigated the relationships of characterological and situational loneliness in childbearing adolescents. Related variables of shyness, self-esteem, perceived maternal and paternal expressiveness, and social support also were studied. The data were collected at multiple sites in Northern California using a convenience sample of adolescents ranging in age from 12 to 21 years: early (n = 11), middle (n = 22), and late (n = 24). Results of the analysis of variance and the Tukey-HSD indicated situational variables were more significant than characterological variables in understanding loneliness in early and middle adolescence. The characterological variables were not statistically significant. Using Pearson's correlation coefficient, significant relationships were found among and between variables. The findings suggest parental relationships were powerful in influencing the existence of loneliness as well as self-esteem, shyness, and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. Objective. To determine whether increased exposure as car occupants could be a major contributor to increases observed in deaths of young children in car crashes. Design and setting. Crash data from police reports for Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington for various years from 1982 through 1990 were examined to compare annual age mix of injured and uninjured occupants in crashes involving at least two passenger vehicles. Aggregate national data from the Fatal Accident Reporting System were also examined over the same time period and compared to population estimates for children younger than 5 years old to assess temporal trends in number of occupants in this age group who were involved in motor vehicle crashes in which a fatality occurred in fatal crashes and the number of them killed in passenger vehicles. Results. In regression analyses for each state, the number of car occupants younger than 5 involved in crashes increased during the years studied; their percentage among nondriver occupants involved also increased. At a national level, similar analyses showed increases in the number of occupants younger than 5 involved in crashes in which a fatality occurred. Conclusions. Despite overall increases in the use of restraint devices (ie, both child safety seats and adult restraints), fatalities among restrained children have increased. Given that exposures to crash environments are increasing, clinicians need be aware of the importance of child restraints as a means of reducing the likelihood of injury. Pediatrics 1993;91:897-901; motor vehicle, crash, exposure, fatality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the subculture of bodybuilding in the U.S. The center of this subculture is found in southern California, a breeding ground of exotic lifestyles, in a place notorious even to Californians: Venice. Muscle Beach and some of the most important gyms in the world are located there, but at the core of the subculture and sport is Gold's Gym. Eventually, a new, more appealing image was needed by Gold's Gym, and they seized on the idea that weight training was healthy for everyone, naturally encouraging the women who first came to the gym. Once in bodybuilding, women as well as men are driven by the same need for accomplishment that one finds in any athletic field. The impulse to achieve success, be it personal or sportswide, while related to the initial motive for getting into bodybuilding, is not necessarily identical with it.

Studies the issues surrounding banks and beneficial ownership of securities under Rule 14-b-2 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 in the United States. History behind the shareholder communication rules; Problems that develop because of the system of holding shares in nominee name; Issues peculiar to banks that hold securities in nominee name.

Focuses on the practicalities of manufacturer-distributor communication in the United States. Influence of the Spray-Rite opinion; Increase in distribution efficiency; Avoidance of dissatisfaction and misconduct.

Focuses on the provisions of the Robinson-Patman Act in the U.S. Accommodation of the politics of distribution promoting the passage with the realities of the marketplace; Establishment of an actual sale across the state; Availability of a more liberal jurisdictional threshold.

Examines the issue of communicating strategically during significant organizational change. In the author's experience, differentiated communication tactics during different phases of organizational change can have an important impact on the level of acceptance of that change by organizational participants. Enumerates and discusses empirically supported principles of effective communication and then applies them to several stages of organizational change. Draws examples from cases with which the author has had personal research and/or consulting experience. Offers general communication strategies together with specific tactics as possibilities to help facilitate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pressure to meet U.S. military weight requirements during service may predispose some service members to develop psychiatric disorders such as eating disorders or unhealthy eating behaviors, which may persist after military discharge. Specifically, research examining U.S. military veterans has found that in weight management programs, veterans with binge-eating behaviors have shown poor treatment outcomes. Overall, previous research suggests that veterans experience considerable and persistent disordered eating problems, and in addition may experience a higher prevalence of disordered eating in comparison to the general U.S. population. Research on Post-9/11 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) veterans is needed as this group frequently presents with high rates of medical and psychiatric disorders. The current study used clinician-administered structured interviews to examine relationships between psychiatric, health, and demographic variables in a sample of Post-9/11 OEF/OIF/OND veterans with binge-eating or overeating behavior or neither.Materials and Methods: This article presents secondary analyses of the baseline phase from data obtained for the Survey of the Experiences of Returning Veterans. Using structured phone interviews, we cross-sectionally examined patterns of medical comorbidities between sociodemographic, health, eating, and psychiatric variables in 846 recently deployed U.S. veterans with binge-eating behaviors (reporting both overeating and loss of control [LOC] eating), overeating behaviors (overeating without LOC), or healthy controls (absence of any disordered eating). Study procedures were approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Institutional Review Boards, and informed consent was obtained from the participants. A series of chi-square and analysis of variance tests revealed significant bivariate between-group differences in sociodemographic, health, eating, and psychiatric variables. Variables with significant group differences (P < .05) were entered into a multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between psychiatric, health, and eating factors and binge-eating severity.Results: Results of the multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that women relative to men were less likely to overeat. When comparing the binge-eating group and controls, higher body mass index was associated with higher odds of binge eating. Furthermore, for the overeating group in comparison to controls, fasting behavior was associated with higher odds of overeating. For the psychiatric variables, the binge-eating and overeating groups were associated with higher rates of compulsive buying when compared to healthy controls. Additionally, the overeating group was associated with higher rates of alcohol dependence. Lastly, binge-eating and overeating behaviors were positively associated with specific psychiatric and health comorbidities.Conclusions: Further research is needed to inform the development of effective treatments for disordered eating problems, as evidenced by an anticipated increase of veterans entering the VA healthcare system and the high rate of binge eating observed in our study and prior research in Post-9/11 veterans. Moreover, our study findings suggest the relevance of screening veterans for compulsive buying. This study was limited by its relatively small sample which only examined disordered eating behaviors. Future studies could simultaneously explore binge-eating behaviors and binge-eating disorder diagnoses in larger samples. Study strengths include a diverse sample of Post-9/11 veterans with sizable female representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses reengineering tips for corporations in the United States. Rules of practice; Comparison of tactical and strategic deployment; Importance of initial communication; Strategies on how to manage change within the company.