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Heat stress is associated with workplace injuries, likely through a combination of fatigue, reduced cognitive function, and thermal discomfort. The purpose of this study was to evaluate four cognitive tasks for sensitivity to heat stress. Eight participants performed treadmill exercise followed by assessments of serial reaction time (RT), Stroop effect, verbal delayed memory, and continuous performance working memory in an environmental chamber. A control (21.1 °C) trial, and Hot 1 and Hot 2 (both 37.8 °C) trials were run sequentially on two separate days to evaluate the four cognitive tasks. Heat strain (comparing Hot 1 and Hot 2 with the control trial) resulted in impairments in the serial RT test response and Stroop accuracy. Delayed memory was impacted only in the Hot 2 trial compared with the control trial. Given the demonstrated impact of heat on cognitive processes relevant to workers real-world functioning in the workplace, understanding how to assess and monitor vigilant attention in the workplace is essential.

The number of big fires in buildings appears to be increasing [...]

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted rural and under-resourced urban communities in Kansas. The state’s response to COVID-19 has relied on a highly decentralized and underfunded public health system, with 100 local health departments in the state, few of which had prior experience engaging local community coalitions in a coordinated response to a public health crisis.MethodsTo improve the capacity for local community-driven responses to COVID-19 and other public health needs, the University of Kansas Medical Center, in partnership with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, will launch Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) in 20 counties across Kansas. COPE will establish Local Health Equity Action Teams (LHEATs), coalitions comprised of community members and service providers, who work with COPE-hired community health workers (CHWs) recruited to represent the diversity of the communities they serve. CHWs in each county are tasked with addressing unmet social needs of residents and supporting their county’s LHEAT. LHEATs are charged with implementing strategies to improve social determinants of health in their county. Monthly, LHEATs and CHWs from all 20 counties will come together as part of a learning collaborative to share strategies, foster innovation, and engage in peer problem-solving. These efforts will be supported by a multilevel communications strategy that will increase awareness of COPE activities and resources at the local level and successes across the state. Our mixed methods evaluation design will assess the processes and impact of COPE activities as well as barriers and facilitators to implementation using aspects of both the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance (RE-AIM) models.DiscussionThis protocol is designed to expand community capacity to strategically partner with local public health and social service partners to prioritize and implement health equity efforts. COPE intentionally engages historically resilient communities and those living in underserved rural areas to inform pragmatic strategies to improve health equity.

Delineation of physical factors that contribute to earthquake triggering is a challenging issue in seismology. We analyze hydrological modulation of seismicity in Taiwan using groundwater level data and GNSS time series. In western Taiwan, the seismicity rate reaches peak levels in February to April and drops to its lowest values in July to September, exhibiting a direct correlation with annual water unloading. The elastic hydrological load cycle may be the primary driving mechanism for the observed synchronized modulation of earthquakes, as also evidenced by deep earthquakes in eastern Taiwan. However, shallow earthquakes in eastern Taiwan (

Abstract Background This study profiles ceramides extracted from visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue of human subjects by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry to determine a correlation with status of diabetes and gender. Methods Samples of visceral and abdominal wall subcutaneous adipose tissue (n = 36 and n = 31, respectively) were taken during laparoscopic surgery from 36 patients (14 nondiabetic, 22 diabetic and prediabetic) undergoing bariatric surgery with a body mass index (BMI) >35 kg/m2 with ≥1 existing comorbidity or BMI ≥40 kg/m2. Sphingolipids were extracted and analyzed using liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Results After logarithm 2 conversion, paired analysis of visceral to subcutaneous tissue showed differential accumulation of Cer(d18:1/16:0), Cer(d18:1/18:0), and Cer(d18:1/24:1) in visceral tissue of prediabetic/diabetic female subjects, but not in males. Within‐tissue analysis showed higher mean levels of ceramide species linked to insulin resistance, such as Cer(d18:1/18:0) and Cer(d18:1/16:0), in visceral tissue of prediabetic/diabetic patients compared with nondiabetic subjects and higher content of Cer(d18:1/14:0) in subcutaneous tissue of insulin‐resistant female patients compared with prediabetic/diabetic males. Statistically significant differences in mean levels of ceramide species between insulin‐resistant African American and insulin‐resistant Caucasian patients were not evident in visceral or subcutaneous tissue. Conclusions Analysis of ceramides is important for developing a better understanding of biological processes underlying type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. Knowledge of the accumulated ceramides/dihydroceramides may reflect on the prelipolytic state that leads the lipotoxic phase of insulin resistance and may shed light on the predisposition to insulin resistance by gender.

Timber buildings can now stand very tall using new products. As timber materials are expected to be easily ignitable, the fire hazard of timber is a concern. Charring of the timber surface would maintain structural stability, but would also be accompanied by smoke. Although treating timber products with fire retardants would delay the ignition time under low radiative heat flux, toxic combustion products and unburnt fuel would be emitted immediately upon burning. More smoke and higher toxic gas concentrations such as carbon monoxide would be given off upon burning some fire retardants under high flashover heat fluxes. Due to the fast upward movement of smoke under stack effect, spreading of toxic smoke in tall timber buildings would lead to a hazardous environment. Engineered timber consists of derivative timber products. New engineered timber products are manufactured with advanced technology and design, including cross-laminated-timber (CLT), laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and glue-laminated timber (Glulam). The fire behaviour of timber products has been studied for several decades. However, the smoke hazards of using new timber products in building construction should be monitored. The objective of this study is to inspire stakeholders in fire safety of timber buildings, inter alia smoke hazards, to use new timber products to build tall buildings.

Abstract For tectonic earthquakes, slip rate spans a continuum from creep to supershear earthquakes, where slow slip events (SSEs) are important in releasing stress without radiating damaging seismic energy. Industrial-scale subsurface fluid injection has caused induced earthquakes, but the role of SSEs in fault activation is currently unclear. Ground-deformation observations, measured by satellite radar, show that SSEs up to magnitude 5.0 occurred during hydraulic fracturing (HF) operations in northwestern Canada, corroborated by reported deformation of the steel well casing. Although the magnitude 5.0 SSE exceeded the magnitude of the largest induced earthquake in this region (magnitude 4.55), it was undetected by seismograph networks. The observed SSEs occurred within a buried thrust belt and their magnitude and duration are consistent with scaling behavior of SSEs in unbounded natural systems, e.g. slab interfaces in subduction zones.

Neurobehavioral task performance is modulated by the circadian and homeostatic processes of sleep/wake regulation. Biomathematical modeling of the temporal dynamics of these processes and their interaction allows for prospective prediction of performance impairment in shift-workers and provides a basis for fatigue risk management in 24/7 operations. It has been reported, however, that the impact of the circadian rhythm—and in particular its timing—is inherently task-dependent, which would have profound implications for our understanding of the temporal dynamics of neurobehavioral functioning and the accuracy of biomathematical model predictions. We investigated this issue in a laboratory study designed to unambiguously dissociate the influences of the circadian and homeostatic processes on neurobehavioral performance, as measured during a constant routine protocol preceded by three days on either a simulated night shift or a simulated day shift schedule. Neurobehavioral functions were measured every 2 h using three functionally distinct assays: a digit symbol substitution test, a psychomotor vigilance test, and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. After dissociating the circadian and homeostatic influences and accounting for inter-individual variability, peak circadian performance occurred in the late biological afternoon (in the “wake maintenance zone”) for all three neurobehavioral assays. Our results are incongruent with the idea of inherent task-dependent differences in the endogenous circadian impact on performance. Rather, our results suggest that neurobehavioral functions are under top-down circadian control, consistent with the way they are accounted for in extant biomathematical models.

Yu et al. report a new type of induced earthquake signal characterized by hybrid-frequency waveforms (EHW). The low-frequency source features of the EHWs suggest they may represent slow ruptures transitioning from aseismic to seismic slip.

Augmented cognition, which refers to real-time modifications to a human–system interface to improve performance and includes dynamic task environments with automated adaptations, can serve to protect against performance impairment under challenging work conditions. However, the effectiveness of augmented cognition as a countermeasure for performance impairment due to sleep loss is unknown. Here, in a controlled laboratory study, an adaptive version of a Change Signal task was administered repeatedly to healthy adults randomized to 62 h of total sleep deprivation (TSD) or a rested control condition. In the computerized task, a left- or right-facing arrow was presented to start each trial. In a subset of trials, a second arrow facing the opposite direction was presented after a delay. Subjects were to respond within 1000 ms of the trial start by pressing the arrow key corresponding to the single arrow (Go trials) or to the second arrow when present (Change trials). The Change Signal Delay (CSD)—i.e., the delay between the appearance of the first and second arrows—was shortened following incorrect responses and lengthened following correct responses so that subsequent Change trials became easier or harder, respectively. The task featured two distinct CSD dynamics, which produced relatively stable low and high error rates when subjects were rested (Low and High Error Likelihood trials, respectively). During TSD, the High Error Likelihood trials produced the same, relatively high error rate, but the Low Error Likelihood trials produced a higher error rate than in the rested condition. Thus, sleep loss altered the effectiveness of the adaptive dynamics in the Change Signal task. A principal component analysis revealed that while subjects varied in their performance of the task along a single dominant dimension when rested, a second inter-individual differences dimension emerged during TSD. These findings suggest a need for further investigation of the interaction between augmented cognition approaches and sleep deprivation in order to determine whether and how augmented cognition can be relied upon as a countermeasure to performance impairment in operational settings with sleep loss.

Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics–Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) Kansas worked with 10 Kansas counties from November 2020 through June 2022 to form local health equity action teams (LHEATs), develop COVID-19 testing strategies, foster communication about COVID-19, and share best practices through a learning collaborative. Participating counties documented 693 distinct COVID-19 testing and 178 communication activities. Although the intervention was not associated with changes in the proportion of positive COVID-19 tests, LHEATs in the learning collaborative implemented new testing strategies and responded to emerging COVID-19 challenges. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(11):1202–1206. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307771) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE) Project was implemented in 20 counties across Kansas to build capacity to address health equity by forming local health equity action teams (LHEATS), hiring and training community health workers, facilitating state-wide learning collaboratives, and tailoring communication strategies. We conducted interviews and focus groups with project stakeholders who identified pragmatic recommendations related to LHEAT formation and leadership, establishing trust, nurturing autonomy, and optimizing impact. Insights can improve future community-based health equity efforts. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(S7):S570–S574. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307802) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In shift work settings and on-call operations, workers may be at risk of sleep inertia when called to action immediately after awakening from sleep. However, individuals may differ substantially in their susceptibility to sleep inertia. We investigated this using data from a laboratory study in which 20 healthy young adults were each exposed to 36 h of total sleep deprivation, preceded by a baseline sleep period and followed by a recovery sleep period, on three separate occasions. In the week prior to each laboratory session and on the corresponding baseline night in the laboratory, participants either extended their sleep period to 12 h/day or restricted it to 6 h/day. During periods of wakefulness in the laboratory, starting right after scheduled awakening, participants completed neurobehavioral tests every 2 h. Testing included the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale to measure subjective sleepiness, for which the data were analyzed with nonlinear mixed-effects regression to quantify sleep inertia. This revealed considerable interindividual differences in the magnitude of sleep inertia, which were highly stable within individuals after both baseline and recovery sleep periods, regardless of study condition. Our results demonstrate that interindividual differences in subjective sleepiness due to sleep inertia are substantial and constitute a trait.

Traditional lecture-based college courses offer limited opportunity for accounting students to develop the confidence they need to step into their role as a business partner. We developed a simulation-based project for use in management accounting courses and tested its effectiveness at developing confidence in management accounting competencies., Today's management accountants are strategists, analysts, leaders, business partners, and, most importantly, communicators. A critical aspect of their job is interpreting financial and operational data and telling the business's story [...]

Large bursts of non‐volcanic tremor ("major" tremor episodes) correlated with geodetic deformation recur regularly in the Cascadia subduction zone and are often called episodic tremor and slip (ETS). Minor episodes of tremor between ETS are ubiquitous but have been understudied. This paper assesses time‐invariant characteristics of tremor episodes of all sizes within northern Cascadia. We derive a catalog of tremor episodes ranging in size from 10 to >13,000 tremor events using the results of 17 years of tremor monitoring. Minor episodes represent ∼96% of all 896 tremor episodes and their occurrence varies on 10‐km scales. Using estimates for the depth of the forearc Moho and subducting slab, we observe an association between the location of the forearc mantle corner (FMC) and tremor occurrence that leads to along‐dip modality. Bimodality, present in southern Washington and Vancouver Island, represents the segmentation of major and minor episodes up‐dip and down‐dip of the FMC, respectively. Unimodality, present in Puget Sound, results when the FMC is located near the down‐dip edge of the ETS zone and no segmentation occurs. We also use our extensive tremor episode catalog alongside three‐dimensional regional tomographic velocity models to reassess the relationship between tremor activity and low Vp/Vs signatures in the forearc. We do not find a correlation between tremor episode recurrence intervals and Vp/Vs, contrary to some previous work, suggesting that controls on silica precipitation in the forearc crust are not dominant controls of tremor episode recurrence, or that the association is not widely observable. Plain Language Summary: The Cascadia subduction zone hosts slow earthquakes that are observed as non‐volcanic tremor and surface deformation. Tremor events are typically clustered in time and space, and we define minor and major tremor episodes to be clusters consisting of small and large numbers of tremor events, respectively. Based on a 17‐year record of tremor in northern Cascadia, we use observations of a wide range of episode sizes (10 to >13,000 tremor events) to investigate their spatial characteristics and improve our understanding of the subduction zone. We find that the intersection of the upper‐plate crust/mantle boundary and the subducting plate, called the forearc mantle corner, controls the distribution of tremor along the dip‐direction of the subduction zone as well as the separation of major and minor episodes. From this, we infer that the forearc mantle corner creates a variety of physical conditions that result in specific spatial patterns of tremor behaviors. We also use our record of tremor episodes to reassess the relationship between upper‐plate composition and the recurrence of tremor episodes. Contrary to previous work, we do not find any link between the two, suggesting that processes controlling tremor episode recurrence do not significantly influence the composition of the continental crust. Key Points: Tremor episodes in northern Cascadia are defined from the longest tremor catalog spanning the years 2006–2023Spatial bimodality of tremor along dip results from major and minor episode segmentation controlled by the forearc mantle cornerEpisode recurrence intervals are not correlated with tomographic forearc Vp/Vs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]