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Introduction: A large body of literature has been published on urinary incontinence, ranging from medical treatment, epidemiology and surgical techniques. A bibliometric analysis is used to identify high-quality research papers using criteria such as citation rate and journal impact factor. Objectives: To describe key themes and topics in urinary incontinence literature in the last 50 years. Methods: Thomson Reuters Web of Science citation indexing database was used to identify the top 100 cited articles in urinary incontinence in the last 50 years. Data sets were subdivided into manuscript type, theme, author, institution, country of origin, journal and citation rate. Results: Mean number of citations in the top 100 group for manuscripts was 676, ranging between 2444 and 306. Most cited paper was by Irwin et al. The manuscript with the highest citation rate was by Dumoulin et al., citation rate of 470.7/year. The largest number of manuscripts was published between 2000 and 2009 (n = 47). The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) had the highest impact factor (74.67) and five manuscripts were published in this journal. Fifty-seven per cent of articles were published in journals with impact factor < 5. The vast majority of the articles focussed on epidemiology, followed by surgical treatment of urinary incontinence, 69% being original research studies. Conclusion: This is the first bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most influential papers in urinary incontinence. The key themes identified were epidemiology and surgical management, with most papers being original research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a fault detection and identification system for power systems using an artificial neural network approach while discussing its advantages and disadvantages. The initial data for the proposed technique are a set of simulated post-fault bus voltages and currents obtained at a sampling rate which emulates a complete phasor measurement unit (PMU)-based wide area measurement system (WAMS). Several types of faults are considered, such as short circuits and line and load contingencies. All fault and steady-state simulations have been performed on MATLAB using the Power System Toolbox. The artificial neural network was designed using an architecture proper for pattern recognition with supervised learning. As a result, satisfactory predictions within short time periods are obtained. The test system used in all simulations is the IEEE 39-Bus New England Power System, which has 10 generation units, 21 loads, and three distinct areas alongside transient and sub transient models, with PMUs distributed over up to 14 buses. Future works are also discussed in this paper, showing the possibilities for feature engineering in this type of problem, as well as the application of other machine learning and data analytics techniques for PMU-based WAMS databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe disturbances in a power network can cause the system frequency to exceed the safe operating range. As the last defensive line for system emergency control, under frequency load shedding (UFLS) is an important method for preventing a wide range of frequency excursions. This paper proposes a hierarchical UFLS scheme of "centralized real-time decision-making and decentralized real-time control" for inter-connected systems. The centralized decision-layer of the scheme takes into account the importance of the load based on the equivalent transformation of kinetic energy (KE) and potential energy (PE) in the transient energy function (TEF), while the load PE is used to determine the load shedding amount (LSA) allocation in different loads after faults in real-time. At the same time, the influence of inertia loss is considered in the calculation of unbalanced power, and the decentralized control center is used to implement the one-stage UFLS process to compensate for the unbalanced power. Simulations are carried out on the modified New England 10-generator 39-bus system and 197-bus system in China to verify the performance of the proposed scheme. The results show that, compared with other LSA allocation indicators, the proposed allocation indicators can achieve better fnadir and td. At the same time, compared with other multi-stage UFLS schemes, the proposed scheme can obtain the maximum fnadir with a smaller LSA in scenarios with high renewable energy sources (RES) penetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a novel distributed continuous-time algorithm aimed to solve optimization problems with cost function being a sum of local strictly convex multidimensional functions associated to individual agents. Additionally, the problems can have coupled equality and inequality constraints. We prove global asymptotic convergence of the algorithm for a connected graph topology. In order to investigate its practical implementation, we analyze convergence when Euler method is applied to represent discrete-time communication. Finally, we support our results with numerical experiments of the developed approach application for power balancing in New England power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a group, LGBTQ+ people experience food insecurity at a disproportionately high rate, yet food security scholars and practitioners are only beginning to uncover patterns in how food insecurity varies by subgroups of this diverse community. In this paper, we use data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey—which added measures of gender identity and sexuality for the first time in 2021—to analyze New Englanders' food insufficiency rates by gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. We find that (1) in the past seven days, 13.0 percent of LGB + (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other non-heterosexual) New Englanders experience food insufficiency—which is nearly twice the rate of heterosexual people—and 19.8 percent of transgender+ (transgender, genderqueer, gender non-binary, and other non-cisgender people) New Englanders experience food insufficiency—which is two to three times the rate of cisgender men and women. (2) Whereas cisgender New Englanders experience food insufficiency at a lower rate than their counterparts in the rest of the nation (about two percentage points lower for both cisgender men and women), transgender+ New Englanders experience no such New England advantage compared to transgender+ people in the country as a whole. (3) LGBTQ+ New Englanders of color experience devastatingly high rates of food insufficiency, with, for example, one in three Black transgender+ New Englanders not having enough food to eat in the past seven days. These findings suggest that addressing food insecurity in New England demands approaching the problem with an intersectional queer lens, with attention to the ways in which racism, cissexism, and heterosexism are creating a systemic, ongoing food crisis for LGBTQ+ New Englanders, especially those who are transgender+ and/or people of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power system security assessment is one of the most important aspects of wind integrated power system due to intermittent and stochastic nature of wind. This paper proposes a nonparametric method for security risk assessment. Parzen window density estimation is utilized to obtain probability density functions for wind power, generation and load profiles. Correlation between independent and dependent samples of load, wind power and generation is replicated by a spatial transformation of probability distributions of random variables using Cholesky decomposition. Probabilistic load flow is performed for determining the branch flows and bus voltages of the power system for N − 1 contingency analysis. Risk assessment is performed by quantifying the probability and severity indices for branch flows and bus voltages. The proposed method is tested on modified New England 39-bus system and extended for simplified power grid of Shandong province, China. Simulation results and comparisons demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) are capable to generate multi-dimensional time series data, which is one of the most important parts for monitoring power system operation. However, various internal and external factors frequently cause the system to generate anomalous data randomly, so we expect to clean and re-fill the raw PMU data with anomalies to provide support for further advanced applications such as situational awareness, early warning, and dispatch control of the system. Existing methods mostly use classical mathematics and traditional machine learning to analyze PMU data, which makes it difficult to identify the pattern changes of the data under multiple operating conditions in power systems. In this paper, we propose a hybrid model named IRFLMDNN, which consists of an improved CART random forest model and a dynamic neural network optimized by the Levenberg Marquardt algorithm for PMU data anomaly detection and adaptive data re-filling, respectively. Experimental results based on the IEEE 39-node 10-machine New England Power System show that the proposed method has accurate and robust anomaly detection and data refilling performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a QV-based approach called Critical Voltage-Reactive Power Ratio (CVQR) index to assess the voltage instability tendencies of power system buses with increase in renewable energy (RE) penetration within the power system. The buses are thus ranked according to the order in which they are impacted by increase in renewable energy penetration. Simulations were performed using DIgSILENT PowerFactory and result analyses were done with MATLAB. The developed CVQR index has been employed to assess the effect of increasing RE generation on grid voltage stability. This index provides information on the voltage instability tendencies of all non-slack buses of the RE-integrated grid and the buses are ranked from the weakest to the strongest. The rankings obtained from the developed CVQR has been compared with five commonly-used indices and the result of the comparison verifies the accuracy of the proposed index. IEEE 14-bus and IEEE 39-bus New England systems have been used to evaluate the proposed CVQR index and various scenarios of RE system combinations and placements have been considered. Voltage collapse condition is indicated whenever the CVQR index associated with any bus becomes positive (CVQR > 0). This index can as well be applied to other power system networks. The overall ranking of the buses based on the CVQR index can provide insights on the most appropriate location for large inductive loads or compensating devices, which can either absorb or inject reactive power into the power system, thereby influencing the system's voltage stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal design of Power System Stabilizer (PSS) parameters is a significant optimization problem in power systems. Metaheuristic search (MHS) algorithms are among the most commonly used methods for optimizing PSS parameters. The preferred MHS algorithm must have strong exploration capability and an effective exploitation-exploration balance. The Fitness-Distance Balance (FDB) is a novel method for MHS algorithms, and it is featured by balanced search and effective diversity capabilities. In this paper, the exploration and balanced search capabilities of the Social Network Search (SNS) have been developed by using the FDB method. The FDB method guides the search process in the SNS and enables a more efficient selection of solution candidates in the search space. The performance of FDB-based SNS (FDBSNS) has been tested in the CEC-2014 and CEC-2017 benchmark test suits, and its superiority against SNS has been verified. Moreover, the effect of the FDBSNS was investigated in WSCC 3-machine 9-bus and 10-machine 39-bus New England test systems in the optimal PSS design problem. The obtained results and statistical analyses demonstrated that FDBSNS is a robust MHS algorithm compared to the algorithms in the literature for solving the CEC benchmark suits and optimal PSS design problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a robust decentralized single-phase double integral sliding mode control (SMC) method combined with state observer for load frequency control of the multi-area power system integrated solar power sources. This study elaborates on how the proposed method secures the stability of the whole system as well as keeps frequency values within their safety ranges. Firstly, the designed observer ensures exact estimation of the actual states leading to convergence of estimated errors to zero. Secondly, a single-phase double integral sliding surface is designed completely based on estimated state variables achieved by the observer. A single-phase approach is employed to set up a sliding surface containing the initial point of the system trajectory and remove the reaching phase. Then, a new double integral SMC rule is developed to secure the finite time reachability as well as eliminate the oscillating and chattering issues. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated thoroughly by simulation studies on LFC schemes in three-area power systems and the IEEE 39-Bus New England system to expose its advantages via various impact conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the current paper was to identify moderating factors of a bystander-focused violence prevention program for adolescents, Bringing in the Bystander—High School Curriculum. Participants were 2,403 high school students from 25 schools in northern New England (M age = 15.8 years; 50.9% female; 85.1% White, 84.5% heterosexual) who participated in a cluster-randomized controlled trial. We examined impact among different social groups (i.e., by race, gender, age, poverty, sexual orientation) using moderation analyses. The intervention effects for the past 12-month sexual harassment and stalking perpetration were stronger for younger participants and heterosexual participants; poverty, race, and gender did not moderate any program effects. Findings indicate that future prevention research should consider additional targets for older adolescents that may improve intervention program efficacy. An urgent need exists for interventions that are effective for sexual minority adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lyme disease (LD) is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States (U.S.). This paper assesses how climate change may influence LD incidence in the eastern and upper Midwestern U.S. and the associated economic burden. We estimated future Ixodes scapularis habitat suitability and LD incidence with a by-degree approach using variables from an ensemble of multiple climate models. We then applied estimates for present-day and projected habitat suitability for I. scapularis, present-day presence of Borrelia burgdorferi, and projected climatological variables to model reported LD incidence at the county level among adults, children, and the total population. Finally, we applied an estimate of healthcare expenses to project economic impacts. We show an overall increase in LD cases with regional variation. We estimate an increase in incidence in New England and the upper Midwestern U.S. and a concurrent decrease in incidence in Virginia and North Carolina. At 3°C of national warming from the 1986–2015 baseline climate, we project approximately 55,000 LD cases, a 38-percent increase from present-day estimates. At 6°C of warming, our most extreme scenario, we project approximately 92,000 LD cases in the region, an increase of 145 percent relative to current levels. Annual LD-related healthcare expenses at 3°C of warming are estimated to be $236 million (2021 dollars), approximately 38 percent greater than present-day. These results may inform decision-makers tasked with addressing climate risks, the public, and healthcare professionals preparing for treatment and prevention of LD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural calamities that include heavy storms, earthquakes, snowfall, and drought/heat waves are now predominant over the world. These natural calamities cause high impact low frequency (HILF) events, such as multi-location faults and multi-area stressed conditions, that may cause large blackouts and reduce system resilience. This paper proposes a system integrity protection scheme (SIPS) to accurately identify the multi-location faults and multi-area stressed system conditions. The proposed SIPS accurately detects the multi-location faults for synchronized operation of distance relay and simultaneously provides backup distance relay blocking in higher operating zones, during stressed system conditions. For the entire operation, data from WAMS are used to first detect the abnormal operating areas followed by identification of vulnerable buses in the system. Further, by comparing the phase angles of transmission lines connected to vulnerable buses, faulted lines are identified. The effectiveness of the method is tested for multiple scenarios carried out on the WSCC 9-bus system and New England 39-bus system in MATLAB/Simulink platform. For practical implementation, the performance is validated on a 4-bus test network on Typhoon hardware in loop (HIL) system. Adequate and synchronized relay operation results in the augmentation of resiliency in the power system network. Calculated resistance indices reflect increase in transmission capacity up to 140%, load loss reduction percent up to 0%, and improvement in the active power deficiency up to 57% during different operating conditions for considered test systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have examined the associations between long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and adverse health outcomes. Recently, many of these studies have begun to employ high-resolution predicted PM 2.5 concentrations, which are subject to measurement error. Previous approaches for exposure measurement error correction have either been applied in non-causal settings or have only considered a categorical exposure. Moreover, most procedures have failed to account for uncertainty induced by error correction when fitting an exposure response function (ERF). To remedy these deficiencies, we develop a multiple imputation framework that combines regression calibration and Bayesian techniques to estimate a causal ERF. We demonstrate how the output of the measurement error correction steps can be seamlessly integrated into a Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) estimator of the causal ERF. We also demonstrate how kernel-weighted smoothing of the posterior samples from BART can be used to create a more accurate ERF estimate. Our proposed approach also properly propagates the exposure measurement error uncertainty to yield accurate standard error estimates. We assess the robustness of our proposed approach in an extensive simulation study. We then apply our methodology to estimate the effects of PM 2.5 on all-cause mortality among Medicare enrollees in New England from 2000 to 2012. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear on-line [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three static techniques (i.e. Power flow, Continuation Power Flow (CPF) and the Q–V curve) are used to assess the voltage stability of the power grid with a Solar Photovoltaic Generator (SPVG) and FACTS devices under nominal and heavy loading conditions. A static model is proposed for the power system that includes conventional power generation units and SPVGs with FACTS devices. Two models of SPVG were used (i.e., PV-model and PQ-model) to elucidate the effect of the SPVGs on the stability of the voltage under various operating conditions. The best location for FACTS devices was obtained under nominal and heavy load conditions using static techniques. A comparison between series and shunt FACTS devices under nominal and heavy loading conditions was carried out using the three static techniques. The interaction between SPVGs and FACTS devices was detailed in this paper. The proposed approach was tested on the New England 39-bus standard test system, and the results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed approach under various operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) Sexual Assault (SA) Resistance Program is a theoretically sound, evidence-based program providing SA resistance education within a positive sexuality framework. It was shown to substantially reduce sexual assault victimization among university women who participate (Senn et al. in New England Journal of Medicine 372(24), 2326-2335, 2015). Staff training can either enhance or impede successful program scale-up and implementation. In this paper, we evaluate the transfer of training to implementation sites (i.e., postsecondary institutions) using a train-the-trainer model. Methods: Using pre- and post-training surveys and post-training interviews conducted from 2016 to 2020 with 33 implementation staff members from multiple sites, we answered the following research questions: 1. Did the training meet its overall goal of preparing implementation staff? 2. What training components were perceived to contribute to training effectiveness and implementation staff preparedness? Results: Results suggested that our model of training was effective. Competence, confidence, and knowledge and ability increased significantly after training, and most staff perceived the training to be highly useful and effective (especially for preparing them to address EAAA participant issues). Practice and feedback from trainers through active learning techniques were especially important. Although implementation staff reported being well prepared to deliver the training or program, they reported being less prepared for handling other implementation-related activities and issues (that the training was not necessarily designed to address in-depth). Conclusions: Our findings suggest a need to enhance existing training on self-care and supporting program facilitators and for ongoing support and reminders from program purveyors to ensure that implementers are making use of existing resources. This study fills important gaps in the literature as few studies have examined the transfer of training for SA prevention programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subaerial zone of the beach is a highly dynamic area that supports recreation and different habitats; as such, it has been the focus of many past studies. Accordingly, this paper reports a study of the assessment of the erosion and accretion over subaerial beach profiles and their relationship to the upper beach width. To this end, the erosion and accretion balanced approach (EABA) which was initially developed for beach profiles in the offshore direction is employed and tested over 934 subaerial beach profiles from the southwestern Maine coastline in New England region of the USA. The results indicated that the calculated average profile over 14 years does represent the equilibrium profile and the model can be used for subaerial beach profiles with high accuracy. Moreover, the results verified the application of the erosion and accretion balanced approach even in natural phenomena such as strong storms and abrupt sea level rises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an authentic near-real-time methodology is proposed for locating the sources of FOs using the fundamental frequency of the periodic external driving force based on the direction of the potential energies exchanged between the synchronous generators. First, A directed graph of the network reduced to the generator buses is defined in which the weight and direction of its branches are assigned based on a well-defined energy-driven function. Next, based on the cosine part appearing in the edge weights, subsequent decisions are made, depending on the generators' angular velocity and active power phases. The proposed algorithm can make a correct and swift diagnosis even under the most challenging operational circumstances, such as resonances and limit cycles. The methodological procedure has been validated on the WECC 3-machine 9-bus and New England 10-machine 39-bus benchmark power systems modeled in the Real-Time Digital Simulator and then analyzed in the MATLAB environment. The simulation results revealed that the presented approach reliably releases all different FOs sources with various kinds of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intermittent nature of wind generation makes essential the development of new tools to support the security assessment of electrical power systems (EPS) with this type of alternative energy source. In this context, the static security region (SSR) is a powerful tool that allows the steady-state security assessment of a EPS through visual inspections. The nomograms enable to carry out a fast analysis of the possible generation scenarios that a system can assume without violating its security limits. Therefore, the mains objective of this paper is to include a new security limit in the SSR, to complement the security assessment. This new limit is associated with intermittent generation sources, such as wind farms. For that purpose, an algorithm for the automatic construction of SSR is presented, where this new security limit was incorporated. The proposed methodology is applied to the well-known New England test system. The results presented validate and indicate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient stability problem is very important for the secure operation of today's heavily loaded power systems. In this paper, an auxiliary (supplementary) controller is employed for static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) to improve the transient stability limit of multimachine power systems. In the proposed controller, the angle and speed of a severely disturbed machine are used to change the shunt susceptance of STATCOM in the transient period. The developed control method is successfully applied to the New England 10-machine, 39-bus test system. The simulation results obtained, however, show that to have a desired critical clearing time for a particular fault scenario, the gain of the STATCOM auxiliary controller needs to be adjusted according to the system operating point. On the other hand, calculating the required gain of the STATCOM controller via a trial-and-error approach and performing several time-domain simulations is very time-consuming. To speed up the method of calculating that gain in online applications, a multilayered perceptron (MLP) neural network (NN)-based approach is proposed in this paper. The pre-fault system operating conditions are chosen as the inputs of the MLP NN. In addition, an intuitive-based method is represented to reduce the number of neural network inputs. The simulation results obtained by the proposed MLP NN-based method are also presented and discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most effective corrective control strategies to prevent voltage collapse and instability is load shedding. In this paper, a multiple-deme parallel genetic algorithm is used for a suitable design of load shedding. The load shedding algorithm is implemented when the voltage stability margin index of the power system is lower than a predefined value. In order to increase the computational speed, the voltage stability margin index is estimated by a modular neural network method in a fraction of a second. In addition, in order to use the exact values of the voltage stability margin index for neural network training, a simultaneous equilibrium tracing technique has been employed considering the detailed model of the components of the generating units such as the governor and the excitation system. In the proposed algorithm, the entire population is partitioned into several isolated subpopulations (demes) in which demes distributed in different processors and individuals may migrate occasionally from one subpopulation to another. The proposed technique has been tested on New England-39 bus test system, and the obtained results indicate the efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the energy management tool of a power system operating in a smart grid that contains electric vehicles. The intention of this work is to make a comparison between a metaheuristic optimization technique and two fuzzy logic controllers, and with that highlight the advantages of using fuzzy logic and validate it to the detriment of other metaheuristic techniques. The optimization technique used was simulated annealing, in order to minimize the total energy cost of the system being studied. Tree charging strategies were adopted: peak charging, off-peak charging, and smart charging besides demand-side management techniques. In addition to the charging process will also be studied the battery electric vehicles discharging, preferably at the peak of the load curve, through the creation of a charging/discharging station. In this work, the system used is the IEEE-39 bus New England power system. Two fuzzy logic controllers have been developed, namely the charging station controller and the vehicle-to-grid controller. Together they decide the proper energy flow between the EVs and the grid. Energy discharge to the grid from EVs or energy required for charging EVs is controlled and tested for the real-time scenario. The results proved the effectiveness of the proposed method in studies of planning and expansion of electric energy systems that contain electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Indian power system is characterized by a conglomeration of ultra-high voltage AC and DC, multi-terminal DC, and extra-high voltage AC transmission networks. It consists of a large distribution network across the country along with conventional generation having Ultra-Mega Power Plants (UMPP) and increasing penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The System Integrity and Protection Schemes (SIPS) play an important role in maintaining a secure and reliable grid and assists in effective grid management during severe power system contingencies. This paper presents the operational experience of some SIPS implemented in India along with their performance evaluations. The operational experience of three important SIPS, one in the Northern Regional (NR) grid and another two in the Western Regional (WR) grid of India are presented. The drawbacks in existing SIPS are pointed out and an algorithm is proposed to overcome these drawbacks. The performance and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are evaluated by simulation studies on the 39-bus New England system embedded with an HVDC link in MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation results consummated confirm the authenticity of the scheme in preserving system integrity. Results are validated using Electrical Transient Analyzer Program (ETAP), which is a very powerful design and analysis tool and has an extremely user-friendly interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cranberry, a commodity of social, cultural, and economic importance to New England, is under threat due to climatic change in this region of the United States. Yet, previous research reveals that cranberry growers have mixed attitudes about the anthropogenic roots of climate change, with many being skeptical. Building on the researchers' analysis of the personal and ecological conditions that affect climate change attitudes among cranberry growers, this paper examines the effect that key actors in the growers' social networks have on those attitudes. Through statistical analysis of survey data and content analysis of two important cranberry newsletters, the paper finds that cranberry growers' perceived importance of two key cranberry growing institutions, the "sociopolitically focused" Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association and the "technically focused" University of Massachusetts Cranberry Station, as well as connections to other cranberry growers, is associated in nuanced ways with growers' climate change attitudes. Drawing on the sociological theory of "social capital," the paper examines how these social ties to key actors/institutions may result in greater threat perception or worry about climate change. It then considers how "green ties," if harnessed and supported by these important actors in the cranberry grower network, might significantly mitigate climate change in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid penetration of novel cutting-edge technologies into power grids has paved a way for new opportunities besides challenges. Though the conventional system integrity protection schemes (SIPS) are performing well, they may not be adequate for the high-end protection of smart power grid (SPG) due to increasing complexity. This paper proposes a synchrophasor measurement-assisted SIPS method for the high-end protection of SPG. It employs synchronized voltage and current phasor data, acquired at phasor data concentrator (PDC) of wide-area supervisory protection system (WASPS) from all phasor measurement units (PMU), to detect the disturbance, identify disturbed area and locate the sensitive region (SR). Further, the proposed scheme classifies fault and stressed conditions using the estimated peak time (Tp_est) and time of settling (Ts_est) from the voltage phasor oscillations. The functioning of the proposed method has been illustrated through various case studies carried on Kundur's two-area model. Furthermore, the efficacy of the proposed method has been validated on the New England IEEE-39 bus system in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The results show that the proposed method is efficient in enhancing the system integrity protection (SIPS) and situational awareness (SA) in SPG. In addition, it improves the protection system reliability (PSR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously presented a model for deep penetration of renewables in the electricity sector of the southern half of the United States (Khoie and Yee in Clean Technol Environ Policy 17(4):957–971, 2015). In this paper, we present a strategy for the northern half of the United States to utilize its available renewable resources to gradually decrease its reliance on fossil fuels in electricity generation and develop energy portfolios with increasing share of renewables. Using the electricity generation data from the US EIA (Electricity, electric power monthly, 2019d. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/), and the renewable resource maps produced by NREL (Geospatial data science, 2018a. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html; Geospatial data science, 2018b. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/wind.html), we develop strategies for the states in the northern half of the USA. We group these states into seven regions: West Coast, Mountain States, Middle West States, Lake States, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states. For each region, we determine when and if the electricity generation from renewables will meet the region's electricity need while accounting for a 1% annual increase in electricity demand. The renewable resources included in our models are solar (rural, urban, and rooftop photovoltaic), wind (onshore), hydro, biomass, and geothermal which vary greatly from region to region. We also include nuclear, coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Our results show that the West Coast, Mountain, and Middle West regions have the potential to become 100% renewable in the years 2041, 2039, and 2038, respectively. Additionally, our results show that the four regions of Lake, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states may not be able to produce 100% of their electricity demand from their renewable resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern power systems, uncertainties related to loads and renewable energy sources increase the need for reliable tools for steady-state and dynamic studies. These uncertainties are commonly modeled using probability density functions. In the context of the probabilistic small-signal stability analysis of power systems, the challenge lies in developing computationally efficient tools that accurately calculate the probability of ensuring security (minimum damping ratio greater than or equal to a desired value) and stability (negative spectral abscissa) requirements. This paper proposes an optimization approach for designing power system stabilizers to maximize the probability of meeting these security and stability requirements. The innovation of this approach is the integration of the unscented transformation (UT) with the particle swarm optimization (PSO). The UT is advantageous, as it requires a smaller number of samples to compute the mean and standard deviation of the output variables, especially compared to the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), whereas PSO provides high-quality solutions. The New-England test system is employed in a case study to validate the proposed approach. This case study highlights the method’s accuracy and computational efficiency advantages, showcasing its potential to address the challenges posed by increasing uncertainties in modern power systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power systems exhibit nonlinearity. causing dynamic instability and complex power oscillations. This research proposes an innovative strategy using the Novel Bat Algorithm (NBA) to achieve ideal Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) in a multimachine power system. The approach shifts electromechanical modes to specific areas in the s-plane. Enhancing the multi-machine power system and establishing stabilizer parameters for dynamic performance. The study examines the designed approach aptitude for standard lead-lag PSSs configurations. In order to elevate the global search problem and transfer some static operators for the optimum optimization process. the chaos mapping. also known as CNBA. is introduced into NBA. Four different forms of chaos maps are compared in experiments to resolve unconstrained mathematical issues in order to illustrate CNBA performance. In any other case. the challenge of designing PSS under a wide range of loading situations is transformed into an optimization challenge with the damping ratio of electromechanical modes with low damping as the target function. The optimal stabilizers' gains are gotten by employing the CNBA algorithm. Second plan. an effective technique is astutely established to delineate the PSS location and quantity using CNBA and another side using participation factor. To examine the efficacy of the proposed CNBA-based PSS on a large system; it is tested on the interconnected of New-England/New-York (16 generators and 68 buses) power grid. and verified by comparative study with NBA through eigenvalue analysis and nonlinear simulation to provide evidence the algorithmic competence of CNBA. The CNBA approach yields a minimum damping ratio of 37%. which is consistent with the its eigenvalue. In contrast, the NBA approach achieves a minimum damping ratio of 31%. The simulation results reveal the fine performance of the proposed CNBA-PSS in a convincing manner and its capacity to provide an excellent damping for inter-area and local oscillations under diverse operating cases compared to NBA-PSS then in the case of PSS location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The search for effective vaccines to stop the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented amount of global scientific production and activity. This study aimed to analyze global scientific production on the different vaccine types (mRNA and conventional) that were validated for COVID-19 during the years 2020-2021. The scientific production generated on COVID-19 vaccines during the period 2020-2021 totaled the enormous amount of 20,459 studies published. New mRNA vaccines clearly showed higher production levels than conventional vaccines (viral and inactivated vectors), with 786 and 350 studies, respectively. The USA is the undisputed leader in the global production on COVID-19 vaccines, with Israel and Italy also playing an important role. Among the journals publishing works in this field, the New England Journal of Medicine, the British Medical Journal, and Vaccines stand out from the rest as the most important. The keyword 'immunogenicity' and its derivatives have been more researched for the new mRNA vaccines, while thrombosis has been more studied for conventional vaccines. The massive scientific production generated on COVID-19 vaccines in only two years has shown the enormous gravity of the pandemic and the extreme urgency to find a solution. This high scientific production and the main keywords found for the mRNA vaccines indicate the great potential that these vaccines have against COVID-19 and future infectious diseases. Moreover, this study provides valuable information for guiding future research lines and promoting international collaboration for an effective solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic impacts of volcanism extend well beyond the direct costs of loss of life and asset damage. This paper presents one of the first attempts to assess the economic consequences of disruption associated with volcanic impacts at a range of temporal and spatial scales using multi-regional and dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling. Based on the last decade of volcanic research findings at Mt. Taranaki, three volcanic event scenarios (Tahurangi, Inglewood and Opua) differentiated by critical physical thresholds were generated. In turn, the corresponding disruption economic impacts were calculated for each scenario. Under the Tahurangi scenario (annual probability of 0.01-0.02), a small-scale explosive (Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) 2-3) and dome forming eruption, the economic impacts were negligible with complete economic recovery experienced within a year. The larger Inglewood sub-Plinian to Plinian eruption scenario event (VEI > 4, annualised probability of ~ 0.003) produced significant impacts on the Taranaki region economy of $207 million (representing ~ 4.0% of regional gross domestic product (GDP) 1 year after the event, 2007 New Zealand dollars), that will take around 5 years to recover. The Opua scenario, the largest magnitude volcanic hazard modelled, is a major flank collapse and debris avalanche event with an annual probability of 0.00018. The associated economic impacts of this scenario were $397 million (representing ~ 7.7% of regional GDP 1 year after the event) with the Taranaki region economy suffering permanent structural changes. Our dynamic analysis illustrates that different economic impacts play out at different stages in a volcanic crisis. We also discuss the key strengths and weaknesses of our modelling along with potential extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somali refugees are resettling in large numbers in the US, but little is known about the Somali Bantu, an ethnic minority within this population. Refugee youth mental health is linked to the functioning of the larger family unit. Understanding how the process of culturally adjusting to life after resettlement relates to family functioning can help identify what kind of interventions might strengthen families and lead to better mental health outcomes for youth. This paper seeks to address the following research questions: (1) How do different groups of Somali Bantu refugees describe their experiences of culturally adapting to life in the US?; and (2) How, if at all, do processes of cultural adaptation in a new country affect Somali Bantu family functioning? We conducted 14 focus groups with a total of 81 Somali Bantu refugees in New England. Authors analyzed focus groups using principles of thematic analysis to develop codes and an overarching theoretical model about the relationship between cultural adaptation, parent-child relationships, and family functioning. Views and expectations of parent-child relationships were compared between Somali Bantu youth and adults. Cultural negotiation was dependent upon broader sociocultural contexts in the United States that were most salient to the experience of the individual. Adult and youth participants had conflicting views around negotiating Somali Bantu culture, which often led to strained parent-child relationships. In contrast, youth sibling relationships were strengthened, as they turned to each other for support in navigating the process of cultural adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) are disproportionately likely to engage in sexual risk behavior, including sex with a secondary partner (i.e., sex partners outside their primary relationship). Social disconnection has been identified as a social determinant of health that may enhance understanding of sex with a secondary partner. This study extends past research by using an intensive longitudinal design consisting of multiple daily assessments to examine event-level associations between women IPV survivors' social disconnection and sex with a secondary partner concurrently (i.e., during the same aggregated assessment) and temporally (i.e., social disconnection during one assessment predicting sex with a secondary partner in a subsequent assessment) over a 14-day period, in consideration of physical, psychological, and sexual IPV, and alcohol and drug use. Participants (N = 244) were recruited from New England through 2017. Results from multilevel logistic regression models indicate that women who experienced greater social disconnection on average were more likely to report sex with a secondary partner. However, after including IPV and substance use in the model, the strength of this relationship was attenuated. Sexual IPV emerged as a between-person predictor of sex with a secondary partner in temporally lagged models. Results provide insight into the relationships between daily social disconnection and sex with a secondary partner among IPV survivors, particularly regarding the effects of substance use and IPV both concurrently and temporally. Taken together, findings emphasize the importance of social connection for women's well-being and highlight the need for interventions that enhance interpersonal connectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of AIDS & Behavior is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper introduces a flexible skewed link function for modeling ordinal response data with covariates based on the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution. Commonly used probit, logit and complementary log-log links are prone to link misspecification because of their fixed skewness. The GEV link is flexible in fitting the skewness in the response curve with a free shape parameter. Using Bayesian methodology, it automatically detects the skewness in the response curve along with the model fitting. The flexibility of the proposed model is illustrated by its application to an ecological survey data about the coverage of Berberis thunbergii in New England. We employ the latent variable approach by Albert and Chib (J Am Stat Assoc 88:669-679, (1993) to develop computational schemes. For model selection, we employ the Deviance Information Criterion (DIC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and use of acoustic recording technology, surveys have revealed the composition, relative levels of activity, and preliminary habitat use of bat communities of various forest locations. However, detailed examinations of acoustic surveys results to investigate temporal patterns of bat activity are rare. Initial active acoustic surveys of bat activity on the Quabbin Reservoir watershed in central Massachusetts recorded high numbers of call sequences by five bat species. The results showed the importance of aquatic and open habitats for bats in this diverse forest landscape. Because the preliminary surveys were restricted in extent (habitats), number (replicates), and duration (active surveys only, limited number of repeated surveys), the authors strongly recommended more comprehensive and extensive surveys of bat activity on the area. This paper reports the results of active (manual) and passive (automated) acoustic bat activity surveys in three replicates of ten habitats, conducted three to four times per year over the course of the study between 2004 and 2006. Over the full study, 2,800 actively-recorded 37,632 passively-recorded call sequences were examined and identified to species when possible. General patterns in activity did not differ by habitat between the two survey methods. Call sequences were recorded more often in open, especially aquatic habitats than in cluttered habitats. The use of passive surveys allowed for the assessment of temporal patterns of activity and an analysis of the relationship between ambient temperature and activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by research findings regarding the positive relationship between training and enhancement of services, as well as literature on adult learning, the New England Head Start Teaching Center (NEHSTC) was created in 1992 to test the efficacy of participatory, hands-on training. The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcome evaluation results from 4 years of training at the NEHSTC, 1 of 14 federally funded sites, as well as to discuss the implications for delivering this type of participatory training throughout Head Start. Findings suggest that the NEHSTC was successful in implementing high quality, participatory training within the context of an ongoing Head Start program. Head Start staff who participated in the NEHSTC trainings demonstrated gains in knowledge, skills, and expertise compared to similar Head Start employees who did not receive training. Results also reveal a sustained effect of training over time, with NEHSTC participants continuing to demonstrate enhanced knowledge and skills 6 months after training. Similar positive outcomes of training were found for staff with varying levels of experience and holding different Head Start positions. Thus the participatory, hands-on training implemented by the NEHSTC was found to produce positive and lasting outcomes for diverse Head Start staff. An effective and cost efficient model of training Head Start personnel is particularly relevant and timely as Head Start strives to establish universal quality and expansion of services in the 21st Century. The findings are also relevant for improving the quality of all early care and education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the spatial patterns of households' distribution in clusters of cities and the effects on regional growth using spatial exploratory techniques and a model of growth that incorporates spatial location. Our empirical analysis shows that, over the 1980–1990 period, in Southern New England, patterns of spatial clustering of households did create heterogeneous growth rates in the region. Also, there is evidence that clusters of cities and isolated cities created spillover growth effects in bordering towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the linkage between climate and interspecific plant interactions in New England salt marshes. Because harsh edaphic conditions in marshes can be ameliorated by neighboring plants, plant neighbors can have net competitive or facilitative interactions, depending on ambient physical stresses. In particular, high soil salinities, which are largely controlled by solar radiation and the evaporation of marsh porewater, can be ameliorated by plant neighbors under stressful conditions leading to facilitative interactions. Under less stressful edaphic conditions, these same neighbors may be competitors. In this paper, we use this mechanistic understanding of marsh plant interactions to examine the hypothesis that latitudinal and inter-annual variation in climate can influence the nature and strength of marsh plant species interactions. We quantified the relationship between climate and species interactions by transplanting marsh plants into ambient vegetation and unvegetated bare patches at sites north and south of Cape Cod, a major biogeographic barrier on the east coast of North America. We hypothesized that the cooler climate north of Cape Cod would lead to fewer positive interactions among marsh plants. We found both latitudinal and inter-annual variation in the neighbor relations of marsh plants that paralleled latitudinal differences in temperature and salinity. South of Cape Cod, plant neighbor interactions tended to be more facilitative, whereas north of Cape Cod, plant neighbor interactions were more competitive. At all sites, soil salinity increased and plant neighbor interactions were more facilitative in warmer versus cooler years. Our results show that interspecific interactions can be strikingly linked to climate, but also reveal that because the sensitivity of specific species interactions to climatic variation is highly variable, predicting how entire communities will respond to climate change will be difficult, even in relatively simple, well-studied systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dynamic state variable model that examines human dispersal in a land-based economy. In humans, like other animals, many individuals disperse during their lifetimes, with extensive variability in the timing and likelihood of dispersal by individuals of different states. The model places human and non-human dispersal in a common framework, specifically by utilizing a cost-benefit approach. As with other animals, individual access to resources likely plays an important role in shaping human dispersal, and the model explores the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Over a series of time steps, individuals must decide whether to stay in their natal area or disperse, given their states (wealth, marital, and inheritance status) and the environmental constraints on dispersal. Costs of dispersal include time and an initial drop in wealth, while the benefit is the potential of the dispersal area to increase wealth. The model determines whether dispersing or staying results in the highest fitness, where fitness is a function of individual wealth and years married. The model shows that dispersal is favorable under a wide range of environmental conditions, but that it also varies predictably according to individual states. Men of middle wealth values disperse under a wider variety of circumstances than poorer or wealthier men. Wealthy men, who are particularly sensitive to the time cost and mortality risk associated with dispersing, appear to adopt a more conservative dispersal strategy than poorer men, who are more sensitive to the wealth cost and wealth growth rate associated with dispersing. Dispersal behavior is also contingent on its effects on an individual's probability of marrying or inheriting wealth. Finally, the model fosters an examination of how the interaction of life events, and their directions of causation, can be studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The firefly algorithm (FA) and the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm are used in this study to perform a coordinated parametrization of the proportional-integral and supplementary damping controllers, i.e., power system stabilizers (PSSs) and the unified power flow controller (UPFC)–power oscillation damping set. The parametrization obtained for the controllers should allow them to damp the low-frequency oscillatory modes in the power system for different loading scenarios. The power system dynamics is represented using a model based on current injections, known as the current sensitivity model, which implies that a formulation by current injections for the UPFC should be formulated. To validate the proposed optimization techniques and the current injection model for the UPFC for small-signal stability, simulations are carried out under two distinct perspectives, namely, static and dynamic analysis, using the New England system. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the UPFC's current injection model. Moreover, it was possible to verify that the FA performed better than the ABC algorithm to solve the discussed problem, accrediting both the UPFC current injection model and the FA algorithm as new tools for small-signal stability analysis in electrical power systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1923, rural New England mill town Dover, New Hampshire, staged a Tercentenary pageant of extraordinary proportions to celebrate its "first" settlement. This public spectacle memorialized a specific, and deeply exclusionary, narrative of English settler colonialism, shaped by social anxieties of the post-First World War United States. Recent archaeological research has found possible remnants from this spectacle on a seventeenth-century site. In disturbing this site, the Tercentenary pageant appears to have disregarded actual significant material traces from the very era it aimed to memorialize--traces that offer distinct, fuller understandings of deeply nuanced Native-settler interactions in the Piscataqua River region. Dover's pageant is situated in a regional analysis of Native and Euro-colonial commemorative place-making of the early twentieth century, exploring how different communities pursued multivocal, monovocal, or other approaches in their performative engagements with the seventeenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aim of this study was to describe New England dental professionals' attitudes and behaviours regarding domestic violence (DV) and to identify barriers faced in intervening to help suspected victims.Methods A cross-sectional survey using a convenience sample of dentists (n = 169) and hygienists (n = 190) attending the 2004 Yankee Dental Conference in Boston, MA was conducted. Data were collected using a questionnaire assessing screening practices, actions taken, deterrents in identification and referral, prior DV education and perceived need for DV education. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed.Results Dentists and hygienist were very similar in their attitudes and behaviours regarding DV. Dental professionals who had received prior DV education were more likely to screen for DV (p ≤0.0001) and to take action when DV was suspected (p = 0.0006) compared to those who had not received prior DV education.Conclusions Results indicate a need for DV education for dental professionals to improve abuse recognition and enhance intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the health beliefs that can influence engagement in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction health promotion activities among Zimbabwe-born immigrants in the US. Focus group interviews with 37 New England-based Zimbabwean immigrants in the US conducted between January and April 2019. Focus groups were led by study investigators who were members of the Zimbabwean community. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using framework analysis. Five themes emerged: (1) negative attitudes toward ill health, (2) mistrust toward western medicine, (3) stigma and taboo toward ill health, (4) a negative change in eating habits and (5) negative attitudes toward physical exercise. The participants' attitudes and beliefs may interfere with their engagement in health promotion activities aimed at reducing the burden of CVD risk in this population. Understanding these beliefs paves the way for development of culturally congruent health promotion interventions in Zimbabwean and other African immigrant populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small docks and floats are common in estuaries and coastal waters worldwide. These structures serve a role in coastal recreation by facilitating access to waterways. However, they can impact shoreline ecological function. While individual environmental impacts are generally minor, increasing dock proliferation and overlap with sensitive coastal resources can result in cumulative impacts that pose threats at the ecosystem level. Docks promote changes in habitat and aquatic communities through alteration of environmental conditions. Here, we review the potential environmental impacts of docks on estuarine and coastal flora and fauna and discuss best management practices (BMPs) to avoid or minimize such impacts with a focus on New England. We consider impacts in relation to the structural components of docks: the piles, decking, and floats. Impacts to salt marsh and submerged aquatic vegetation are a particular focus given the important ecosystem services these vegetated habitats provide and their vulnerability to dock-induced habitat alteration. Potential environmental impacts depend on structure size, design, and location, and can include both short-term (e.g., turbidity from pile installation) and long-term (e.g., salt marsh loss from chronic shading) effects. Such effects can be minimized through BMPs (e.g., construction outside sensitive time-of-year periods, designs to reduce shading). As BMPs tend to reduce rather than avoid environmental effects, cumulative impacts also need to be considered in the permitting process. We recommend that managers develop plans or bylaws that identify sensitive habitats where dock construction should be avoided as well as BMPs to make remaining dock proliferation less impactful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript proposes a novel modified whale optimization algorithm-based solution approach for congestion controlling cost problem in power system framework. The integral objective of the proposed methodology is twofold: firstly, to identify the most sensitive bus in the power system framework using the Bus Sensitivity Factor for optimal positioning of the wind power source that will influence the power flow in the overburden line. Secondly, the selection of the most sensitive generators participating in the power rescheduling process is achieved considering the Generator Sensitivity Factor that are computed based on the congested line power flow status. Further, the proposed MWOA is implemented to achieve the minimum congestion cost with congestion alleviation. The notion of MWOA has been developed with the introduction of two correction factors that enhances the coordination between the exploration and exploitation processes which prevents it from premature convergence and aids in its searching capability towards the global optima. The objective function is subjected to the sequential execution of the proposed optimization technique. The potency of the proposed approach is justified considering the system parameters and constraints for the 39-bus New England test system and IEEE-118 bus system. MATLAB 2016(a) is utilized as the simulation platform. The simulation results obtained with the proposed approach shows a substantial curtailment in the congestion cost, improvement in the system losses and voltages, and provide a better convergence profile when compared to other existing optimization techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose An increasing number of workers in the US have chronic health conditions that limit their ability to work, and few worksite interventions have been tested to improve worker coping and problem solving at work. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a worksite-based health self-management program designed to improve workplace function among workers with chronic health conditions. Methods We conducted a randomized, controlled trial of a worksite self-management program ("Manage at Work") (clinicaltrials.gov #NCT01978392) for workers with chronic health conditions (N = 119; 82% female, ages 20–69). Most workers were recruited from the health care or light manufacturing industry sectors. Workers attended a 5-session, facilitated psychoeducational program using concepts of health self-management, self-efficacy, ergonomics, and communication. Changes on outcomes of work engagement, work limitation, job satisfaction, work fatigue, work self-efficacy, days absent, and turnover intention at 6-month follow-up were compared to wait-list controls. Results The most prevalent chronic health conditions were musculoskeletal pain, headaches, vision problems, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory disorders, and mental health disorders. The self-management program showed greater improvement in work engagement and turnover intent at 6-month follow-up, but there was no evidence of a parallel reduction in perceived work limitation. Trends for improved outcomes of work self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and work fatigue in the intervention group did not reach statistical significance in a group x time interaction test. Conclusions Offering a worksite self-management program to workers with chronic health conditions may be a feasible and beneficial strategy to engage and retain skilled workers who are risking disability. Clinical trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov #NCT01978392. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite research going back over a century showing the U.S. census counts some groups more accurately than others at the national level, little is known about how undercount varies within the country. I focus on a population easily measured with administrative data yet known to suffer high levels of undercount—native-born young children—to document state-level variation in undercount by race and Hispanic status. Although the race-specific analysis is only possible for the 2000 census, the patterns I show for all children are similar to those in 2010, implying the results from 2000 are likely relevant to today. Undercount levels vary widely across states, with non-Black children having the highest rates in the south and southwest, and Black children in the northeast. Results by Hispanic status show non-Black Hispanic young children are highly undercounted in several states with high Hispanic populations, but not all, and are also highly undercounted in the northeast and New England. In several states with high non-Black Hispanic undercounts, non-Black non-Hispanic children are also undercounted at a high rate. I find a very strong correlation between the fraction of births to foreign-born mothers in the state and the undercount of Black and non-Black children—in fact, it is the strongest correlate with the undercount of native-born Black children of those I investigate. The fraction of foreign-born mothers does not correlate with the undercount of non-Black Hispanic and non-Hispanic young children, although Hispanic status of the parents do. My results suggest a group-specific, local focus for future work is needed to determine the causes of census undercount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the US. The number of tobacco products has grown over the past decade. E-cigarette use has increased rapidly in recent years, but patterns and correlates of use have not been thoroughly assessed. We examined relationships among demographic factors, e-cigarette and conventional cigarette use in a large sample (N = 12,409) of adult patients at a community health center in the Northeastern US. Overall, 13% (N = 1675) of the sample reported ever using e-cigarettes. In logistic regression models, ever having used e-cigarettes was associated with younger age (ages 18–25; OR = 3.5, p < 0.001). Being transgender (OR = 1.8, p < 0.001), bisexual (OR = 1.5, p < 0.001), un-partnered (OR = 1.5, p < 0.001), having a lower income (OR = 1.6, p < 0.001) or a high BMI (OR = 1.4, p = 0.009) were associated with increased odds of use, whereas being a woman (OR = 0.7, p < 0.001) or Black/African American (OR = 0.7, p = 0.007) were associated with lower odds of use. Of the participants who reported e-cigarette use, a majority also endorsed current or former use of conventional cigarettes. Individuals who formerly used conventional cigarettes were nearly three times more likely to report daily e-cigarette use than current users. Among primary care patients at a community health center, e-cigarette use was reported by a sizeable portion of the sample. Overall, odds of use were higher in certain patient populations, and individuals who formally used cigarettes were more likely to report e-cigarette use than individuals who currently smoke, suggesting that e-cigarettes may be functioning as a cessation aid or a strategy to reduce conventional cigarette use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Ornithology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent efforts to quantify biogeochemical and ecological processes in oyster habitats have focused on provision of habitat and regulation of the nitrogen cycle. However, it is unclear how these two processes may interact. In this study, seasonal patterns of habitat use and nitrogen removal from natural oyster beds were quantified for comparison with nearby bare sediment in Green Hill Pond, a temperate coastal lagoon in RI, USA. Relationships were tested between benthic macrofaunal abundance and nitrogen removal via denitrification and burial in sediments. Nitrogen removal by oyster bio-assimilation was quantified and compared with nearby oyster aquaculture. Despite limited differences in habitat use by macrofauna, there were fewer non-oyster benthic organisms (e.g., filter-feeders, detritivores) where oysters were present, possibly due to competition for resources. Additionally, low rugosity of the native oyster beds provided little refuge value for prey. There was a shift from net N removal via denitrification in bare sediments to nitrogen fixation beneath oysters, though this change was not statistically significant (t(96) = 1.201; p = 0.233). Sediments contained low concentrations of N; however sediments beneath oysters contained almost twice as much N (0.07%) as bare sediments (0.04%; p < 0.001). There was no difference in tissue N content between wild oysters and those raised in aquaculture nearby, though caged oysters had more tissue per shell mass and length, and therefore removed more N on a shell length basis. These oyster beds lacked the complex structure of three-dimensional oyster reefs which may have diminished their ability to provide habitat for refugia, foraging sites for macrofauna, and conditions known to stimulate denitrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]