University Research Team Research Articles

Parents\u2019 perceptions of reasons for excess weight loss in obese children: a peer researcher approach

BackgroundThis study reports on the process of conducting participatory research by training peer researchers to conduct interviews and analyse data collected with parents of overweight children. The methodology was chosen as a means of (a) encouraging participation among a hard-to-engage group (i.e., parents of overweight children), and (b) generating novel insights and challenging academic/health professional assumptions through the involvement of parents in the interpretation of findings.MethodsFour parents (all female) were recruited as peer researchers and trained in research processes, ethics, and interview skills over three half-day workshops. The intended interviewees were parents of children identified as obese through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) at the start of primary school (age 4–5) but who had lost their excess weight by age 10–11; little is currently known about how this excess weight loss is achieved. Interviews were conducted by peer researchers, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically by both peer- and university-based investigators.ResultsThe peer researchers felt confident to conduct interviews after three training sessions. Recruitment of interviewees was challenging, resulting in only four volunteers (all mothers) over a 5-month period; thus peer researchers were only able to conduct one interview each. All interviews were considered good quality in comparison to those conducted by Masters-level research assistants. The process of co-analysis resulted in a change in emphasis from that initially generated by the university research team; the role of health professionals in weight management was de-emphasised, and the importance of ‘not singling out’ overweight children accentuated. Given the limited number of interviews, the results of the study are only provisional but resulted in three themes: Whole Family Action, Support (and lack of support), and Protecting Childhood.ConclusionsTraining peer researchers to conduct and analyse interviews was feasible within a short period of training. Peer researchers found the experience interesting, informative and worthwhile. Two of the four volunteered to be involved in a related study 12 months later. The different perspective brought through co-analysis suggests that this approach to conducting participatory research may be a useful means of working with the public to generate new ideas to tackle intransigent issues.

Community Power Structure Analysis and the Ethical Considerations of "Studying Up".

This narrative outlines our challenges in studying power and power structures within an individual-level ethical framework. Taking a social ethics perspective, we share the story of our "sticky situation" (Campbell, ) that transpired during a multi-year community partnership. We were asked, by our community partners, to help collect interview data without informed consent. As a team of community-engaged university researchers, we were faced with a seemingly easy ethical situation (no consent, no research) that had unexpectedly complicated and long-lasting consequences. This experience revealed to us how community-engaged research and action, under a traditional ethics framework, can often work to protect those in positions of power and offer little to disrupt the status quo. Reflecting on the tension between individual and social ethics, we discuss the limitations of an individual-level framework, including the definitions for respect for persons, justice, and beneficence, on our ability as a field to understand, critique, and contribute to the dismantling of oppressive power structures.

Rotational Population Measurement of Ultracold 85Rb133Cs Molecules in the Lowest Vibrational Ground State**Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant No 2017YFA0304203, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 61675120, 11434007 and 61378015, the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University under Grant No IRT13076, and the Applied Basic

We measure the rotational populations of ultracold 85Rb133Cs molecules in the lowest vibrational ground state by a depletion spectroscopy and quantify the molecular production rate based on the measurement of single ion signal area. The 85Rb133Cs molecules in the are formed from the short-range molecular state. A home-made external-cavity diode laser is used as the depletion laser to measure the rotational populations of the formed molecules. Based on the determination of single ion signal, the production rates of molecules in the J = 0 and J = 2 rotational levels are derived to be 4800 mole/s and 7200 mole/s, respectively. The resolution and quantification of molecules in rotational states are facilitative for the manipulation of rotational quantum state of ultracold molecules.

Impact of the Global Food Safety Initiative on Food Safety Worldwide: Statistical Analysis of a Survey of International Food Processors

In 2000, the Consumer Goods Forum established the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) to increase the safety of the world's food supply and to harmonize food safety regulations worldwide. In 2013, a university research team in conjunction with Diversey Consulting (Sealed Air), the Consumer Goods Forum, and officers of GFSI solicited input from more than 15,000 GFSI-certified food producers worldwide to determine whether GFSI certification had lived up to these expectations. A total of 828 usable questionnaires were analyzed, representing about 2,300 food manufacturing facilities and food suppliers in 21 countries, mainly across Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and North America. Nearly 90% of these certified suppliers perceived GFSI as being beneficial for addressing their food safety concerns, and respondents were eight times more likely to repeat the certification process knowing what it entailed. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of these food manufacturers would choose to go through the certification process again even if certification were not required by one of their current retail customers. Important drivers for becoming GFSI certified included continuing to do business with an existing customer, starting to do business with new customer, reducing the number of third-party food safety audits, and continuing improvement of their food safety program. Although 50% or fewer respondents stated that they saw actual increases in sales, customers, suppliers, or employees, significantly more companies agreed than disagreed that there was an increase in these key performance indicators in the year following GFSI certification. A majority of respondents (81%) agreed that there was a substantial investment in staff time since certification, and 50% agreed there was a significant capital investment. This survey is the largest and most representative of global food manufacturers conducted to date.

Organizational Construction of a New Type of University Scientific Research Team Based on Jingyou Thought

To optimize the organization and management of scientific research team in university, this paper designs a new form of organization which takes into account of the common development of scientific research team (SRT) and team members. The study of this paper offers a new type of scientific research team which is based on Jingyou thought, and analyses the Jingyou SRT’s characteristics, including the human-oriented scientific organization system, sincere, frank and truth pursuing code of practice, initiative and passionate working atmosphere, strategic behavior results in harmony. The last part of this paper presents the design of the basic operational mechanism, benefit distribution and harmonious development mechanism of the Jingyou SRT based on the individual advantage recognition method.

Building Capacity Among Laity: A Faith-Based Health Ministry Initiative.

A systematic review of topic-specific faith-based health programs determined that health outcomes can be improved though faith-based health interventions. A university research team, in partnership with the Kansas United Methodist Church and a United Methodist philanthropy, facilitated planning and development of a statewide initiative to increase the capacity of laity-led health ministry teams. The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes utilized to design and implement an initiative to increase capacity for laity-led comprehensive health ministry among Kansas United Methodist Church congregations and to share the key elements of the initiative.

Bubble acoustical scattering cross section under multi-frequency acoustic excitation**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11674074) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. IRT1228).

The acoustical scattering cross section is usually employed to evaluate the scattering ability of the bubbles when they are excited by the incident acoustic waves. This parameter is strongly related to many important applications of performance prediction for search sonar or underwater telemetry, acoustical oceanography, acoustic cavitation, volcanology, and medical and industrial ultrasound. In the present paper, both the analytical and numerical analysis results of the acoustical scattering cross section of a single bubble under multi-frequency excitation are obtained. The nonlinear characteristics (e.g., harmonics, subharmonics, and ultraharmonics) of the scattering cross section curve under multi-frequency excitation are investigated compared with single-frequency excitation. The influence of several paramount parameters (e.g., bubble equilibrium radius, acoustic pressure amplitude, and acoustic frequencies) in the multi-frequency system on the predictions of scattering cross section is discussed. It is shown that the combination resonances become significant in the multi-frequency system when the acoustic power is big enough, and the acoustical scattering cross section is promoted significantly within a much broader range of bubble sizes and acoustic frequencies due to the generation of more resonances.

Crystal structures and electronic properties of solid fluorine under high pressure**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51632002, 51572108, 11634004, and 11174102), Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. IRT 15R23), the National Fund for Fostering Talents of Basic Science, China (Grant No. J1103202), and the Development Program of

As the previously proposed structures of C2/m and C2/c possess similar enthalpies and x-ray diffraction patterns, the space group of fluorine at ambient pressure is in controversy. We successfully obtain its thermodynamically stable low-pressure phase, which shares the same structure as the earlier known C2/c. Further investigations on phonon spectra reveal the instability of the C2/m structure with imaginary frequency in the Brillouin zone and confirm the dynamically stable property of the C2/c structure at the same time. Compressing fluorine up to 8 GPa, the C2/c phase is found to undergo a phase transition to a new structure with a space group of Cmca. Electronic energy band structures indicate the insulating feature of C2/c and Cmca with no bands across the Fermi level. The infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of C2/c and Cmca at selected pressures are calculated to provide useful information to future experiments.

Scaling of Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber to 200 μm core diameter for high beam quality laser output**Project supported by the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. PCSIRT: 1212), the Key Grant Science and Technology Planning Project of Beijing, China (Grant Nos. PXM2013 014224 000077 and PXM2012 014224 000019), and the Science and Technology

The rare earth-doped active fibers not only have ten thousands of square-micron core-area but also deliver a laser with near-diffraction-limited beam quality. However, they have been studied little. In this paper, we design a 200-μm-core-diameter Yb3+-doped photonic crystal fiber with a large pitch in the air-hole cladding region. Simulations demonstrate that only fundamental mode (FM) with a mode field area (MFA) of ∼ 28000 μm2 can be amplified and propagated at the gain saturation, and the beam quality is about 1.5. It is predicted that almost 105 mJ single-pulse energy is available from such a 1.5-meter-length fiber.

Adjustable quantum coherence effects in a hybrid optomechanical system**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11574092, 61378012, 91121023, and 60978009), the National BasicResearch Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB921804), and the Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. IRT1243).

We propose a system for achieving some adjustable quantum coherence effects, including the normal-mode splitting (NMS), the optomechanically induced transparency (OMIT), and the optomechanically induced absorption (OMIA). In this system, two tunnel-coupled optomechanical cavities are each driven by a coupling field and coupled to an atomic ensemble. Besides, one of the cavities is also injected with a probe field. When the system works under different conditions, we can obtain the NMS, the OMIT, and the OMIA, respectively. These effects can be flexibly adjusted by the tunnel coupling between the two cavities, the power of the coupling lasers, and the coupling strength between the atomic ensembles and the cavity fields. Furthermore, we can realize the OMIT even if the oscillating mirrors have relatively larger decay rates.

Modeling and analysis for the image mapping spectrometer**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61635002 and 61307020) and the Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (PCSIRT) Program, China.

The snapshot image mapping spectrometer (IMS) has advantages such as high temporal resolution, high throughput, compact structure and simple reconstructed algorithm. In recent years, it has been utilized in biomedicine, remote sensing, etc. However, the system errors and various factors can cause cross talk, image degradation and spectral distortion in the system. In this research, a theoretical model is presented along with the point response function (PRF) for the IMS, and the influence of the mirror tilt angle error of the image mapper and the prism apex angle error are analyzed based on the model. The results indicate that the tilt angle error causes loss of light throughput and the prism apex angle error causes spectral mixing between adjacent sub-images. The light intensity on the image plane is reduced to 95% when the mirror tilt angle error is increased to (). The prism apex error should be controlled within the range of 0–36 (0.01 ) to ensure the designed number of spectral bands, and avoid spectral mixing between adjacent images.

The Importance of Context: Assessing the Benefits and Limitations of Participatory Mapping for Empowering Indigenous Communities in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Panama

Indigenous communities have been involved in participatory mapping projects to protect their territories and manage their resources for decades. However, while tremendous advances have been achieved in many settings, the use of maps by indigenous peoples is very uneven. Here we present the case of a team of university researchers, indigenous students, and local investigators who used a participatory approach to map cultural landscapes and mature forest cover in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé of Panama. This article examines the success and limitations of efforts to empower indigenous people in the region to use mapping tools for conservation and resource management. The project, while it provides a useful example of how to build a participatory research team to produce maps that better reflect indigenous points of view, fell short of empowering indigenous authorities to use geographic tools to manage their territories. This is due mainly to the lack of administrative capacity needed to make use of geospatial information. We argue that cartographers involved in participatory projects, while typically attentive to the problems of marginalization, need to pay more attention to the broader socioeconomic contexts of their work and to redouble their efforts to respond to the challenges of the digital divide, which is a symptom of broader socioeconomic and political inequalities stemming from the legacies of colonialism.

Turning in or tuning out? Listening to silences in education for critical political consciousness

What happens when a team of university education researchers initiates a social justice learning project in a local high school, and – despite the overall project’s considerable successes in cultivating students’ critical political ‘voice’ – is confounded by the periodic, apparent ‘silences’ of some of its young female students? Drawing on eight years of fieldwork in a groundbreaking high school social justice education classroom, this article examines the presumptions inherent in certain forms of social justice pedagogy, and the ways in which ensuing classroom disjunctures may, in fact, lead to deeper insights about education for youth critical social consciousness. The article focuses on two, interrelated issues: the unsettling and sometimes confounding ‘silences’ of female students and the correlation between such silences and social justice educators’ attenuated ability to recognize and support the myriad ways in which minority female students may encounter, negotiate, and articulate their own particular forms of Freirian conscientización.

Local microstructural analysis for Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods by Raman and photoluminescence spectra under high pressure**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11304380, 11404241, 11275138, 11604240, and 51320105007) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. IRT1132).

In this paper, we investigate the Raman and photoluminescence spectra of Y2O3/Eu3+ and Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods under high pressures using 514-nm and 532-nm laser light excitation. We observe transitions from the initial cubic phase to amorphous at pressures higher than 24 GPa for both Y2O3/Eu3+ and Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods. In addition, Y2O3/Eu3+ and Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods exhibit different distorted states after the pressure has been raised to 8 GPa. The analyses of intensity ratios, I0−2/I0−1 from 5D0–7F2 to 5D0–7F1 and I0−2A/B of 5D0–7F2 transitions indicate that Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods exhibit stronger local micro-surrounding characteristics for Eu3+ ions in a pressure-modulated crystal field. The doped Mg2+ ion results in reducing the crystal ionicity in the distorted lattice state under high pressures. The use of doped ions as an ion modifier can be applied to the study of small local microstructural changes through Eu3+ luminescence.

Delphi Research Methodology Applied to Place-Based Watershed Education

This research focuses on the results of the Flathead Watershed Delphi survey, a consensus-building methodology used to establish foundational knowledge, skills and dispositions for the Flathead Watershed Educators Guide, a place-based watershed curriculum for middle school grades based on the Flathead Watershed Sourcebook. Survey participants (n = 33) were chosen based on their expertise as educators, resource managers and scientists living and practicing in the Flathead Watershed in northwestern Montana, USA. Participants’ responses were gathered through a three-round survey conducted by the Montana State University (MSU) research team using MSU’s online course management system, Desire 2 Learn (D2L), an anonymous, asynchronous platform with distance accessibility. Round One responses gathered through the D2L discussion tool allowed participants to read responses and reply if desired. Round One discussion responses were reformatted into statements, which were then rated through two successive rounds using a 1–5 Likert scale. Of the initial 142 statements, 91 statements were retained in the final round. Final statements were cross-referenced with the Flathead Watershed Sourcebook to identify learning objectives for the Flathead Watershed Educators Guide. Final statements identified the knowledge, skills, and dispositions deemed most important for students in the Flathead Watershed to learn. Statements supported the need for place-based watershed education in fostering positive attitudes toward conservation and protection of the natural environment.

Framework for Testing Critical Technology Systems’ Reliability in Space

Radio frequency identification (RFID) system is an automatic data capturing system that relies on remotely retrieving data stored on tags using devices called readers. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a team of contractors, university researchers and technology vendors collaborated to investigate the reliability of RFID systems for automated crew-free inventory control aboard the ISS. In this manuscript we detail the decade long research accomplishments and the maturity of this RFID technology that is being currently used in Space for inventory management.

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in a Cold Gas with Strong Atomic Interactions**Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2012CB921603, Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University of Ministry of Education of China under Grant No IRT13076, the State Key Program of the National Natural Science of China under Grant No 11434007, the National Natural Science

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is investigated in a system of cold, interacting cesium Rydberg atoms. The utilized cesium levels 6S1/2, 6P3/2 and nD5/2 constitute a cascade three-level system, in which a coupling laser drives the Rydberg transition, and a probe laser detects the EIT signal on the 6S1/2 to 6P3/2 transition. Rydberg EIT spectra are found to depend on the strong interaction between the Rydberg atoms. Diminished EIT transparency is obtained when the Rabi frequency of the probe laser is increased, whereas the corresponding linewidth remains unchanged. To model the system with a three-level Lindblad equation, we introduce a Rydberg-level dephasing rate γ3 = κ × (ρ33/Ωp)2, with a value κ that depends on the ground-state atom density and the Rydberg level. The simulation results are largely consistent with the measurements. The experiments, in which the principal quantum number is varied between 30 and 43, demonstrate that the EIT reduction observed at large Ωp is due to the strong interactions between the Rydberg atoms.

Energy sharing induced by the nonlinear interaction**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11374197), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of TYUST, China (Grant No. 20122041), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. IRT13076).

Strong energy sharing is shown by numerically investigating coupled multi-component Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with a harmonic trap to simulate the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam model (FPU). For two-component BECs, the energy exchanging between each part, from regular, quantum beating to complete energy sharing, is explored by simulating their Husimi distributions, the time evolution of energies and the statistical entropy. Meanwhile, in the three-component case, a more complex energy sharing behavior is reported and a strong energy sharing is found.

Observation of wavelength-switchable solitons in an all-polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber cavity based on graphene saturable absorber reflector**Project supported by the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, China (Grant No. PCSIRT: 1212), the Key Grant Science and Technology Planning Project of Beijing, China (Grant Nos. PXM2013_014224_000077 and PXM2012_014224_000019), and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Beijing Municipal

We present the generation of wavelength-switchable single-polarization solitons in an all-polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber laser mode-locked by a graphene saturable absorber. Ultrashort pulses centered at the wavelength of 1531.6 nm with the duration of 816 fs and centered at the wavelength of 1557.8 nm with the duration of 402 fs are separately obtained from the same fiber laser cavity. The cavity loss adjusted by the gold reflector plays a crucial role in wavelength switching.

Uphill anomalous transport in a deterministic system with speed-dependent friction coefficient**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11547027 and 11505149), the Program for Innovative Research Team (in Science and Technology) in University of Yunnan Province, China, the Science Foundation of Kunming University, China (Grant Nos. YJL15005 and XJL15016), the Academic Rewards for Outstanding Young Doctoral

We investigate the transport of a deterministic Brownian particle theoretically, which moves in simple one-dimensional, symmetric periodic potentials under the influence of both a time periodic and a static biasing force. The physical system employed contains a friction coefficient that is speed-dependent. Within the tailored parameter regime, the absolute negative mobility, in which a particle can travel in the direction opposite to a constant applied force, is observed. This behavior is robust and can be maximized at two regimes upon variation of the characteristic factor of friction coefficient. Further analysis reveals that this uphill motion is subdiffusion in terms of localization (diffusion coefficient with the form at long times). We also have observed the non-trivially anomalous subdiffusion which is significantly deviated from the localization; whereas most of the downhill motion evolves chaotically, with the normal diffusion.