University Of Massachusetts Research Articles

Preface

preface In this issue, one cluster of articles presents scholarly and creative work focused on Latin American queer politics. Each article reveals queer challenges—theoretical, aesthetic, political, ideological, libidinal, corporeal—to prevailing logics of heteronormativity and neoliberalism, and to asymmetrical processes of knowledge production and circulation. Rafael de la Dehesa examines how political responses to AIDS in Brazil enabled surprising alliances between NGOs, activists, and the state, which produced radical social change and, at times, engendered exclusion and vulnerability. Christine Keating and Amy Lind’s essay explores indigenous and transfeminist efforts to transform the Ecuadorian constitution , producing new conceptions of both state and family. Constanza Tabbush and Melina Gaona trace the rise and fall of a neighborhood organization in Argentina called Tupac Amaru, which provided a space of encounter for lesbian, non-gender normative, and marginalized women. In a review of recent work on Latin American sexualities, Juan Camilo Galeano Sánchez finds LGBT people across Latin America and the diaspora deploying “queer revolutionary gestures” as a form of resistance to social, political, and economic marginalization. María Amelia Viteri’s commentary examines the intellectual trajectories of a network of queer scholars from across the Americas. The art essay by Tara Daly engages Iquitos artist Christian Bendayán’s visual efforts to queer prevailing conceptions of the Amazon, and tatiana de la tierra’s* poems offer a deep celebration of female eroticism. * We have spelled tatiana de la tierra’s name in lower case in accordance with the wishes of her literary executors. 256Preface Another cluster of essays highlights reproductive rights and race in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Gabriela Arguedas Ramírez and Lynn M. Morgan study the tactics that right-wing, US-based organizations deploy against sexual and reproductive rights in Mexico and Central America. Jennifer L. Shoaff examines the Dominican cultural construction of the Haitian mother as “beggar-mother,” which shores up ideas of pathological black maternity. Ana-Maurine Lara’s article considers the gendered and sexual logics of anti-blackness, and anti-Haitianism , in the Dominican Republic. The provocation for our cluster on representations of queer identities and politics in Latin America came, broadly, from developments in Latin America in recent decades: the wave of LGBT organizing around issues from same-sex marriage to transgender rights, alongside the continued , if not escalated, violence against trans, travestis, and other queer people in countries throughout the region. More immediately, it came from a symposium on Latin American/Latin@ queer and sexuality studies, cosponsored by the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS) and the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Department at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), Amherst, in March 2013. Several of the papers published here were initially presented at that event and have been complemented and extended by other analytical essays and creative material on similar questions. Based on their familiarity with the debates, Sonia Alvarez, UMass CLACLS Director and professor of political science, and Amy Lind, head of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati, offered invaluable input for this issue, and we thank them for their intellectual generosity and collaborative spirit. Three of the articles in the cluster take us inside the complex relations between queer movements and neoliberal institutions, illustrating the distinctive ways these dynamics play out in different national contexts and political configurations. In “NGOs, Governmentality, and the Brazilian Response to AIDS: A Multistranded Genealogy of the Current Crisis,” Rafael de la Dehesa argues that the AIDS crisis served as a “doorway to the state” for marginalized actors, such as sex workers and LGBT activists. These groups pushed for and won a national AIDS program that dramatically reduced rates of mortality and new infections in Brazil in the 1990s through universal access to treatment and a nonstigmatizing approach to prevention. Its success was based, in part, on World Bank Preface 257 loans and, in part, on a participatory model of public-private partnerships characteristic of neoliberal government. De la Dehesa argues that, “Far from encapsulating activism in a seamless web of biopolitical management . . . nodes of articulation between officials and activists became sites of conflict and productive tension.” However, while the alliances between NGOs...

Voiding Function After Midurethral Slings With and Without Local Anesthetic: Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study aimed to compare the effect of periurethral infiltration of bupivacaine versus normal saline on postoperative voiding function and pain in patients undergoing retropubic midurethral sling METHODS: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study was performed at the University of Massachusetts from March 2012 to June 2015. Ninety patients were randomized to receive 0.5% bupivacaine with epinephrine or normal saline with epinephrine solution for periurethral hydrodissection. Postoperative pain was assessed at 2 to 3 and 6 to 7 hours using a visual analog scale. Voiding function was determined by the proportion of subjects passing or failing a voiding trial. Descriptive statistics and percentages were used to compare the rate of voiding dysfunction. A logistic regression analysis was performed adjusting for possible covariates. Ninety subjects enrolled and 45 were randomized to each group. Thirty-nine subjects received the normal saline and 41 received bupivacaine. The remaining 10 withdrew before the procedure. Pain scores at 2 to 3 hours did not differ between the groups (P = 0.837), but at 6 to 7 hours, patients who received bupivacaine had less pain (P = 0.028). There was no difference in voiding dysfunction between the study and placebo groups (17.9% and 24.4%, respectively; P = 0.481). Because of the unavailability of indigo carmine midway through the study, 36 of 80 subjects received preoperative phenazopyridine for the assessment of ureteral patency. Three (8%) of these subjects failed their voiding trial compared with 19 (30%) of the patients who did not receive phenazopyridine (P = 0.010). The use of bupivacaine did not affect postoperative voiding function but had lower pain scores at 6 to 7 hours postoperatively. Preoperative phenazopyridine may reduce postoperative urinary retention.

The Contribution of Arabic Literature to World Literature: Radwa Ashour’s Siraaj a Case in Point

Radwa Ashour identifies herself as an Arab woman and a Third World citizen (“My Experience with writing” 170). Throughout her career she has also consciously referred to her upbringing in the Cairo of the fifties and the sixties and her early schooling in a French school where teachers and students were predominantly French, and made her and her other Egyptian classmates feel inferior (“Tajrubati fil Kitaba” 121). She is also a graduate and later a scholar/ academic of English literature, in addition to the fact that she earned her PhD from the University of Massachusetts in the USA. This biographical snapshot is not meant introduce Ashour. It is rather meant to give a brief idea of the rich experience she had and to reflect on Ashour’s existence –by virtue of her background, historical moment, education, and choice – between the Arabic speaking world and the English speaking world in various capacities. Given her makeup as a person, academic and writer, and based on personal choices, Ashour was also an ‘oppositional’ and ‘worldly’ intellectual in the Saidian sense of the term. According to Edward Said, the critic/ criticism is “worldly and in the world so long as it opposes monocentrism, a concept …[Said] understand[s] as working in conjunction with ethnocentrism, which licenses aThe Contribution of Arabic Literature to World Literature:x I (84)culture to cloak itself in the particular authority of certain values over others” (53). This was part of the larger endeavor of Radwa Ashour. The themes of her writings – fiction and non-fiction – reflect this deep consciousness of the questions relevant to her own society, but are expressive of universal values as well [1]. Thus, this paper argues that Ashour’s works are not only a milestone in Egyptian literature but are also part of the world literature tradition.

Innovative Global Solutions for Bioenergy Production

Environmental Engineering ScienceVol. 33, No. 11 Special Issue: Innovative Global Solutions for Bioenergy ProductionIssue Editors: Sarina J. Ergas, Maureen N. Kinyua, Peter van der Steen, Caitlyn S. Butler, Piet N.L. Lens, Kartik Chandran, and James R. MihelcicSpecial Issue IntroductionInnovative Global Solutions for Bioenergy ProductionSarina J. Ergas, Maureen N. Kinyua, Peter van der Steen, Caitlyn S. Butler, Piet N.L. Lens, Kartik Chandran, and James R. MihelcicSarina J. ErgasDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.†Member of AEESP.Search for more papers by this author, Maureen N. KinyuaDepartment of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York.†Member of AEESP.Search for more papers by this author, Peter van der SteenDepartment of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands.Search for more papers by this author, Caitlyn S. ButlerDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts.†Member of AEESP.Search for more papers by this author, Piet N.L. LensDepartment of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands.Search for more papers by this author, Kartik ChandranDepartment of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York.Search for more papers by this author, and James R. MihelcicDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.†Member of AEESP.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Nov 2016https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2016.0431AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View article"Innovative Global Solutions for Bioenergy Production." Environmental Engineering Science, 33(11), pp. 841–842FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byMaximizing energy recovery from wastewater via bioflocculation-enhanced primary treatment: a pilot scale study5 December 2019 | Environmental Technology, Vol. 42, No. 14AEESP Journal Spotlight: Early 2017 Domenico Grasso, , Catherine A. Peters, , Susan J. Masten, and 1 February 2017 | Environmental Engineering Science, Vol. 34, No. 2 Volume 33Issue 11Nov 2016 InformationCopyright 2016, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:Sarina J. Ergas, Maureen N. Kinyua, Peter van der Steen, Caitlyn S. Butler, Piet N.L. Lens, Kartik Chandran, and James R. Mihelcic.Innovative Global Solutions for Bioenergy Production.Environmental Engineering Science.Nov 2016.841-842.http://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2016.0431Published in Volume: 33 Issue 11: November 1, 2016Online Ahead of Print:September 30, 2016PDF download

Institutes in the Lead: Identifying Environmental Factors in Breast Cancer.

Institutes in the Lead: Identifying Environmental Factors in Breast Cancer.

Group Unveils Strategy for Reducing Suicide Rate 20 Percent by 2025

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Professional NewsFull AccessGroup Unveils Strategy for Reducing Suicide Rate 20 Percent by 2025Aaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:30 Sep 2016https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2016.10a10AbstractEducating the firearms community and health care professionals about suicide prevention could help drive down the nation’s suicide rate, says the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.Every year, an estimated 42,000 people in the United States die by suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) believes that investing in three critical areas could reduce the U.S. suicide rate by 20 percent by 2025.The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention wants to take the most promising interventions, strategies, and programs and apply them widely to save the most lives, said AFSP CEO Robert Gebbia.AFSP“Our modeling shows we could save thousands of lives each year if we focus on the best strategies and interventions, and apply them widely,” said AFSP CEO Robert Gebbia in an August teleconference. The current age-adjusted rate for suicide is 12.93 per 100,000, according to the AFSP website. A 20 percent reduction would cut that rate to 10.34 per 100,000, amounting to about 8,600 lives saved per year by 2025.The approach planned for “Project 2025” will be dynamic and flexible, subject to modification as results appear, Gebbia said.Half of all people who die by suicide use firearms, according to Gebbia, so AFSP will ally with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms trade group, to work with gun retailers, shooting ranges, and gun owners. The partnership will develop educational programs and materials to inform the firearms community about suicide prevention. Screening this population may help identify those who are “suffering in silence” before they harm themselves, Gebbia said.“If 50 percent of gun buyers are exposed to educational messages about prevention and there is a 20 percent effect, we could save 9,500 lives by 2025,” he added.A second preventive strategy aims to identify people at risk of suicide who visit large health care systems but remain undetected.“We know that 50 percent of people who die by suicide have been seen recently in primary care settings, although usually not for psychiatric reasons,” Kelly Posner, Ph.D., an AFSP board member and an associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, told Psychiatric News. “So we know we need to screen and assess these people and get them into the right care.”AFSP will provide training and information to health care systems to help health care workers detect patients at risk of suicide, provide short-term interventions, and connect at-risk patients with better long-term follow-up care. Such procedures would likely save another 9,200 lives, said Gebbia.A third target of Project 2025’s agenda is emergency departments.“About 39 percent of people who die by suicide have been seen previously in an emergency department but presented with nonpsychiatric, nonsuicidal symptoms,” he said. “We could do a much better job of screening and short-term interventions, as well as better transition and follow-up care.”Such programs could save another 1,100 lives, he believes. AFSP sees itself as a catalyst and will work with other collaborators like professional associations, accrediting bodies, and others.The organization has already made grants to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and the University of Massachusetts to study a safety planning intervention that covers “warning sign identification, limiting access to lethal means, and personalized strategies to deescalate a suicide crisis,” according to AFSP.Setting a goal to reduce suicide rates by 20 percent within 10 years may seem like an overly ambitious goal, but it may be what is required to attack this significant public health crisis, said Posner.“Everything we’ve done so far has been based on individual risk factors,” she said. “Now we need more powerful ways to identify patterns by being aggressive in our thinking and combining modern analytic tools and the scientific data we have collected.” ■More about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Project 2025 can be accessed here. ISSUES NewArchived

Airborne Co-polarization and Cross-Polarization Observations of the Ocean-Surface NRCS at C-Band

Airborne co-polarization and cross-polarization observations of ocean surface normalized radar cross section (NRCS) were conducted over the North Atlantic during January and February 2015. Observations were made using the University of Massachusetts' Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP) radar system and a prototype antenna for the next-generation European scatterometer aboard MetOp-SG. Both were installed on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) WP-3D research aircraft to characterize the wind response of the ocean-surface cross-polarization NRCS. During the flights, numerous constant-roll-angle circle maneuvers were performed at several different angles to collect NRCS measurements over a range of incidence angles. Surface winds at speeds between 8 and 34 ms -1 were observed at incidence angles from 20° to 60° at all polarization combinations. The majority of measurements fell between 8 and 20 ms -1 . Wind-direction dependence similar to copolarized NRCS was observed in the cross-polarized (VH) NRCS. The amplitude of the VH NRCS with respect to direction is less than that of copolarized NRCS at all wind speeds. Incidence angle dependence was also observed in the VH NRCS at all wind speeds. As a function of wind speed, the mean VH NRCS (A 0 ) has a similar shape to the VV NRCS. The VH NRCS appears to not saturate at most incidence angles, unlike the VV and HH NRCS. VH and HH geophysical model functions (GMFs) were developed as functions of wind speed, incidence angle, and wind-relative azimuth for the wind speeds and incidence angles observed.

In Memoriam: Dr. Clive L. Dym (1942–2016)

In Memoriam: Dr. Clive L. Dym (1942–2016)

Rewarding Community-Engaged Scholarship: A State University System Approach

The need for new and revised structures to reward new forms of scholarship is being examined nationally and globally. It is also being examined on campuses that make up the University of Massachusetts system, all which are classified by the Carnegie Foundation for Community Engagement. This paper reports on the collective exploration by the five campuses of the University of Massachusetts to understand whether the existing academic policies sufficiently and appropriately rewarding community engagement and publically engaged scholarship enact the core mission of the University of Massachusetts to effectively generate knowledge, address social issues, and fulfill its academic and civic purposes.

Blood and Fire: Toward a Global Anthropology of Labor. SharrynKasmir and AugustCarbonella, eds. New York: Berghahn Books, 2014.

Anthropology of Work ReviewVolume 37, Issue 1 p. 49-51 Book and Video Reviews Blood and Fire: Toward a Global Anthropology of Labor. Sharryn Kasmir and August Carbonella, eds. New York: Berghahn Books, 2014. Frederick C. Gamst, Frederick C. Gamst fcgamst@aol.com University of Massachusetts, BostonSearch for more papers by this author Frederick C. Gamst, Frederick C. Gamst fcgamst@aol.com University of Massachusetts, BostonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 12 June 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/awr.12085Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume37, Issue1Special Issue: Criminalized Workers: Immigrant Labor in an Era of Mass DeportationJuly 2016Pages 49-51 RelatedInformation

EScience Symposium Reflections from Christopher Erdmann: Redefining the Librarian’s Role in eScience

Christopher Erdmann, Head Librarian, Wolbach Library, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, shares his multiple experiences at the University of Massachusetts and New England Area Librarian eScience Symposium, as well as current challenges he sees for data science librarians. Christopher presented on a panel at the Eighth Annual eScience Symposium discussing the “future of data science” from a librarian’s perspective. See the video of this panel presentation on the <a href="http://escholarship.umassmed.edu/escience_symposium/2016">2016 eScience Symposium website</a>. A transcript of this interview is available for download via the Download button above.

Elevated Pertussis Reporting in Response to 2011-2012 Outbreak, New York City, New York, USA.

Elevated Pertussis Reporting in Response to 2011-2012 Outbreak, New York City, New York, USA.

‘Vem Marchar com a Gente’/Come March with Us

Research Article| June 01 2016 ‘Vem Marchar com a Gente’/Come March with Us Sonia E. Alvarez Sonia E. Alvarez Sonia E. Alvarez teaches Latin American politics, race and gender politics, and social movements at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she directs the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies. Since the 1980s, she has been connected with feminist, women's, antiracist, and social justice movements in Brazil, Latin America, and globally, while conducting research on and with them. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Meridians (2016) 14 (1): 70–75. https://doi.org/10.2979/meridians.14.1.05 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Sonia E. Alvarez; ‘Vem Marchar com a Gente’/Come March with Us. Meridians 1 June 2016; 14 (1): 70–75. doi: https://doi.org/10.2979/meridians.14.1.05 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsMeridians Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2016 Smith College2016 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Passive Surveillance of Ixodes scapularis (Say), Their Biting Activity, and Associated Pathogens in Massachusetts.

A passive surveillance of tick-borne pathogens was conducted over a 7-year period (2006–2012), in which a total of 3551 ticks were submitted to the University of Massachusetts for PCR testing. The vast majority of these ticks were Ixodes scapularis from Massachusetts (N = 2088) and hence were the focus of further analysis. Two TaqMan duplex qPCR assays were developed to test I. scapularis ticks for the presence of three human pathogens: Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia microti. I. scapularis submissions were concentrated from Cape Cod, the eastern half of the state outside of the Boston metropolitan area, parts of Franklin and Hampshire counties along the Quabbin Reservoir watershed, and southwestern Berkshire county. Differences in seasonal activity pattern were observed for different developmental stages of I. scapularis. The largest proportion of tick bite victims were age 9 years and under. Nymphal ticks were found more often on lower extremities of their hosts, while more adult ticks were found on the head. Overall infection rate of B. burgdorferi, A. phagocytophilum, and B. microti in human-biting ticks was 29.6%, 4.6%, and 1.8%, respectively. B. burgdorferi-infected ticks were widely distributed, but A. phagocytophilum- and B. microti-infected I. scapularis were found mainly in the eastern half of the state. We found that 1.8%, 1.0%, and 0.4% of ticks were coinfected by B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum, B. burgdorferi and B. microti, and A. phagocytophilum and B. microti, respectively, and 0.3% of ticks had triple coinfection.

On Book Prizes

This is the third in an ongoing series of articles entitled ENDPIECE. The idea behind this series is to have a place where the Editor-in-Chief of the journal SILICON can reflect on some aspects of silicon (Si) the element and on some aspects of its applications in the modern world. Hopefully, the collection of articles will build and it will show just how broad the field of silicon-based materials and silicon-based technologies is. Indeed this broadness is reflected in the growing content of the journal SILICON since its introduction in 2009. While there are (and have been) many successful silicon chemistry symposia held around the world, in the mid 1990s a group of us felt that a symposium was much needed where the focus would be on materials and systems that contained the siloxane bond (Si-0). We now believe that the evidence strongly supports our position on this matter. The Silicones and Silicone-Modified Materials symposia have typically run for four full days of oral presentations and an evening (or an afternoon) of poster presentations at various American Chemical Society national meetings since 1998. At the symposia, the publisher Springer have kindly given book prizes to the students with the best poster presentations. Students from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA, USA and from the Texas A&M University, TX, USA have been the awardees to date and are recognized herein.

A multi-marker prognostic to assess risk of invasive recurrence in DCIS patients.

1019Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a heterogeneous disease associated with a spectrum of risk for ipsilateral breast events (IBE). Reducing overtreatment is an important unmet need for DCIS patients. Methods: Patients were from Uppsala University Hospital diagnosed 1986 - 2004, and University of Massachusetts diagnosed 1999 -2008, treated with breast conserving surgery (BCS) with (56%) or without (44%) radiation therapy (RT). Biomarkers (p16/INK4A, Ki-67, COX-2, PgR, HER2, FOXA1, SIAH2 via IHC/ISH) were assessed in FFPE tissue by board-certified pathologists. Pathological and clinical data were collected from medical records. A multi-marker based prognostic was developed on the combined patient sets (n = 600, 8.1 year median follow-up) using multiple cross-validation (patients divided into independent training and testing subsets). Patients with DCIS detected by mammography screening (n = 379) were then stratified into risk categories defined by the multi-marker based prognostic or clinico...

Assessing Cultural Psychiatry Milestones Through an Objective Structured Clinical Examination.

Culturally appropriate tools for patient assessment are needed to train psychiatric residents. An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) can be a helpful tool for evaluating trainees in the psychiatry milestones pertaining to cultural competency. Seventeen psychiatry residents and fellows at the University of Massachusetts participated in two small-group OSCE exercises to learn cultural interviewing using the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview. Trainee groups presented a cultural formulation and received feedback. Participants were surveyed about their comfort with cultural interviewing before and after the exercise. Paired t tests (N = 16) showed that mean level of comfort with the Cultural Formulation Interview increased by a mean of 0.5 points after training (t = 3.16, df = 15, p < 01 95% CI = 163-837). The UMass culturally appropriate assessment OSCE enhanced psychiatric trainees' comfort with culturally appropriate interviewing using the Cultural Formulation Interview.

Biomarkers of Resilience in Stress Reduction for Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients.

Caregiving for a dementia patient is associated with increased risk of psychological and physical health problems. We investigated whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training course for caregivers that closely models the MBSR curriculum originally established by the Center of Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts may improve the psychological resilience of non-professional caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients. Twenty adult non-professional caregivers of dementia patients participated in an 8-week MBSR training course. Caregiver stress, depression, burden, grief, and gene expression profiles of blood mononuclear cells were assessed at baseline and following MBSR. MBSR training significantly improved the psychological resilience of some of the caregivers. We identified predictive biomarkers whose expression is associated with the likelihood of caregivers to benefit from MBSR, and biomarkers whose expression is associated with MBSR psychological benefits. Our biomarker studies provide insight into the mechanisms of health benefits of MBSR and a basis for developing a personalized medicine approach for applying MBSR for promoting psychological and cognitive resilience in caregivers of dementia patients.

Cell biology and the "real world".

Cell biology and the "real world".

Estimating the sustainability returns of recycling construction waste from building projects

The focus of this study is incorporating construction sectors within the concept of sustainable building, which essentially concerns resource management as well as waste management. It is evident that building construction is one of the largest consuming activities of non-renewable resources and natural materials worldwide. Simultaneously, enormous amounts of construction and demolition waste are generated as construction works expand to meet the increasing demand. This is not only considered an economic loss, but also an accelerating environmental threat. Therefore, it has become crucial for construction waste management to evolve away from the long practiced traditional methodology, which has been proven economically and ecologically inefficient, toward sustainable alternatives that prioritize waste recovery over disposal. Within this context, this study addresses the management of construction waste by selecting case studies of actual construction projects and scrutinizing their waste management data. The study took place at the University of Massachusetts—Amherst, where all selected projects conform to the U.S. Green Building Council standards. Thus, the study works on estimating the financial and environmental returns attained by recycling construction waste from such projects. By utilizing the results from the data analysis, the study eventually sets a statistical paradigm with field-based values for typical construction projects to be followed as a guide, indicating how much cost can be saved, and how much landfill volume can be relieved when material waste is recycled. Thereby, the study serves to enhance the sustainable management of construction waste by maximizing the returns of construction waste recovery.