Evaluation of a wellness program at a large private sector petrochemical company in Texas

The study purpose was to analyze the effects Integrated Health Solutions (IHS), an employee wellness program that has been implemented for one year on the corporate campus of a major private sector petrochemical company in Houston, TX, has on employee health. ^ Chronic diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and are the most preventable of all health problems. The costs of chronic diseases in the working-age adult population include not only health problems and a decrease in quality of life, but also an increase the cost of health care and costs to businesses and employers, both directly and indirectly. These emerging costs to employers as well as the fact that adults now spend the majority of waking hours at the office have increased the interest in worksite health promotion programs that address many of the behavioral factors that lead to chronic conditions. Therefore, implementing and evaluating programs that are aimed at promoting health and decreasing the prevalence of chronic diseases at worksites is very important. ^ Data came from existing data that were collected by IHS staff during employee biometric screenings at the company in 2010 and 2011. Data from employees who participated in screenings in both 2010 and 2011 were grouped into a cohort by IHS staff. ^ One-tailed t-tests were conducted to determine if there were significant improvements in the biometric measures of body fat percentage, BMI, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol levels, triglycerides, blood glucose levels, and cardiac risk ratios. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine if there were differences in program outcomes when stratified by age, gender, job type, and time between screenings. ^ Mean differences for the variables from 2010 to 2011 were small and not always in the desired direction for health improvement indicators. Through conducting t-tests, it was found that there were significant improvements in HDL, cardiac risk ratio, and glucose levels. There were significant increases in cholesterol, LDL, and diastolic blood pressures. For the IHS program, it appears that gender, job type, and time between screenings were possible modifiers of program effectiveness. When program outcome measures were stratified by these factors, results suggest that corporate employees had better outcomes than field employees, males had better outcomes overall than females, and more positive program effects were seen for employees with less time between their two screenings. ^ Recommendations for the program based on the results include ensuring validity of instruments and initial and periodic training of measurement procedures and equipment handling, using normative data or benchmarks to decrease chances for biased estimates of program effectiveness, measuring behaviors as well as biometric and physiologic statuses and changes, and collecting level of engagement data.^

Geochemistry of manganese nodules from a British Columbia fjord

Concretions of iron and manganese oxides and hydrous oxidesóobjects commonly called manganese nodulesóare widely distributed not only on the deep-sea floor but also in shallow marine environments1. Such concretions were not known to occur north of Cape Mendocino in the shallow water zones bordering the North-East Pacific Ocean until the summer of 1966 when they were recovered by one of us (J. W. M.) in dredge samples from Jervis Inlet, a fjord approximately 50 miles north-west of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Emanuele Franco, Dr. Ing.- Industria de las conservas (Industria delle conserve). 584 pp., 3ª edición, 1950. Editado por Ulrico Hoepli, Milán, Italia

Fil: H. G. C..

Grafts, A. S., Currier, H. B. y Stocking, C. R. - El agua en la fisiología vegetal (Water in the physiology of plants); 40 pp. Ed. por Chronica Botanica Company, Waltham, Mass. USA., 1949

Fil: H. G. C..

Back to the future to revisit meanings

Tanto en los estudios sincrónicos como en los diacrónicos queda en evidencia que el español posee diferentes formas de expresar el tiempo futuro. Por ejemplo, la desinencia del futuro morfológico (-ré) alterna en el español actual con la perífrasis verbal ir+a+infinitivo tal y como se ve en los siguientes ejemplos de la variedad rioplatense: (1) CFK advirtió que "Vamos a sostener este modelo de crecimiento con todas las decisiones que haya que tomar" (Diario Digital 25-04-2012); (2) Rossi aseguró que votarán a favor de YPF unos doscientos diputados (La Nación 28-04-2012). Este hecho ha sido analizado por innumerables estudios y autores, muchos de los cuales se han aproximado a este tema desde la perspectiva variacionista que relaciona significados y contextos (Martínez 1987, Sedano 1994, Company 1999, Alaniz 2010); esta perspectiva explica dicha alternancia por medio de un continuum de factualidad el cual va desde la mayor factualidad de la perífrasis a la menor factualidad de la forma sintética. El análisis de los datos de acuerdo con dichos significados básicos postulados parecía confirmar la hipótesis, al menos en los contextos relacionados con la comunicación oral cotidiana (Martínez 1987). Sin embargo, un estudio más profundo sobre los usos de dichas formas en otros géneros discursivos (Mailhes 2010) nos lleva a replantearnos los significados básicos. En este sentido, la hipótesis que nos interesa confirmar es que las formas se encuentran vinculadas a la evaluación de los hechos por medio de la posibilidad de ejercer control sobre los mismos . Si existe control, se puede seleccionar la perífrasis; si no existe, la forma sintética será más apropiada. La ausencia de control puede dar lugar a una posibilidad más o menos remota así como a la profecía, dos esferas donde la variación es explotada

Back to the future to revisit meanings

Tanto en los estudios sincrónicos como en los diacrónicos queda en evidencia que el español posee diferentes formas de expresar el tiempo futuro. Por ejemplo, la desinencia del futuro morfológico (-ré) alterna en el español actual con la perífrasis verbal ir+a+infinitivo tal y como se ve en los siguientes ejemplos de la variedad rioplatense: (1) CFK advirtió que "Vamos a sostener este modelo de crecimiento con todas las decisiones que haya que tomar" (Diario Digital 25-04-2012); (2) Rossi aseguró que votarán a favor de YPF unos doscientos diputados (La Nación 28-04-2012). Este hecho ha sido analizado por innumerables estudios y autores, muchos de los cuales se han aproximado a este tema desde la perspectiva variacionista que relaciona significados y contextos (Martínez 1987, Sedano 1994, Company 1999, Alaniz 2010); esta perspectiva explica dicha alternancia por medio de un continuum de factualidad el cual va desde la mayor factualidad de la perífrasis a la menor factualidad de la forma sintética. El análisis de los datos de acuerdo con dichos significados básicos postulados parecía confirmar la hipótesis, al menos en los contextos relacionados con la comunicación oral cotidiana (Martínez 1987). Sin embargo, un estudio más profundo sobre los usos de dichas formas en otros géneros discursivos (Mailhes 2010) nos lleva a replantearnos los significados básicos. En este sentido, la hipótesis que nos interesa confirmar es que las formas se encuentran vinculadas a la evaluación de los hechos por medio de la posibilidad de ejercer control sobre los mismos . Si existe control, se puede seleccionar la perífrasis; si no existe, la forma sintética será más apropiada. La ausencia de control puede dar lugar a una posibilidad más o menos remota así como a la profecía, dos esferas donde la variación es explotada

Back to the future to revisit meanings

Tanto en los estudios sincrónicos como en los diacrónicos queda en evidencia que el español posee diferentes formas de expresar el tiempo futuro. Por ejemplo, la desinencia del futuro morfológico (-ré) alterna en el español actual con la perífrasis verbal ir+a+infinitivo tal y como se ve en los siguientes ejemplos de la variedad rioplatense: (1) CFK advirtió que "Vamos a sostener este modelo de crecimiento con todas las decisiones que haya que tomar" (Diario Digital 25-04-2012); (2) Rossi aseguró que votarán a favor de YPF unos doscientos diputados (La Nación 28-04-2012). Este hecho ha sido analizado por innumerables estudios y autores, muchos de los cuales se han aproximado a este tema desde la perspectiva variacionista que relaciona significados y contextos (Martínez 1987, Sedano 1994, Company 1999, Alaniz 2010); esta perspectiva explica dicha alternancia por medio de un continuum de factualidad el cual va desde la mayor factualidad de la perífrasis a la menor factualidad de la forma sintética. El análisis de los datos de acuerdo con dichos significados básicos postulados parecía confirmar la hipótesis, al menos en los contextos relacionados con la comunicación oral cotidiana (Martínez 1987). Sin embargo, un estudio más profundo sobre los usos de dichas formas en otros géneros discursivos (Mailhes 2010) nos lleva a replantearnos los significados básicos. En este sentido, la hipótesis que nos interesa confirmar es que las formas se encuentran vinculadas a la evaluación de los hechos por medio de la posibilidad de ejercer control sobre los mismos . Si existe control, se puede seleccionar la perífrasis; si no existe, la forma sintética será más apropiada. La ausencia de control puede dar lugar a una posibilidad más o menos remota así como a la profecía, dos esferas donde la variación es explotada

Stable isotope analysis and biomarkers of carbonates from the Columbia River in southwestern Washington, USA

Exotic limestone masses with silicified fossils, enclosed within deep-water marine siliciclastic sediments of the Early to Middle Miocene Astoria Formation, are exposed along the north shore of the Columbia River in southwestern Washington, USA. Samples from four localities were studied to clarify the origin and diagenesis of these limestone deposits. The bioturbated and reworked limestones contain a faunal assemblage resembling that of modern and Cenozoic deep-water methane-seeps. Five phases make up the paragenetic sequence: (1) micrite and microspar; (2) fibrous, banded and botryoidal aragonite cement, partially replaced by silica or recrystallized to calcite; (3) yellow calcite; (4) quartz replacing carbonate phases and quartz cement; and (5) equant calcite spar and pseudospar. Layers of pyrite frequently separate different carbonate phases and generations, indicating periods of corrosion. Negative d13Ccarbonate values as low as -37.6 per mill V-PDB reveal an uptake of methane-derived carbon. In other cases, d13Ccarbonate values as high as 7.1 per mill point to a residual, 13C-enriched carbon pool affected by methanogenesis. Lipid biomarkers include 13C-depleted, archaeal 2,6,10,15,19-pentamethylicosane (PMI; d13C: -128 per mill), crocetane and phytane, as well as various iso- and anteiso-carbon chains, most likely derived from sulphate-reducing bacteria. The biomarker inventory proves that the majority of the carbonates formed as a consequence of sulphate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane. Silicification of fossils and early diagenetic carbonate cements as well as the precipitation of quartz cement - also observed in other methane-seep limestones enclosed in sediments with abundant diatoms or radiolarians - is a consequence of a preceding increase of alkalinity due to anaerobic oxidation of methane, inducing the dissolution of silica skeletons. Once anaerobic oxidation of methane has ceased, the pH drops again and silica phases can precipitate.

Plant communities and soil chemistry of shrub-steppe and pine savannah grasslands in southern British Columbia, Canada

Habitat fragmentation alters the edges of remnant habitat patches. We examined changes in the plant community and soil in relation to distance from edge and edge type for shrub-steppe and pine savannah grasslands in southern British Columbia, Canada. Community composition showed significant nonlinear relationships with distance-to-edge more frequently at paved roads and fruit crops than at dirt roads or control sites (i.e., in the interior of grassland patches), with changes typically extending 25-30 m. More exotic species and fewer native species were found near edges, and edges showed decreased cryptogam cover and increased bare ground, especially near paved roads. The soil factors that best predicted compositional changes were soil pH and Cu/Mn at paved roads, soil pH and nitrogen at fruit crops, and soil resistance at dirt roads. Variation partitioning suggested that both direct (e.g., propagule pressure) and indirect (environmental change) factors mediated edge-related community changes, and provided evidence that nonlinear responses at developed edges were not due to natural gradients. Given the range of grassland patch sizes in this region (many patches 1-100 ha), the edge effects we observed represent a considerable loss of "core" habitat, which must be accounted for in conservation planning and site restoration.