University System of Maryland

This research aims to investigate how sales type, product type, and price influence net profit in an F&B outlet using a Data Warehouse system. A quantitative method was applied by integrating daily transaction data into a Data Warehouse architecture built through an Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) process, allowing the data to be more organized and easier to analyze. To address heteroskedasticity and obtain more reliable coefficient estimates, multiple linear regression with HC3 robust standard errors was used. The results show that price and sales type have a significant and positive effect on net profit, while product type shows mixed effects depending on the category. The regression model, with an R² value of 0.994, indicates that these three variables explain most of the variation in net profit. Overall, the findings highlight how structured data processing through a Data Warehouse can support profitability analysis and improve decision-making in F&B operations.

This article describes an innovative approach to developing open educational resources (OER) through student-faculty partnerships in a public speaking program. Facing inconsistent instruction across 50+ adjunct-taught sections and high textbook costs, we moved beyond merely adopting existing OER to actively engaging students as co-creators. Innovations included: (a) remixing an existing OER textbook with student annotations and local examples; (b) integrating undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) and peer mentors to record model speeches and provide support; and (c) co-authoring materials, including a companion textbook on speech apprehension. Benefits included complete elimination of textbook costs, improved teaching consistency, increased student confidence, and more relevant, representative content. We also navigated challenges such as time constraints, pedagogical gaps, logistical issues, power differentials, technological difficulties, and sustainability concerns. Our experience demonstrates how collaborative OER development can reimagine faculty-student relationships and produce materials that are rigorous, accessible, and engaging for students.

Abstract Uranium‐series dates from coral boulders constrain the timing of a medieval tsunami from the Puerto Rico Trench. Previously reported evidence for this tsunami includes hundreds of coral boulders that came to rest hundreds of meters inland on Anegada, British Virgin Islands. New U‐series dates on these coral boulders provide limiting dates for the tsunami. The narrowest limits were by dating interior bands of a coral that retains the hemispherical form of a living coral colony, and which include adjustments for the number of annual density band couplets between the dated samples and the boulder exteriors. By those limits, the tsunami dates between 1381 and 1391 CE, and likely occurred during summer or fall. The tsunami is important as the only reported sign that the eastern Puerto Rico Trench has produced a great earthquake. The dating may aid in defining the earthquake source and in communicating tsunami hazards.

Background:Waste incineration in Baltimore, USA, involves two major facilities: a municipal solid waste incinerator (WIN Waste) and the nation’s largest medical waste incinerator (Curtis Bay Medical Waste Incinerator). Both operate in socio-economically disadvantaged communities, raising concerns about cumulative environmental exposures and health disparities from hazardous air pollutants.Methods:We estimated health impacts from available criteria incinerator emissions data (PM, NOx, SO2, CO). We used AERMOD to model ground-level pollutant concentrations, linked these to U.S. Census tracts, and monetized health damages using established relative risk and cost of illness data. Health disparities were evaluated by modeling incinerator-attributable mortality against the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI).Findings:In 2024, the WIN Waste incinerator caused an estimated $53.8 million in health damages in Maryland and Washington DC. On average, the Curtis Bay Medical Waste Incinerator releases black smoke emissions for 52.5 minutes/day, a regulatory violation. The facility causes $36.9 million/year in health damages and is permitted to burn enough waste to cause up to $107.1 million/year; enforcing pollution controls at this site could prevent $13.8 million in annual harm in Baltimore. Combined, the two incinerators cause $97.0 million in damages annually. All-cause mortality from incinerator pollution was more common in communities with higher socioeconomic vulnerability.Interpretation:Despite being required to install new pollution control equipment following community and regulatory pressure, the WIN Waste incinerator still causes significant health damages to Maryland and Washington DC. Meanwhile, repeated black smoke emissions from the Curtis Bay incinerator indicate that ongoing, uncontrolled pollution is also a major threat to public health in the region. Health damages from these incinerators disproportionately affect communities least able to bear the economic burden. Our conservative estimates highlight the need for urgent policy reforms, including stricter emissions monitoring, phasing out non-essential incineration, and ongoing cumulative impact assessments.

ABSTRACT The Adelphi School of Social Work and the College of Nursing and Public Health received a training grant from Health Resource and Services Administration to train social workers and psychiatric nurse practitioners to work in interprofessional teams. Within the fellowship, we sought to conduct a pilot study using virtual simulation as an intervention to close gaps in self-identified student learning needs. Between two cohorts, 52 students participated in a virtual simulation. Students reported improved levels of confidence and felt the simulations prepared them for work in their respective fields. Students also noted several challenges, such as the need for immediate debriefing post simulation, technical difficulties in using an online platform, and a desire to connect more with their interprofessional counterparts.

Introduction: Prior studies have shown the association between oral infection, white matter hyperintensity (WMH), a marker of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), and asymptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS). However, the impact of preventative oral behavior such as dental flossing is unknown. The relationship between flossing CSVD,&ICAS was tested using the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort study. Methods: 3T MRI and MRA were performed in visit 5. CSVD was assessed using the log of WMH volume. WMH volume was derived from a semiautomated segmentation of FLAIR images, 3D time-of-flight MR angiogram and 3D high-isotropic resolution black blood MRI. ICAS was graded according to the criteria established by the Warfarin-Aspirin Symptomatic Intracranial Disease trial. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between flossing and ICAS, defined as ≥50% stenosis. Flossing was assessed by a medical history questionnaire performed in visit 4. Student t-tests were performed to test continuous variables, and X 2 test was used to compare categorical variables. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for multivariate testing of continuous variables and multivariable logistic regression analyses for categorical variables. Results: Among subjects who underwent vascular imaging, 1033 (90%) had <50% ICAS and 112 (10%) had ≥50% ICAS. Dental flossing was significantly associated with lower rates of ICAS≥50% (Crude OR 0.59 95% CI 0.39-0.90). The association remained significant after adjustment for age, race, gender, hypertension, diabetes, smoking status, education level and regular dental care use (Adjusted OR 0.61 95% CI 0.38-0.97). The log WMH volume was higher (9.5±0.85 vs. 9.3±0.89), the difference being statistically significant (p=0.003). The difference remained significant after adjustment for age and SBP (p=0.002). Conclusion: We report a significant association between flossing, reduced WMH volume and ≥50% ICAS. This may be one of the first reported associations between dental flossing, and reduced WMH volume (a CSVD indicator) and moderately severe ICAS. These results emphasize the importance of dental flossing in reducing the rates of CSVD and moderately severe ICAS, both known risk factors for ischemic stroke.

The demand for pediatric mental health services has exceeded the supply of mental health providers for decades and increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the federal administration’s interest in passing a major funding bill to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors recognized an opportunity to collaborate in an advocacy effort to request federal financial support for Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Programs (PMHCAPs). The challenges of the pandemic and limited travel became assets as the advocacy team, who lived hundreds of miles apart in 2 states, met virtually with each other and with Congressional staff during February of 2021 on a tight timeline. In March of 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan that provided $80 million for PMHCAPs.