In this paper, I outline the drawbacks with the two main behavioral approaches to animal behavior problems and argue that each alone is insufficient to underpin a field of clinical animal behavior. Applied ethology offers an interest in an animal’s spontaneous behavior in natural contexts, understood within an ecological and evolutionary context, but lacks an awareness of mechanisms that can be manipulated to modify the behavior of individual animals. Behaviorism in the form of Applied Behavior Analysis offers a toolkit of techniques for modifying the behavior of individual animals, but has seldom been applied to non-human species, and often overlooks phylogenetic aspects of behavior. Notwithstanding the historical animosities between the two fields of animal behavior they are philosophically highly compatible – both being empiricist schools stemming ultimately from Darwin’s insights. Though each individually is incomplete, I argue that an integrated approach that synthesizes the strengths of each holds great promise in helping the many animals who need our assistance to survive and thrive in human-dominated environments.

This item includes:

1) The official bracket files for the 2022 MMM tournament

2) A screen-reader enabled bracket file

3) 2022 March Mammal Madness Educational Materials Packet – in English

4) 2022 March Mammal Madness Educational Materials Packet – in Spanish

5) March Mammal Madness, Middle School Lesson Plan : Ecosystems & National Parks

6) March Mammal Madness, High School Lesson Plan : Ecosystems & National Parks 

Since 2018, MMM team members have written sport-style summaries following the live "play-by-play" narration of simulated combatant encounters on social media. These summaries, highlighting key adaptations, human impacts, and other scholarly information, have been provided to educators to describe tournament outcomes to their learners who do not follow the battle narrations "live" on social media.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more people die in the U.S. from heat than from all other natural disasters combined. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more than 1,300 deaths per year in the United States are due to extreme heat. Arizona, California and Texas are the three states with the highest burden, accounting for 43% of all heat-related deaths according to the CDC.

Although only 5% of housing in Maricopa County, Arizona, is mobile homes, approximately 30% of indoor heat-related deaths occur in these homes. Thus, the residents of mobile homes in Maricopa County are disproportionately affected by heat. Mobile home residents are extremely exposed to heat due to the high density of mobile home parks, poor construction of dwellings, lack of vegetation, socio-demographic features and not being eligible to get utility and financial assistance.

We researched numerous solutions across different domains that could help build the heat resilience of mobile home residents. As a result we found 50 different solutions for diverse stakeholders, budgets and available resources. The goal of this toolbox is to present these solutions and to explain how to apply them in order to get the most optimal result and build About this Solutions Guide People who live in mobile homes are 6 to 8 times more likely to die of heat-associated deaths. heat resilience for mobile home residents. These solutions were designed as a coordinated set of actions for everyone — individual households, mobile home residents, mobile home park owners, cities and counties, private businesses and nonprofits serving mobile home parks, and other stakeholders — to be able to contribute to heat mitigation for mobile home residents.

When we invest in a collective, coordinated suite of solutions that are designed specifically to address the heat vulnerability of mobile homes residents, we can realize a resilience dividend in maintaining affordable, feasible, liveable housing for the 20 million Americans who choose mobile homes and manufactured housing as their place to live and thrive.

En la zona metropolitana de Phoenix, el calor urbano está afectando la salud, la seguridad y la economía y se espera que estos impactos empeoren con el tiempo. Se prevé que el número de días por encima de 110˚F aumentará más del doble para el 2060. En mayo de 2017, The Nature Conservancy, el Departamento de Salud Pública del condado de Maricopa, Central Arizona Conservation Alliance, la Red de Investigación en Sostenibilidad sobre la Resiliencia Urbana a Eventos Extremos, el Centro de Investigación del Clima Urbano de Arizona State University y el Center for Whole Communities lanzaron un proceso participativo de planificación de acciones contra el calor para identificar tanto estrategias de mitigación como de adaptación a fin de reducir directamente el calor y mejorar la capacidad de los residentes para lidiar con el calor. Las organizaciones comunitarias con relaciones existentes en tres vecindarios seleccionados para la planificación de acciones contra el calor se unieron más tarde al equipo del proyecto: Phoenix Revitalization Corporation, RAILMesa y Puente Movement. Más allá de construir un plan de acción comunitario contra el calor y completar proyectos de demostración, este proceso participativo fue diseñado para desarrollar conciencia, iniciativa y cohesión social en las comunidades subrepresentadas. Asimismo el proceso de planificación de acciones contra el calor fue diseñado para servir como modelo para esfuerzos futuros de resiliencia al calor y crear una visión local, contextual y culturalmente apropiada de un futuro más seguro y saludable. El método iterativo de planificación y participación utilizado por el equipo del proyecto fortaleció las relaciones dentro y entre los vecindarios, las organizaciones comunitarias, los responsables de la toma de decisiones y el equipo núcleo, y combinó la sabiduría de la narración de historias y la evidencia científica para comprender mejor los desafíos actuales y futuros que enfrentan los residentes durante eventos de calor extremo. Como resultado de tres talleres en cada comunidad, los residentes presentaron ideas que quieren ver implementadas para aumentar su comodidad y seguridad térmica durante los días de calor extremo.

Como se muestra a continuación, las ideas de los residentes se interceptaron en torno a conceptos similares, pero las soluciones específicas variaron entre los vecindarios. Por ejemplo, a todos los vecindarios les gustaría agregar sombra a sus corredores peatonales, pero variaron las preferencias para la ubicación de las mejoras para dar sombra. Algunos vecindarios priorizaron las rutas de transporte público, otros priorizaron las rutas utilizadas por los niños en su camino a la escuela y otros quieren paradas de descanso con sombra en lugares clave. Surgieron cuatro temas estratégicos generales en los tres vecindarios: promover y educar; mejorar la comodidad/capacidad de afrontamiento; mejorar la seguridad; fortalecer la capacidad. Estos temas señalan que existen serios desafíos de seguridad contra el calor en la vida diaria de los residentes y que la comunidad, los negocios y los sectores responsables de la toma de decisión deben abordar esos desafíos.

Los elementos del plan de acción contra el calor están diseñados para incorporarse a otros esfuerzos para aliviar el calor, crear ciudades resilientes al clima y brindar salud y seguridad pública. Los socios de implementación del plan de acción contra el calor provienen de la región de la zona metropolitana de Phoenix, y se brindan recomendaciones para apoyar la transformación a una ciudad más fresca.

Para ampliar la escala de este enfoque, los miembros del equipo del proyecto recomiendan a) compromiso continuo e inversiones en estos vecindarios para implementar el cambio señalado como vital por los residentes, b) repetir el proceso de planificación de acción contra el calor con líderes comunitarios en otros vecindarios, y c) trabajar con las ciudades, los planificadores urbanos y otras partes interesadas para institucionalizar este proceso, apoyando las políticas y el uso de las métricas propuestas para crear comunidades más frescas.

Being prepared to respond to difficult situations that arise in public health practice is an essential skill for the public health workforce.This empathic responding guide was designed to train students, volunteers, and staff of the ASU COVID-19 Case Investigation Team. The guide provides an overview of empathic communication, walks through a framework for responding with empathy, and outlines common difficult situations that arise in public health along with ways to respond with empathy to these situations. This guide can be adapted to a wide variety of settings and is meant to be used as a training tool for public health case investigators and other staff. This guide, available in a full and an abridged version, can be paired with hands-on workshops to provide engaging continuing education opportunities for public health teams.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and the resulting closures of schools, businesses, and restaurants led to a massive economic disruption in Arizona. The unemployment rate at its peak reached 14.2% (April 2020) - a level even higher than during the great recession of 2008. High unemployment rates, coupled with a breakdown of local and national food supply chains, led to a remarkable increase in food insecurity rates among Arizona households. More than a year later, as vaccines became widely available and restrictions were lifted, schools and business began to reopen, and most activities slowly returned to pre-pandemic standards. The effects of the pandemic on food insecurity and food-related behaviors, however, might have long-lasting effects. This brief describes levels of food insecurity, food assistance program participation, job disruption, and food related behaviors among 814 households in Arizona, in the 12 months preceding the pandemic (March 2019 – March 2020) and approximately one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic ( January 2021 –April 2021). Data collection took place between April and May 2021.

Background

Participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) among 0- to 5-year-old children is associated with healthier diets. Extension of dietary benefits to older, age-ineligible children (5-18 years old) residing in WIC households has not been fully investigated.

Objective

Examine the association between household WIC participation and dietary behaviors of age-ineligible children.

Design

Cross-sectional secondary analysis of data collected from 2 independent panels (2009-2010 and 2014) of the New Jersey Child Health Study, using household surveys. Questions derived from national surveys assessed consumption frequency of specific foods among 5- to 18-year-old children.

Participants/setting

The analytic sample included 616 age-ineligible children from households with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, 398 of whom were from WIC-participating households.

Main outcome measures

Eating behaviors were measured as frequency of daily consumption of fruit, vegetables, 100% juice, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sweet and salty snacks.

Statistical analysis

Multivariable negative binomial models examined the association between eating behaviors and household WIC participation status adjusting for child’s age, sex, and race; mother’s education; city of residence; household size; and panel. Results are expressed as incidence rate ratios (IRRs).

Results

Household WIC participation was not associated with dietary behaviors among age-ineligible children (5-18 years old) in the overall sample. However, healthier dietary patterns were observed for specific demographic groups. Compared with age-ineligible children in non-WIC households, age-ineligible children in WIC households had (1) a higher frequency of vegetable consumption among 12- to 18-year-old children (IRR = 1.29; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.58; P = .015); (2) a marginally significant higher frequency of 100% juice consumption among females (IRR = 1.27; 95% CI 1.00-1.62; P = .053); and (3) a lower frequency of sugar-sweetened beverages consumption among Hispanic children (IRR = 0.61; 95% CI 0.43-0.86; P = .004).

Conclusions

Household WIC participation may positively influence dietary behaviors of age-ineligible children, suggesting a possible WIC spillover effect. Revisions to WIC package composition should consider the possible dietary implications for all children in the household.

Background

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the country’s largest nutrition assistance program for low-income populations. Although SNAP has been shown to reduce food insecurity, research findings on the diet quality of program participants are inconsistent.

Objective

This study evaluated whether the community food environment is a potential moderator of the association between SNAP participation and eating behaviors.

Design

This cross-sectional study used participant data from a telephone survey of 2,211 households in four cities in New Jersey. Data were collected from two cross-sectional panels from 2009 to 2010 and 2014. Food outlet data were purchased from commercial sources and classified as supermarkets, small grocery stores, convenience stores, or limited service restaurants.

Participants/setting

Analysis is limited to 983 respondents (588 SNAP participants) with household incomes below 130% of the federal poverty level.

Main outcome measures

Eating behaviors were assessed as frequency of consumption of fruit, vegetables, salad, and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Statistical analyses performed

Interaction and stratified analyses using gamma regression determined the differences in the association between SNAP participation and eating behaviors by the presence or absence of food outlets adjusted for covariates.

Results

SNAP participation was associated with a higher frequency of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (P<0.05) when respondents lived within ¼ to ½ mile of a small grocery store, supermarket, and limited service restaurant. SNAP participants who did not live close to a convenience store reported a lower frequency of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (P=0.01), and those living more than ½ mile away from a supermarket reported a lower frequency of fruit consumption (P=0.03).

Conclusions

The findings from this study suggest that the community food environment may play a role in moderating the association between SNAP participation and eating behaviors. Although SNAP participation is associated with some unhealthy behaviors, this association may only hold true when respondents live in certain food environments.