Sample records for margins research program

  1. Power, discourse, and resistance: Poststructuralist influences in nursing.

    PubMed

    Holmes, Dave; Gagnon, Marilou

    2018-01-01

    Based on our respective research programs (psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, public health, HIV/AIDS, harm reduction) this article aims to use purposely non-conventional means to present the substantial contribution of poststructuralist perspectives to knowledge development in nursing science in general and in our current research in particular. More specifically, we call on the work of Michel Foucault and Deleuze & Guattari to politicize nursing science using examples from our empirical research programs with marginal and often highly marginalized populations. We discuss the concepts of power, discourse, and resistance to illustrate the essential contribution of poststructuralism to marginal, even "nomadic", nursing research. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. NRC Continental Margins Workshop

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Katsouros, Mary Hope

    The Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council is organizing a workshop, “Continental Margins: Evolution of Passive Continental Margins and Active Marginal Processes,” to stimulate discussion and longterm planning in the scientific community about the evolution of all types of continental margins. We want to coordinate academic, industry, and government agency efforts in this field, and to enhance communication between sea-based and land-based research programs.The continental margins constitute the only available record of the long-term dynamic interaction of oceanic and continental lithosphere. Of great interest are the unique structures and thick sedimentary sequences associated with this interaction. A major focus of the workshop will be to define strategies for exploring and understanding the continental margins in three dimensions and through geologic time. The workshop will be divided into 7 working groups, each concentrating on a major issue in continental margins research. A background document is being prepared summarizing recent research in specific continental margin fields and identifying key scientific and technical issues.

  3. The Development of Dynamic Human Reliability Analysis Simulations for Inclusion in Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization Frameworks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jeffrey C. Joe; Diego Mandelli; Ronald L. Boring

    2015-07-01

    The United States Department of Energy is sponsoring the Light Water Reactor Sustainability program, which has the overall objective of supporting the near-term and the extended operation of commercial nuclear power plants. One key research and development (R&D) area in this program is the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization pathway, which combines probabilistic risk simulation with thermohydraulic simulation codes to define and manage safety margins. The R&D efforts to date, however, have not included robust simulations of human operators, and how the reliability of human performance or lack thereof (i.e., human errors) can affect risk-margins and plant performance. This paper describesmore » current and planned research efforts to address the absence of robust human reliability simulations and thereby increase the fidelity of simulated accident scenarios.« less

  4. Fulfilling Their Dreams: Marginalized Urban Youths' Perspectives on a Culturally Sensitive Social and Emotional Learning Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slaten, Christopher D.; Rivera, Roberto C.; Shemwell, Daniel; Elison, Zachary M.

    2016-01-01

    A growing body of research suggests educators need to focus on cultivating social and emotional competencies that youth will need to thrive in the new knowledge economy (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). For marginalized urban youth, in particular, few have derived programs and interventions to assist with these…

  5. NanTroSEIZE in 3-D: Creating a Virtual Research Experience in Undergraduate Geoscience Courses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reed, D. L.; Bangs, N. L.; Moore, G. F.; Tobin, H.

    2009-12-01

    Marine research programs, both large and small, have increasingly added a web-based component to facilitate outreach to K-12 and the public, in general. These efforts have included, among other activities, information-rich websites, ship-to-shore communication with scientists during expeditions, blogs at sea, clips on YouTube, and information about daily shipboard activities. Our objective was to leverage a portion of the vast collection of data acquired through the NSF-MARGINS program to create a learning tool with a long lifespan for use in undergraduate geoscience courses. We have developed a web-based virtual expedition, NanTroSEIZE in 3-D, based on a seismic survey associated with the NanTroSEIZE program of NSF-MARGINS and IODP to study the properties of the plate boundary fault system in the upper limit of the seismogenic zone off Japan. The virtual voyage can be used in undergraduate classes at anytime, since it is not directly tied to the finite duration of a specific seagoing project. The website combines text, graphics, audio and video to place learning in an experiential framework as students participate on the expedition and carry out research. Students learn about the scientific background of the program, especially the critical role of international collaboration, and meet the chief scientists before joining the sea-going expedition. Students are presented with the principles of 3-D seismic imaging, data processing and interpretation while mapping and identifying the active faults that were the likely sources of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan in 1944 and 1948. They also learn about IODP drilling that began in 2007 and will extend through much of the next decade. The website is being tested in undergraduate classes in fall 2009 and will be distributed through the NSF-MARGINS website (http://www.nsf-margins.org/) and the MARGINS Mini-lesson section of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) (http://serc.carleton.edu/margins/collection.html) in early 2010.

  6. The Single Sex Debate for Girls in Science: a Comparison Between Two Informal Science Programs on Middle School Students' STEM Identity Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hughes, Roxanne M.; Nzekwe, Brandon; Molyneaux, Kristen J.

    2013-10-01

    Currently, there are policy debates regarding the efficacy and legality of single sex formal and informal education programs. This issue is particularly poignant in science education due to the historical marginalization of women in these fields. This marginalization has resulted in women being positioned as a stigmatized group within many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. Research points to adolescence as the age where this sense of marginalization begins to develop. As a result, policy responses have utilized various frameworks such as: increased access for women, changing pedagogy to address women's learning styles, changing the language and culture of science to prevent marginalization of stigmatized groups, and finally exploring the role that individual identity plays in the marginalization of women. This study adds to the policy debate as it applies to single sex education by comparing middle school participants' STEM identity formation during two informal science learning environments (an all girls' STEM camp and a co-educational STEM camp). Additionally, this study focuses on the influence of camp activities within two informal science education programs: particularly the provision of role models and authentic STEM research activities, as means to improve STEM identity and make these fields relevant to the lives of middle school students. The results indicate that both camps improved girls' STEM identities. These findings suggest that the single sex environment is not as important to STEM identity as the pedagogy used within the program.

  7. Transformational Bilingual Learning: Re-Engaging Marginalized Learners through Language, Culture, Community, and Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tulloch, Shelley; Kusugak, Adriana; Chenier, Cayla; Pilakapsi, Quluaq; Uluqsi, Gloria; Walton, Fiona

    2017-01-01

    The Miqqut project was a participatory action research project through which Inuit language and literacy learning was embedded in a traditional skills program. Community-based researchers tracked learners' progress through entrance, exit, and post-program interviews and questionnaires, as well as through participant observation. Results show that…

  8. Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program FY13 Status Update for EPRI - RISMC Collaboration

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Smith, Curtis

    2013-09-01

    The purpose of the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway research and development (R&D) is to support plant decisions for risk-informed margins management with the aim to improve economics, reliability, and sustain safety of current NPPs. Goals of the RISMC Pathway are twofold: (1) Develop and demonstrate a risk-assessment method coupled to safety margin quantification that can be used by NPP decision makers as part of their margin recovery strategies. (2) Create an advanced "RISMC toolkit" that enables more accurate representation of NPP safety margin. In order to carry out the R&D needed for the Pathway, the Idaho Nationalmore » Laboratory (INL) is collaborating with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in order to focus on applications of interest to the U.S. nuclear power industry. This report documents the collaboration activities performed between INL and EPRI during FY2013.« less

  9. Highly integrated digital engine control system on an F-15 airplane

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burcham, F. W., Jr.; Haering, E. A., Jr.

    1984-01-01

    The highly integrated digital electronic control (HIDEC) program will demonstrate and evaluate the improvements in performance and mission effectiveness that result from integrated engine-airframe control systems. This system is being used on the F-15 airplane at the Dryden Flight Research Facility of NASA Ames Research Center. An integrated flightpath management mode and an integrated adaptive engine stall margin mode are being implemented into the system. The adaptive stall margin mode is a highly integrated mode in which the airplane flight conditions, the resulting inlet distortion, and the engine stall margin are continuously computed; the excess stall margin is used to uptrim the engine for more thrust. The integrated flightpath management mode optimizes the flightpath and throttle setting to reach a desired flight condition. The increase in thrust and the improvement in airplane performance is discussed in this paper.

  10. A primer on marginal effects-part II: health services research applications.

    PubMed

    Onukwugha, E; Bergtold, J; Jain, R

    2015-02-01

    Marginal analysis evaluates changes in a regression function associated with a unit change in a relevant variable. The primary statistic of marginal analysis is the marginal effect (ME). The ME facilitates the examination of outcomes for defined patient profiles or individuals while measuring the change in original units (e.g., costs, probabilities). The ME has a long history in economics; however, it is not widely used in health services research despite its flexibility and ability to provide unique insights. This article, the second in a two-part series, discusses practical issues that arise in the estimation and interpretation of the ME for a variety of regression models often used in health services research. Part one provided an overview of prior studies discussing ME followed by derivation of ME formulas for various regression models relevant for health services research studies examining costs and utilization. The current article illustrates the calculation and interpretation of ME in practice and discusses practical issues that arise during the implementation, including: understanding differences between software packages in terms of functionality available for calculating the ME and its confidence interval, interpretation of average marginal effect versus marginal effect at the mean, and the difference between ME and relative effects (e.g., odds ratio). Programming code to calculate ME using SAS, STATA, LIMDEP, and MATLAB are also provided. The illustration, discussion, and application of ME in this two-part series support the conduct of future studies applying the concept of marginal analysis.

  11. Examining marginalized communities and local conservation institutions: the case of Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area.

    PubMed

    Dahal, Smriti; Nepal, Sanjay K; Schuett, Michael A

    2014-01-01

    In developing countries, participatory conservation initiatives have been criticized for many reasons, mainly for excluding marginalized groups which have led to unequal benefits. Using concepts from the literature on participation, conservation, and political ecology, this research explored the participation of marginal groups, i.e., poor, women, lower caste, and landless, in management institutions in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. Field work for this research was conducted through the use of interviews and participant observation during August-October 2010. Results show that although marginal groups were involved in local management institutions, their representation was minimal and had not led to meaningful participation or empowerment to influence the decisions being made in conservation and development programs. Our study findings indicate that the involvement of marginal groups in local initiatives is complex and influenced by several factors. The study concludes that the Annapurna Conservation Area Project needs to re-orient its conservation projects by adopting a more inclusive form of participation and move beyond the quota system.

  12. Examining Marginalized Communities and Local Conservation Institutions: The Case of Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dahal, Smriti; Nepal, Sanjay K.; Schuett, Michael A.

    2014-01-01

    In developing countries, participatory conservation initiatives have been criticized for many reasons, mainly for excluding marginalized groups which have led to unequal benefits. Using concepts from the literature on participation, conservation, and political ecology, this research explored the participation of marginal groups, i.e., poor, women, lower caste, and landless, in management institutions in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. Field work for this research was conducted through the use of interviews and participant observation during August-October 2010. Results show that although marginal groups were involved in local management institutions, their representation was minimal and had not led to meaningful participation or empowerment to influence the decisions being made in conservation and development programs. Our study findings indicate that the involvement of marginal groups in local initiatives is complex and influenced by several factors. The study concludes that the Annapurna Conservation Area Project needs to re-orient its conservation projects by adopting a more inclusive form of participation and move beyond the quota system.

  13. Risk Informed Margins Management as part of Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Curtis Smith

    2014-06-01

    The ability to better characterize and quantify safety margin is important to improved decision making about Light Water Reactor (LWR) design, operation, and plant life extension. A systematic approach to characterization of safety margins and the subsequent margin management options represents a vital input to the licensee and regulatory analysis and decision making that will be involved. In addition, as research and development in the LWR Sustainability (LWRS) Program and other collaborative efforts yield new data, sensors, and improved scientific understanding of physical processes that govern the aging and degradation of plant SSCs needs and opportunities to better optimize plantmore » safety and performance will become known. To support decision making related to economics, readability, and safety, the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway provides methods and tools that enable mitigation options known as risk informed margins management (RIMM) strategies.« less

  14. MARGINS: Toward a novel science plan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mutter, John C.

    A science plan to study continental margins has been in the works for the past 3 years, with almost 200 Earth scientists from a wide variety of disciplines gathering at meetings and workshops. Most geological hazards and resources are found at continental margins, yet our understanding of the processes that shape the margins is meager.In formulating this MARGINS research initiative, fundamental issues concerning our understanding of basic Earth-forming processes have arisen. It is clear that a business-as-usual approach will not solve the class of problems defined by the MARGINS program; the solutions demand approaches different from those used in the past. In many cases, a different class of experiment will be required, one that is well beyond the capability of individual principle investigators to undertake on their own. In most cases, broadly based interdisciplinary studies will be needed.

  15. The Nature and Frequency of Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Program Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jacobson, Miriam R.; Azzam, Tarek; Baez, Jeanette G.

    2013-01-01

    Although evaluation theorists over the last two decades have argued for the importance of including stakeholders from marginalized groups in program planning and research, little is known about the degree of inclusion in program evaluation practice. In particular, we know little about the type and level of inclusion of people with intellectual,…

  16. The Use of a Structured Literacy Program To Facilitate the Inclusion of Marginal and Special Education Students into Regular Classes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Center, Yola; Freeman, Louella

    This research review examined the use of a whole class early literacy program in classes which included disadvantaged and at-risk children in Australia. The program, Schoolwide Early Language and Literacy (SWELL), is based on an interactive compensatory theory of literacy acquisition adapted from Success for All, a U.S. early literacy program. The…

  17. Helicopter human factors research

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nagel, David C.; Hart, Sandra G.

    1988-01-01

    Helicopter flight is among the most demanding of all human-machine integrations. The inherent manual control complexities of rotorcraft are made even more challenging by the small margin for error created in certain operations, such as nap-of-the-Earth (NOE) flight, by the proximity of the terrain. Accident data recount numerous examples of unintended conflict between helicopters and terrain and attest to the perceptual and control difficulties associated with low altitude flight tasks. Ames Research Center, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate, has initiated an ambitious research program aimed at increasing safety margins for both civilian and military rotorcraft operations. The program is broad, fundamental, and focused on the development of scientific understandings and technological countermeasures. Research being conducted in several areas is reviewed: workload assessment, prediction, and measure validation; development of advanced displays and effective pilot/automation interfaces; identification of visual cues necessary for low-level, low-visibility flight and modeling of visual flight-path control; and pilot training.

  18. Use of nonlinear programming to optimize performance response to energy density in broiler feed formulation.

    PubMed

    Guevara, V R

    2004-02-01

    A nonlinear programming optimization model was developed to maximize margin over feed cost in broiler feed formulation and is described in this paper. The model identifies the optimal feed mix that maximizes profit margin. Optimum metabolizable energy level and performance were found by using Excel Solver nonlinear programming. Data from an energy density study with broilers were fitted to quadratic equations to express weight gain, feed consumption, and the objective function income over feed cost in terms of energy density. Nutrient:energy ratio constraints were transformed into equivalent linear constraints. National Research Council nutrient requirements and feeding program were used for examining changes in variables. The nonlinear programming feed formulation method was used to illustrate the effects of changes in different variables on the optimum energy density, performance, and profitability and was compared with conventional linear programming. To demonstrate the capabilities of the model, I determined the impact of variation in prices. Prices for broiler, corn, fish meal, and soybean meal were increased and decreased by 25%. Formulations were identical in all other respects. Energy density, margin, and diet cost changed compared with conventional linear programming formulation. This study suggests that nonlinear programming can be more useful than conventional linear programming to optimize performance response to energy density in broiler feed formulation because an energy level does not need to be set.

  19. The use of Web-based GIS data technologies in the construction of geoscience instructional materials: examples from the MARGINS Data in the Classroom project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ryan, J. G.; McIlrath, J. A.

    2008-12-01

    Web-accessible geospatial information system (GIS) technologies have advanced in concert with an expansion of data resources that can be accessed and used by researchers, educators and students. These resources facilitate the development of data-rich instructional resources and activities that can be used to transition seamlessly into undergraduate research projects. MARGINS Data in the Classroom (http://serc.carleton.edu/ margins/index.html) seeks to engage MARGINS researchers and educators in using the images, datasets, and visualizations produced by NSF-MARGINS Program-funded research and related efforts to create Web-deliverable instructional materials for use in undergraduate-level geoscience courses (MARGINS Mini-Lessons). MARGINS science data is managed by the Marine Geosciences Data System (MGDS), and these and all other MGDS-hosted data can be accessed, manipulated and visualized using GeoMapApp (www.geomapapp.org; Carbotte et al, 2004), a freely available geographic information system focused on the marine environment. Both "packaged" MGDS datasets (i.e., global earthquake foci, volcanoes, bathymetry) and "raw" data (seismic surveys, magnetics, gravity) are accessible via GeoMapApp, with WFS linkages to other resources (geodesy from UNAVCO; seismic profiles from IRIS; geochemical and drillsite data from EarthChem, IODP, and others), permitting the comprehensive characterization of many regions of the ocean basins. Geospatially controlled datasets can be imported into GeoMapApp visualizations, and these visualizations can be exported into Google Earth as .kmz image files. Many of the MARGINS Mini-Lessons thus far produced use (or have studentss use the varied capabilities of GeoMapApp (i.e., constructing topographic profiles, overlaying varied geophysical and bathymetric datasets, characterizing geochemical data). These materials are available for use and testing from the project webpage (http://serc.carleton.edu/margins/). Classroom testing and assessment of the Mini- Lessons begins this Fall.

  20. Musical Parenting and Music Education: Integrating Research and Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ilari, Beatriz

    2018-01-01

    Although teachers work constantly with parents, discussions concerning parental roles in children's music learning are often left at the margins in music teacher training programs. The aim of this article is to offer a review of musical parenting research from an ecological perspective. Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory of human development is…

  1. Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Particulate and CDOM in the Mississippi River Bight (MRB) from Optical Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    D'Sa, Eurico; Miller, Richard; DelCastillo, Carlos

    2004-01-01

    NASA's projects for the Mississippi River Coastal Margin Study include Mississippi River Interdisciplinary Research (MiRIR) and NASA Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). These projects, undertaken with the help of Tulane University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) sampled water in the Gulf of Mexico to measure colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). This viewgraph presentation contains images of each program's sampling strategy and equipment.

  2. From Marginality to Legitimate Peripherality: Understanding the Essential Functions of a Women's Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kahveci, Ajda; Southerland, Sherry A.; Gilmer, Penny J.

    2008-01-01

    The focus of this research was to understand how a program for women in science, mathematics, and engineering (SM&E) at college level in the southeastern United States functioned to influence women's decision making in terms of participation in these fields. By employing Lave and Wenger's theory of situated learning, we explored this program…

  3. International Arctic Research Programs

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-07-01

    beryllium graphite - (moonstone) cerium marble garnet chrniun ol ivine gronlandite copper phosphorus jasper gold soapstone kornerupine iron sulphur...Green- from the magnetic pole to the auroral zone. landic sea under marginal conditions where Besides these groundbased activities, mea- surements of

  4. Literacy Workshops: School Social Workers Enhancing Educational Connections between Educators, Early Childhood Students, and Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunter, William C.; Elswick, Susan E.; Perkins, J. Helen; Heroux, JoDell R.; Harte, Helene

    2017-01-01

    Parents and family members play an essential role in the literacy development of their children. Research indicates that children with disabilities enrolled in early childhood programs are likely to experience marginalization in terms of receiving educational services. This research emphasizes the importance of exposing students with disabilities…

  5. Approaching Praxis: YPAR as Critical Pedagogical Process in a College Access Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, Mary Alice; Pyne, Kimberly B.; Means, Darris R.

    2015-01-01

    To address the persistent failure of schooling to support underserved students, youth participatory action research (YPAR) has emerged as an alternative and critical paradigm for educational practice. YPAR re-centers authority on marginalized voices and understands research as a tool for social change. Grounded in critical pedagogy, such projects…

  6. On-Board Chemical Propulsion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schneider, Steven J.

    1997-01-01

    NASA Lewis Research Center's On-Board Propulsion program (OBP) is developing low-thrust chemical propulsion technologies for both satellite and vehicle reaction control applications. There is a vigorous international competition to develop new, highperformance bipropellant engines. High-leverage bipropellant systems are critical to both commercial competitiveness in the international communications market and to cost-effective mission design in government sectors. To significantly improve bipropellant engine performance, we must increase the thermal margin of the chamber materials. Iridium-coated rhenium (Ir/Re) engines, developed and demonstrated under OBP programs, can operate at temperatures well above the constraints of state-of-practice systems, providing a sufficient margin to maximize performance with the hypergolic propellants used in most satellite propulsion systems.

  7. Experiences with Recruitment of Marginalized Groups in a Danish Health Promotion Program: A Document Evaluation Study.

    PubMed

    Rasmussen, Marianne; Poulsen, Eva Kanstrup; Rytter, Anne Stoffersen; Kristiansen, Tine Mechlenborg; Bak, Carsten Kronborg

    2016-01-01

    Studies have found that marginalized groups living in deprived neighborhoods are less likely to participate in health programs compared to the majority of society. This study evaluates recruitment approaches conducted during a national government-funded project in 12 deprived neighborhoods across Denmark between 2010 and 2014. The aim of this study was to understand how recruitment approaches could promote participation in health programs within deprived neighborhoods to reach marginalized groups. Documents from all 12 of the included municipalities were collected to conduct a document evaluation. The collected documents consisted of 1,500 pages of written material with 12 project descriptions, three midterm and 10 final evaluations. The collected data were analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. The results are based on the fact that only 10 municipalities have developed evaluations related to recruitment, and only three evaluations provided a description of which marginalized groups were recruited. Challenges related to recruitment consist of difficulties involving the target group, including general distrust, language barriers and a lack of ability to cope with new situations and strangers. Additional geographical challenges emerged, especially in rural areas. Positive experiences with recruitment approaches were mainly related to relationship building and trust building, especially through face-to-face contact and the project employees' presence in the neighborhood. Additionally, adjusting some of the interventions and the recruitment strategy increased participation. This study found that relation and trust between the residents and the project employees is an important factor in the recruitment of marginalized groups in deprived neighborhoods as well as adjusting the health interventions or recruitment strategy to the target groups. In future research, it is necessary to examine which recruitment approaches are effective under which circumstances to increase participation among marginalized groups.

  8. Pricing products: juxtaposing affordability with quality appeal.

    PubMed

    1984-01-01

    Choosing appropriate product prices is 1 of the most crucial steps in creating an effective contraceptive social marketing (CSM) sales campaign. The Social Marketing Forum conducted an informal survey of social marketing project managers, international contractors, and marketing consultants to determine how CSM programs cope with pricing problems and ways to circumvent some obstacles. According to Diana Altman, a family planning consultant, low prices that make products available to needy individuals are more important than the program's self sufficiency, yet if prices are too low, consumers think the products were unusable in the US and thus were dumped on local markets. Other key factors include commercial competition, spiraling inflation rates, and problems with rising prices and retailer/distributor margins. A sampling of per capita gross national products indicates the poverty level of most CSM projects' target market. Consequently, CSM projects must set low pices, regardless of program operating costs. The goal often is to increase the demand and availability for contraceptives. The fact that social marketing products must pass through retail networks to reach consumers complicates the pricing equation. To deal with the problem, India's Nirodh program gives a 25% margin to distributors/wholesalers, compared to 6% offered on most other goods. Retailers also receive a 25% margin, more than double the commercial rate. Once prices are set, increases pose hazards. Local government approval often is a prerequisite and can require lengthy negotiations. Market studies remain a valuable approach to effective pricing, according to PNA's Mallamad and other research consultants. They cite such effective research strategies as test marketing products and asking consumers how prices affect buying habits. Further, CSM projects can jump over some pricing hurdles through creative marketing. An effective pricing strategy alone cannot produce a successful CSM program. Pricing must accompany such factors as strong advertising, committed management, and adept salespersons.

  9. Schools and the Community Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Environment: Opportunities for Prevention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 2013

    2013-01-01

    Schools have long been central to community-based alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention programs. Yet research consistently shows that school programs have only a marginal effect on student substance use and community ATOD problems. Schools are only one of the many influences on young people, and even the best curriculum will fail if…

  10. 77 FR 27827 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-11

    ... margin calculations for these portfolios and perform ``what if'' analyses. The portfolio margining... Change Relating to Adoption of Interest Rate Futures Contracts Portfolio Margining Program With Eris... adopt an interest rate futures contracts portfolio margining program with Eris Exchange, LLC (``Eris...

  11. Career Performance of Marginally Scholastic Graduates of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Resident Master’s Degree Programs

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-09-01

    between graduate grade point average (GGPA) and various measures of career performance. Most of the research has dealt with graduates of business ... schools and the most frequently measured criterion of career performance is compensation in the form of earnings and salary. Some researchers have found

  12. 2015 Accomplishments Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None, None

    This report covers selected highlights from the four research pathways in the LWRS Program: Materials Aging and Degradation; Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization; Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies; and Reactor Safety Technologies, as well as a look-ahead at planned activities for 2017.

  13. 2016 Accomplishments Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None, None

    This report covers selected highlights from the four research pathways in the LWRS Program: Materials Aging and Degradation; Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization; Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies; and Reactor Safety Technologies, as well as a look-ahead at planned activities for 2017.

  14. The Continental Margins Program in Georgia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cocker, M.D.; Shapiro, E.A.

    1999-01-01

    From 1984 to 1993, the Georgia Geologic Survey (GGS) participated in the Minerals Management Service-funded Continental Margins Program. Geological and geophysical data acquisition focused on offshore stratigraphic framework studies, phosphate-bearing Miocene-age strata, distribution of heavy minerals, near-surface alternative sources of groundwater, and development of a PC-based Coastal Geographic Information System (GIS). Seven GGS publications document results of those investigations. In addition to those publications, direct benefits of the GGS's participation include an impetus to the GGS's investigations of economic minerals on the Georgia coast, establishment of a GIS that includes computer hardware and software, and seeds for additional investigations through the information and training acquired as a result of the Continental Margins Program. These addtional investigations are quite varied in scope, and many were made possible because of GIS expertise gained as a result of the Continental Margins Program. Future investigations will also reap the benefits of the Continental Margins Program.From 1984 to 1993, the Georgia Geologic Survey (GGS) participated in the Minerals Management Service-funded Continental Margins Program. Geological and geophysical data acquisition focused on offshore stratigraphic framework studies, phosphate-bearing Miocene-age strata, distribution of heavy minerals, near-surface alternative sources of groundwater, and development of a PC-based Coastal Geographic Information System (GIS). Seven GGS publications document results of those investigations. In addition to those publications, direct benefits of the GGS's participation include an impetus to the GGS's investigations of economic minerals on the Georgia coast, establishment of a GIS that includes computer hardware and software, and seeds for additional investigations through the information and training acquired as a result of the Continental Margins Program. These additional investigations are quite varied in scope, and many were made possible because of GIS expertise gained as a result of the Continental Margins Program. Future investigations will also reap the benefits of the Continental Margins Program.

  15. Volcanoes: Nature's Caldrons Challenge Geochemists.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zurer, Pamela S.

    1984-01-01

    Reviews various topics and research studies on the geology of volcanoes. Areas examined include volcanoes and weather, plate margins, origins of magma, magma evolution, United States Geological Survey (USGS) volcano hazards program, USGS volcano observatories, volcanic gases, potassium-argon dating activities, and volcano monitoring strategies.…

  16. Recent Multidisciplinary Research Initiatives and IODP Drilling in the South China Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, J.; Li, C. F.; Wang, P.; Kulhanek, D. K.

    2016-12-01

    The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest low-latitude marginal sea in the world. Its formation and evolution are linked to the complex continental-oceanic tectonic interaction of the Eurasian, Pacific, and Indo-Australian plates. Despite its relatively small size and short history, the SCS has undergone nearly a complete Wilson cycle from continental break-up to seafloor spreading to subduction, serving as a natural laboratory for studying the linkages between tectonic, volcanic, and oceanic processes. The last several years have witnessed significant progress in investigation of the SCS through comprehensive research programs using multidisciplinary approaches and enhanced international collaboration. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 349 drilled and cored five sites in the SCS in 2014. The expedition successfully obtained the first basaltic rock samples of the SCS relict spreading center, discovered large and frequent deep-sea turbidity events, and sampled multiple seamount volcaniclastic layers. In addition, high-resolution near-seafloor magnetic surveys were conducted in the SCS with survey lines passing near some of the IODP drilling sites. Together the IODP drilling and deep-tow magnetic survey results confirmed, for the first time, that the entire SCS basin might have stopped seafloor spreading at similar ages in early Miocene, providing important constraints on marginal sea geodynamic models. In 2007, IODP Expeditions 367 and 368 will drill the northern margin of the SCS to investigate the mechanisms of rifting to spreading processes. Meanwhile, major progress in studying the SCS processes has also been made through comprehensive multidisciplinary programs, for example, the eight-year-long "South China Sea Deep" initiative, which also supports and encourages strong international collaboration. This presentation will highlight the recent multidisciplinary research initiatives in investigation of the SCS and the important role of international collaboration.

  17. The Development and Evaluation of Training Methods for Group IV Personnel. 1. Orientation and Implementation of the Training Methods Development School (TMDS).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steinemann, John H.

    The investigation is part of continuing Navy research on the Trainability of Group IV (low ability) personnel intended to maximize the utilization and integration of marginal personnel in the fleet. An experimental Training Methods Development School (TMDS) was initiated to provide an experimental training program, with research controls, for…

  18. Application Guidelines | Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program

    Cancer.gov

    Personal Statement of Research Goals In narrative form, describe your research interests and goals and how these relate to cancer prevention and control. Please also provide insight into your short- and long-term career goals, and explain how the CPFP will help you achieve those goals. Limit your personal statement to two typed, single-spaced pages and use 12-point font and 1-inch margins.

  19. Empowerment and Social Support: Implications for Practice and Programming Among Minority Women with Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Histories.

    PubMed

    Barringer, Alexandra; Hunter, Bronwyn A; Salina, Doreen D; Jason, Leonard A

    2017-01-01

    Programs for women with substance abuse and criminal justice histories often incorporate empowerment and social support into service delivery systems. Women's empowerment research has focused on the relationship between women's personal identities and the larger sociopolitical context, with an emphasis on how community-based resources are critical for promoting well-being. Social support often protects against negative outcomes for individuals who live with chronic stress. However, few studies have evaluated community resource knowledge and empowerment among marginalized women or how social support might strengthen or weaken this relationship. This study investigated resource knowledge, social support, and empowerment among 200 minority women in substance abuse recovery who had recent criminal justice involvement. Results indicated that resource knowledge was related to empowerment and belonging social support marginally moderated this relationship. In addition, education level increased and current involvement in the criminal justice system decreased empowerment. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

  20. Empowerment and Social Support: Implications for Practice and Programming among Minority Women with Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice Histories

    PubMed Central

    Barringer, Alexandra; Hunter, Bronwyn A.; Salina, Doreen; Jason, Leonard A.

    2016-01-01

    Programs for women with substance abuse and criminal justice histories often incorporate empowerment and social support into service delivery systems. Women’s empowerment research has focused on the relationship between women’s personal identities and the larger sociopolitical context, with an emphasis on how community based resources are critical for promoting well-being. Social support often protects against negative outcomes for individuals who live with chronic stress. However, few studies have evaluated community resource knowledge and empowerment among marginalized women or how social support might strengthen or weaken this relationship. This study investigated resource knowledge, social support and empowerment among 200 minority women in substance abuse recovery who had recent criminal justice involvement. Results indicated that resource knowledge was related to empowerment and belonging social support marginally moderated this relationship. In addition, education level increased and current involvement in the criminal justice system decreased empowerment. Implications for research, practice and policy are discussed. PMID:27084362

  1. Geology of continental margins

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    With continued high interest in offshore petroleum exploration, the 1977 AAPG Short Course presents the latest interpretations of new data bearing on the geology and geophysics of continental margins. Seven well-known earth scientists have organized an integrated program covering major topics involved in the development of ocean basins and continental margins with emphasis on the slopes and rises. The discussion of plate tectonics and evolution of continental margins is followed by presentations on the stratigraphy and structure of pull-apart and compressional margins. Prospective petroleum source rocks, their organic content, rate of burial, and distribution on slopes and rises of differentmore » margin types is covered. Prospective reservoir rock patterns are related to depositional processes and to the sedimentary and structural histories for different types of continental margins. Finally, the seismic recognition of depositional facies on slopes and rises for different margin types with varying rates of sediment supply during eustatic sea-level changes are discussed. The course with this syllabus offers an invaluable opportunity for explorationists to refresh their understanding of the geology associated with an important petroleum frontier. In addition, the course sets forth a technical frame of reference for the case-histoy papers to be presented later in the AAPG Research Symposium on the Petroleum Potential of Slopes, Rises, and Plateaus.« less

  2. The STRATAFORM Project: U.S. Geological Survey geotechnical studies

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Minasian, Diane L.; Lee, Homa J.; Locat, Jaques; Orzech, Kevin M.; Martz, Gregory R.; Israel, Kenneth

    2001-01-01

    This report presents physical property logs of core samples from an offshore area near Eureka, CA. The cores were obtained as part of the STRATAFORM Program (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1995, 1996), a study investigating how present sedimentation and sediment transport processes influence long-term stratigraphic sequences preserved in the geologic record. The core samples were collected during four separate research cruises to the northern California study area, and data shown in the logs of the cores were collected using a multi-sensor whole core logger. The physical properties collected are useful in identifying stratigraphic units, ground-truthing acoustic imagery and sub-bottom profiles, and in understanding mass movement processes. STRATA FORmation on Margins was initiated in 1994 by the Office of Naval Research, Marine Geology and Geophysics Department as a coordinated multi-investigator study of continental-margin sediment transport processes and stratigraphy (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1996). The program is investigating the stratigraphic signature of the shelf and slope parts of the continental margins, and is designed to provide a better understanding of the sedimentary record and a better prediction of strata. Specifically, the goals of the STRATAFORM Program are to (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1995): - determine the geological relevance of short-term physical processes that erode, transport, and deposit particles and those processes that subsequently rework the seabed over time scales - improve capabilities for identifying the processes that form the strata observed within the upper ~100 m of the seabed commonly representing 104-106 years of sedimentation. - synthesize this knowledge and bridge the gap between time scales of sedimentary processes and those of sequence stratigraphy. The STRATAFORM Program is divided into studies of the continental shelf and the continental slope; the geotechnical group within the U.S. Geological Survey provides support to both parts of the project.

  3. Incorporating Cutting Edge Scientific Results from the Margins-Geoprisms Program into the Undergraduate Curriculum: The Subduction Factory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Penniston-Dorland, S.; Stern, R. J.; Edwards, B. R.; Kincaid, C. R.

    2014-12-01

    The NSF-MARGINS Program funded a decade of research on continental margin processes. The NSF-GeoPRISMS Mini-lesson Project, funded by NSF-TUES, is designed to integrate fundamental results from the MARGINS program into open-source college-level curriculum. Three Subduction Factory (SubFac) mini-lessons were developed as part of this project. These include hands-on examinations of data sets representing 3 key components of the subduction zone system: 1) Heat transfer in the subducted slab; 2) Metamorphic processes happening at the plate interface; and 3) Typical magmatic products of arc systems above subduction zones. Module 1: "Slab Temperatures Control Melting in Subduction Zones, What Controls Slab Temperature?" allows students to work in groups using beads rolling down slopes as an analog for the mathematics of heat flow. Using this hands-on, exploration-based approach, students develop an intuition for the mathematics of heatflow and learn about heat conduction and advection in the subduction zone environment. Module 2: "Subduction zone metamorphism" introduces students to the metamorphic rocks that form as the subducted slab descends and the mineral reactions that characterize subduction-related metamorphism. This module includes a suite of metamorphic rocks available for instructors to use in a lab, and exercises in which students compare pressure-temperature estimates obtained from metamorphic rocks to predictions from thermal models. Module 3: "Central American Arc Volcanoes, Petrology and Geochemistry" introduces students to basic concepts in igneous petrology using the Central American volcanic arc, a MARGINS Subduction Factory focus site, as an example. The module relates data from two different volcanoes - basaltic Cerro Negro (Nicaragua) and andesitic Ilopango (El Salvador) including hand sample observations and major element geochemistry - to explore processes of mantle and crustal melting and differentiation in arc volcanism.

  4. Gender Issues in Training: Voices at the Margins of School Psychology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henning-Stout, Mary

    The entry of more "non-traditional" students into graduate social psychology programs brings varied life experiences into the field. Women in particular bring different experiences than those conventionally assumed by the academy. Research shows that many women who have succeeded in higher education did so by adopting…

  5. Inclusion and Attitudes of Adolescents in a Camp Setting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Musher, Deborah Ann

    2016-01-01

    Despite increased inclusion of individuals with special needs in educational and leisure settings, people with disabilities continue to experience social isolation. Research indicates that negative attitudes play an important role in contributing to this marginalization. This study examined the impact of an inclusion program at a residential…

  6. Response of jatropha on a clay soil to different concentrations of micronutrients

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    In recent years Jatropha curcas L. has emerged as a biofuel crop with potential for its production in marginal land with application of treated sewage water. Since this is a new crop for its profitable cultivation, additional research is needed to develop optimal management programs, including macro...

  7. Well-Connected: Exploring Parent Social Networks in a Gentrifying School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cappelletti, Gina A.

    2017-01-01

    The enrollment and engagement of middle-class families in historically low-income urban public schools can generate school improvements, including increased resources and expanded extracurricular programming. At the same time, prior research has highlighted the marginalization of low-income parents as one consequence of middle-class parent…

  8. Investigating gas hydrate as a factor in accretionary margin frontal ridge slope failures and cold seep biogeochemistry

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Enkin, R.; Esteban, L.; Haacke, R.; Hamilton, T.S.; Hogg, M.; Lapham, L.; Middleton, G.; Neelands, P.; Pohlman, John W.; Riedel, M; Rose, K.; Schlesinger, A.; Standen, G.; Stephenson, A.; Taylor, S.; Waite, W.; Wang, X.

    2008-01-01

    During August 2008, a research expedition (2008-007-PGC) was carried out offshore Vancouver Island on the northern Cascadia Margin (Figure 1) to study the role of gas hydrate in slope stability and cold seep biogeochemistry. The cruise was organized by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) as part of the Earth Science Sector, Natural Gas Hydrate Program, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). This international collaboration included McGill University, University of Victoria, the U.S. Geological Survey, Florida State University, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

  9. Program budgeting and marginal analysis: a case study in chronic airflow limitation.

    PubMed

    Crockett, A; Cranston, J; Moss, J; Scown, P; Mooney, G; Alpers, J

    1999-01-01

    Program budgeting and marginal analysis is a method of priority-setting in health care. This article describes how this method was applied to the management of a disease-specific group, chronic airflow limitation. A sub-program flow chart clarified the major cost drivers. After assessment of the technical efficiency of the sub-programs and careful and detailed analysis, incremental and decremental wish lists of activities were established. Program budgeting and marginal analysis provides a framework for rational resource allocation. The nurturing of a vigorous program management group, with members representing all participants in the process (including patients/consumers), is the key to a successful outcome.

  10. Deep-sea environment and biodiversity of the West African Equatorial margin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sibuet, Myriam; Vangriesheim, Annick

    2009-12-01

    The long-term BIOZAIRE multidisciplinary deep-sea environmental program on the West Equatorial African margin organized in partnership between Ifremer and TOTAL aimed at characterizing the benthic community structure in relation with physical and chemical processes in a region of oil and gas interest. The morphology of the deep Congo submarine channel and the sedimentological structures of the deep-sea fan were established during the geological ZAIANGO project and helped to select study sites ranging from 350 to 4800 m water depth inside or near the channel and away from its influence. Ifremer conducted eight deep-sea cruises on board research vessels between 2000 and 2005. Standardized methods of sampling together with new technologies such as the ROV Victor 6000 and its associated instrumentation were used to investigate this poorly known continental margin. In addition to the study of sedimentary environments more or less influenced by turbidity events, the discovery of one of the largest cold seeps near the Congo channel and deep coral reefs extends our knowledge of the different habitats of this margin. This paper presents the background, objectives and major results of the BIOZAIRE Program. It highlights the work achieved in the 16 papers in this special issue. This synthesis paper describes the knowledge acquired at a regional and local scale of the Equatorial East Atlantic margin, and tackles new interdisciplinary questions to be answered in the various domains of physics, chemistry, taxonomy and ecology to better understand the deep-sea environment in the Gulf of Guinea.

  11. Functional performance of pyrovalves

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bement, Laurence J.

    1996-01-01

    Following several flight and ground test failures of spacecraft systems using single-shot, 'normally closed' pyrotechnically actuated valves (pyrovalves), a Government/Industry cooperative program was initiated to assess the functional performance of five qualified designs. The goal of the program was to provide information on functional performance of pyrovalves to allow users the opportunity to improve procurement requirements. Specific objectives included the demonstration of performance test methods, the seating; these gases/particles entered the fluid path of measurement of 'blowby' (the passage of gases from the pyrotechnic energy source around the activating piston into the valve's fluid path), and the quantification of functional margins for each design. Experiments were conducted at NASA's Langley Research Center on several units for each of the five valve designs. The test methods used for this program measured the forces and energies required to actuate the valves, as well as the energies and the pressures (where possible) delivered by the pyrotechnic sources. Functional performance ranged widely among the designs. Blowby cannot be prevented by o-ring seals; metal-to-metal seals were effective. Functional margin was determined by dividing the energy delivered by the pyrotechnic sources in excess to that required to accomplish the function by the energy required for that function. Two of the five designs had inadequate functional margins with the pyrotechnic cartridges evaluated.

  12. The psychiatry resident research experience.

    PubMed

    MacMaster, Frank P; Cohen, Jordan; Waheed, Waqar; Magaud, Emilie; Sembo, Mariko; Langevin, Lisa Marie; Rittenbach, Katherine

    2016-11-14

    Research activity is especially critical in the field of psychiatry as it is evolving rapidly thanks to advances in neuroscience. We administered a 34-item survey regarding research experiences targeted at psychiatry residents and postgraduate residency program directors in Canada. One hundred and nineteen participants answered the survey (16 program directors, 103 residents) allowing for a margin of error of 8.4% at a 95% confidence interval. Research was rated as important in informing clinical practice (87.0% yes, 13.0% no), but only 28.7% of respondents reported that it was taught well at their home institution (33.0% no, 38.3% neutral). Only a small proportion was enthusiastic or very enthusiastic about participating in research (21.7%). While the importance of research is recognized, there is little consensus with respect to whether a standardized research practicum component is included in the resident curriculum.

  13. "'Puro' Spelling and Grammar": Conceptualizations of Language and the Marginalization of Emergent Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poza, Luis E.

    2016-01-01

    Conceptualizations of language and language learning underlie language pedagogies (Valdés, Poza, & Brooks, 2015). The present work relies on ethnographic observation and interviews in a dual immersion (DI) bilingual program, as well as a content analysis of the research foundation of the English Language Development intervention curriculum, to…

  14. Student Voice and the Politics of Listening in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLeod, Julie

    2011-01-01

    The promise of giving voice to under-represented and marginalized groups has been a mainstay of emancipatory agendas in educational research. It has been an especially influential focus in feminist and gender equity reform projects and is increasingly a feature of policies and programs directed to enhance youth participation and civic inclusion.…

  15. Seeking Social Inventions to Improve the Transition to Adulthood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamilton, Mary Agnes; Hamilton, Stephen F.

    2015-01-01

    Social inventions are new ways of solving human problems. This article reports on an action research project designed to find social inventions to reduce structural lag in four programs that support the transition to adulthood of marginalized youth in Latin America. The investigators engaged youth and staff members in identifying important…

  16. A systematic meta-review of evaluations of youth violence prevention programs: Common and divergent findings from 25 years of meta-analyses and systematic reviews☆

    PubMed Central

    Matjasko, Jennifer L.; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana M.; Massetti, Greta M.; Holland, Kristin M.; Holt, Melissa K.; Cruz, Jason Dela

    2018-01-01

    Violence among youth is a pervasive public health problem. In order to make progress in reducing the burden of injury and mortality that result from youth violence, it is imperative to identify evidence-based programs and strategies that have a significant impact on violence. There have been many rigorous evaluations of youth violence prevention programs. However, the literature is large, and it is difficult to draw conclusions about what works across evaluations from different disciplines, contexts, and types of programs. The current study reviews the meta-analyses and systematic reviews published prior to 2009 that synthesize evaluations of youth violence prevention programs. This meta-review reports the findings from 37 meta-analyses and 15 systematic reviews; the included reviews were coded on measures of the social ecology, prevention approach, program type, and study design. A majority of the meta-analyses and systematic reviews were found to demonstrate moderate program effects. Meta-analyses yielded marginally smaller effect sizes compared to systematic reviews, and those that included programs targeting family factors showed marginally larger effects than those that did not. In addition, there are a wide range of individual/family, program, and study moderators of program effect sizes. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. PMID:29503594

  17. Inhalants in Peru.

    PubMed

    Lerner, R; Ferrando, D

    1995-01-01

    In Peru, the prevalence and consequences of inhalant abuse appear to be low in the general population and high among marginalized children. Inhalant use ranks third in lifetime prevalence after alcohol and tobacco. Most of the use appears to be infrequent. Among marginalized children, that is, children working in the streets but living at home or children living in the street, the problem of inhalant abuse is a serious problem. Among children working in the streets but living at home, the lifetime prevalence rate for inhalant abuse is high, ranging from 15 to 45 percent depending on the study being cited. For children living in the streets, the use of inhalant is even more severe. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, most of these street children use inhalants on a daily basis. The lack of research on the problem of inhalant abuse is a serious impediment to development of intervention programs and strategies to address this problem in Peru. Epidemiologic and ethnographic research on the nature and extent of inhalant abuse are obvious prerequisites to targeted treatment and preventive intervention programs. The urgent need for current and valid data is underscored by the unique vulnerability of the youthful population at risk and the undisputed harm that results from chronic abuse of inhalants. Nonetheless, it is important to mention several programs that work with street children. Some, such as the Information and Education Center for the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Generation, and Centro Integracion de Menores en Abandono have shelters where street children are offered transition to a less marginal lifestyle. Teams of street educators provide the children with practical solutions and gain their confidence, as well as offer them alternative socialization experiences to help them survive the streets and avoid the often repressive and counterproductive environments typical of many institutions. Most of the children who go through these programs tend to abandon inhalant use as they mature out of street life.

  18. Polar continental margins: Studies off East Greenland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mienert, J.; Thiede, J.; Kenyon, N. H.; Hollender, F.-J.

    The passive continental margin off east Greenland has been shaped by tectonic and sedimentary processes, and typical physiographic patterns have evolved over the past few million years under the influence of the late Cenozoic Northern Hemisphere glaciations. The Greenland ice shield has been particularly affected.GLORIA (Geological Long Range Inclined Asdic), the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences' (IOS) long-range, side-scan sonar, was used on a 1992 RV Livonia cruise to map large-scale changes in sedimentary patterns along the east Greenland continental margin. The overall objective of this research program was to determine the variety of large-scale seafloor processes to improve our understanding of the interaction between ice sheets, current regimes, and sedimentary processes. In cooperation with IOS and the RV Livonia, a high-quality set of seafloor data has been produced. GLORIA'S first survey of east Greenland's continental margin covered several 1000- × 50-km-wide swaths (Figure 1) and yielded an impressive sidescan sonar image of the complete Greenland Basin and margin (about 250,000 km2). A mosaic of the data was made at a scale of 1:375,000. The base map was prepared with a polar stereographic projection having a standard parallel of 71°.

  19. Fiscal 1982 Budget highlights R&D

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Richman, Barbara T.

    Geophysical research and development programs show growth beyond inflation in the $739.3 billion budget for fiscal 1982 that Jimmy Carter sent to Congress 5 days before completing his term. Included in the budget are provisions for increased support for the Ocean Margin Drilling Program and funds for an interagency Geological Applications Program, funds for an agriculture and resource surveys program that relies on remote sensing, and funds for the Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar mission.Ronald Reagan is expected to make changes in the budget as early as late February, although in mid January the heads of the scientific agencies could not characterize possible changes. Some Washingtonians say sharp cuts are inevitable, with basic research a prime candidate. Others, however, contend that the Reagan administration's push for productivity and innovation could prevent severe carving. Eos will track the FY 1982 budget changes through congressional approval.

  20. Online Classroom Research and Analysis Activities Using MARGINS-Related Resources for the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Subduction System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ryan, J. G.

    2007-12-01

    Students today have online access to nearly unlimited scientific information in an entirely unfiltered state. As such, they need guidance and training in identifying and assessing high-quality information resources for educational and research use. The extensive research data resources available online for the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) subduction system that have been developed with MARGINS Program and related NSF funding are an ideal venue for focused Web research exercises that can be tailored to a range of undergraduate geoscience courses. This presentation highlights student web research activities examining: a) The 2003-2005 eruptions of Anatahan Volcano in the Mariana volcanic arc. MARGINS-supported geophysical research teams were in the region when the eruption initiated, permitting a unique "event response" data collection and analysis process, with preliminary results presented online at websites linked to the MARGINS homepage, and ultimately published in a special issue of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. In this activity, students will conduct a directed Web surf/search effort for information on and datasets from the Anatahan arc volcano, which they will use in an interpretive study of recent magmatic activity in the Mariana arc. This activity is designed as a homework exercise for use in a junior-senior level Petrology course, but could easily be taken into greater depth for the benefit of graduate-level volcanology or geochemistry offerings. b) Geochemical and mineralogical results from ODP Legs 125 and 195 focused on diapiric serpentinite mud volcanoes, which erupt cold, high pH fluids, serpentine muds, and serpentinized ultramafic clasts at a number of sites in the forearc region of the Mariana subduction zone. The focus of this activity is an examination of the trace element chemistry of the forearc serpentines and their associated upwelling porefluids as a means of understanding the roles of ionic radius, valence, and system abundance in the formation and trace element systematics of serpentine group minerals.

  1. College and Adult Reading VII: The Seventh Yearbook of the North Central Reading Association.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wark, David M., Ed.

    Spanning the annual meetings of the North Central Reading Association from 1971 to 1974, this yearbook presents papers dealing with programs and centers, materials and techniques, a new research field, and in honor of Roger S. Pepper. Papers include: "Attitudinal Factors among Marginal Admission Students" (Roger S. Pepper and John A. Drexler,…

  2. Thriving on Challenge: Examining One Teacher's View on Sources of Support for Motivation and Well-Being

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perry, Nancy E.; Brenner, Charlotte A.; Collie, Rebecca J.; Hofer, Gigi

    2015-01-01

    Alarmingly high rates of teacher attrition exist in contexts designed for students with considerable needs, such as in alternative education programs serving marginalized youth. Research has linked teachers' levels of motivation and well-being to their effectiveness and retention. Consequently, we explore what distinguishes teachers who thrive in…

  3. "We don't exist": a qualitative study of marginalization experienced by HIV-positive lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender women in Toronto, Canada.

    PubMed

    Logie, Carmen H; James, Llana; Tharao, Wangari; Loutfy, Mona R

    2012-09-07

    Lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender (LBQT) women living with HIV have been described as invisible and understudied. Yet, social and structural contexts of violence and discrimination exacerbate the risk of HIV infection among LBQT women. The study objective was to explore challenges in daily life and experiences of accessing HIV services among HIV-positive LBQT women in Toronto, Canada. We used a community-based qualitative approach guided by an intersectional theoretical framework. We conducted two focus groups; one focus group was conducted with HIV-positive lesbian, bisexual and queer women (n = 7) and the second with HIV-positive transgender women (n = 16). Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. Focus groups were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used for analyzing data to enhance understanding of factors that influence the wellbeing of HIV-positive LBQT women. Participant narratives revealed a trajectory of marginalization. Structural factors such as social exclusion and violence elevated the risk for HIV infection; this risk was exacerbated by inadequate HIV prevention information. Participants described multiple barriers to HIV care and support, including pervasive HIV-related stigma, heteronormative assumptions in HIV-positive women's services and discriminatory and incompetent treatment by health professionals. Underrepresentation of LBQT women in HIV research further contributed to marginalization and exclusion. Participants expressed a willingness to participate in HIV research that would be translated into action. Structural factors elevate HIV risk among LBQT women, limit access to HIV prevention and present barriers to HIV care and support. This study's conceptualization of a trajectory of marginalization enriches the discussion of structural factors implicated in the wellbeing of LBQT women and highlights the necessity of addressing LBQT women's needs in HIV prevention, care and research. Interventions that address intersecting forms of marginalization (e.g. sexual stigma, transphobia, HIV-related stigma) in community and social norms, HIV programming and research are required to promote health equity among LBQT women.

  4. “We don't exist”: a qualitative study of marginalization experienced by HIV-positive lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender women in Toronto, Canada

    PubMed Central

    Logie, Carmen H; James, LLana; Tharao, Wangari; Loutfy, Mona R

    2012-01-01

    Background Lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender (LBQT) women living with HIV have been described as invisible and understudied. Yet, social and structural contexts of violence and discrimination exacerbate the risk of HIV infection among LBQT women. The study objective was to explore challenges in daily life and experiences of accessing HIV services among HIV-positive LBQT women in Toronto, Canada. Methods We used a community-based qualitative approach guided by an intersectional theoretical framework. We conducted two focus groups; one focus group was conducted with HIV-positive lesbian, bisexual and queer women (n=7) and the second with HIV-positive transgender women (n=16). Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. Focus groups were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used for analyzing data to enhance understanding of factors that influence the wellbeing of HIV-positive LBQT women. Results Participant narratives revealed a trajectory of marginalization. Structural factors such as social exclusion and violence elevated the risk for HIV infection; this risk was exacerbated by inadequate HIV prevention information. Participants described multiple barriers to HIV care and support, including pervasive HIV-related stigma, heteronormative assumptions in HIV-positive women's services and discriminatory and incompetent treatment by health professionals. Underrepresentation of LBQT women in HIV research further contributed to marginalization and exclusion. Participants expressed a willingness to participate in HIV research that would be translated into action. Conclusions Structural factors elevate HIV risk among LBQT women, limit access to HIV prevention and present barriers to HIV care and support. This study's conceptualization of a trajectory of marginalization enriches the discussion of structural factors implicated in the wellbeing of LBQT women and highlights the necessity of addressing LBQT women's needs in HIV prevention, care and research. Interventions that address intersecting forms of marginalization (e.g. sexual stigma, transphobia, HIV-related stigma) in community and social norms, HIV programming and research are required to promote health equity among LBQT women. PMID:22989529

  5. Comparison of a Traditional Probabilistic Risk Assessment Approach with Advanced Safety Analysis

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Smith, Curtis L; Mandelli, Diego; Zhegang Ma

    2014-11-01

    As part of the Light Water Sustainability Program (LWRS) [1], the purpose of the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) [2] Pathway research and development (R&D) is to support plant decisions for risk-informed margin management with the aim to improve economics, reliability, and sustain safety of current NPPs. In this paper, we describe the RISMC analysis process illustrating how mechanistic and probabilistic approaches are combined in order to estimate a safety margin. We use the scenario of a “station blackout” (SBO) wherein offsite power and onsite power is lost, thereby causing a challenge to plant safety systems. We describe themore » RISMC approach, illustrate the station blackout modeling, and contrast this with traditional risk analysis modeling for this type of accident scenario. We also describe our approach we are using to represent advanced flooding analysis.« less

  6. Reframing Resilience: Pilot Evaluation of a Program to Promote Resilience in Marginalized Older Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fullen, Matthew C.; Gorby, Sean R.

    2016-01-01

    Resilience has been described as a paradigm for aging that is more inclusive than models that focus on physiological and functional abilities. We evaluated a novel program, Resilient Aging, designed to influence marginalized older adults' perceptions of their resilience, self-efficacy, and wellness. The multiweek group program incorporated an…

  7. A general program to compute the multivariable stability margin for systems with parametric uncertainty

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sanchez Pena, Ricardo S.; Sideris, Athanasios

    1988-01-01

    A computer program implementing an algorithm for computing the multivariable stability margin to check the robust stability of feedback systems with real parametric uncertainty is proposed. The authors present in some detail important aspects of the program. An example is presented using lateral directional control system.

  8. Margins within Margins?: Voices Speaking through a Study of the Provision of an Educational Program for the Children of One Australian Show Circuit.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, C. G.; And Others

    This paper examines the tactics used by the Showmen's Guild of Australasia in successfully lobbying for the development of a distance education program for their children. The Guild is considered to be a "marginalized" group, meaning members have less access to wealth, power, and status. Since 1930, members of the Showmen's Guild and…

  9. [A review of thirty years of activity of the Research Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology (PEPSI) of the CONICET].

    PubMed

    Pavlovsky, Federico

    2003-01-01

    This article summarizes the activity of the Programa de Investigaciones en Epidemiología Psiquiátrica (PEPSI) (Research Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology) of the CONICET, directed for more than thirty years by Fernando Pages Larraya. After an anthropologic psychiatric experience done in the Gran Chaco Gualamba, by the end of the 60s, Pages Larraya and his team developed the theory of Cultural Isoidias, zones into which the country could be divided for epidemiologic studies. This article summarizes some of the principal lines of investigation of this program which departures from an initial study of the prevalence of mental diseases in Argentina. Other lines of research (such as a study about marginality, about Alzheimer's disease, about alcoholism and about AIDS) are summarized very briefly so as to give the reader an idea about the enormous field of study embraced by the PEPSI.

  10. Overview of NRC Proactive Management of Materials Degradation (PMMD) Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carpenter, C. E. Gene; Hull, Amy; Oberson, Greg

    Materials degradation phenomena, if not appropriately managed, have the potential to adversely impact the design functionality and safety margins of nuclear power plant (NPP) systems, structures and components (SSCs). Therefore, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has initiated an over-the-horizon multi-year research Proactive Management of Materials Degradation (PMMD) Research Program, which is presently evaluating longer time frames (i.e., 80 or more years) and including passive long-lived SSCs beyond the primary piping and core internals, such as concrete containment and cable insulation. This will allow the NRC to (1) identify significant knowledge gaps and new forms of degradation; (2) capture current knowledge base; and, (3) prioritize materials degradation research needs and directions for future efforts. This effort is being accomplished in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) LWR Sustainability (LWRS) program. This presentation will discuss the activities to date, including results, and the path forward.

  11. On Achieving Transdisciplinary Outcomes from Synergistic Research Efforts in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hagen, S. C.

    2017-12-01

    Multiple federal initiatives aim to evaluate and enhance sustainability and resilience at the coastal-land margin. Progressive efforts undertaken in the northern Gulf of Mexico for more than ten years have resulted in synergistic research with multiple means of federal support. Major grants include the FEMA Flood Insurance Studies, the NOAA / NOS Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise Program, as well as the NSF Coastal SEES Program. Through a careful development of a collective enterprise the results from these and other individual programs (e.g., NOAA Sea Grant College, DHS Center of Excellence, NSF Rapid Response) have been elevated to achieve transdisciplinary outcomes. A direct product of the synergy is a system of systems approach to bio-geophysical science with the inclusion of socioeconomic processes.

  12. Impact of Coverage-Dependent Marginal Costs on Optimal HPV Vaccination Strategies

    PubMed Central

    Ryser, Marc D.; McGoff, Kevin; Herzog, David P.; Sivakoff, David J.; Myers, Evan R.

    2015-01-01

    The effectiveness of vaccinating males against the human papillomavirus (HPV) remains a controversial subject. Many existing studies conclude that increasing female coverage is more effective than diverting resources into male vaccination. Recently, several empirical studies on HPV immunization have been published, providing evidence of the fact that marginal vaccination costs increase with coverage. In this study, we use a stochastic agent-based modeling framework to revisit the male vaccination debate in light of these new findings. Within this framework, we assess the impact of coverage-dependent marginal costs of vaccine distribution on optimal immunization strategies against HPV. Focusing on the two scenarios of ongoing and new vaccination programs, we analyze different resource allocation policies and their effects on overall disease burden. Our results suggest that if the costs associated with vaccinating males are relatively close to those associated with vaccinating females, then coverage-dependent, increasing marginal costs may favor vaccination strategies that entail immunization of both genders. In particular, this study emphasizes the necessity for further empirical research on the nature of coverage-dependent vaccination costs. PMID:25979280

  13. Holistic Approach Offers Potential to Quantify Mass Fluxes Across Continental Margins

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuehl, Steven; Carter, Lionel; Gomez, Basil; Trustrum, Noel

    Most humans live on and utilize the continental margin, the surface of which changes continually in response to environmental perturbations such as weather, climate change, tectonism, earthquakes, volcanism, sea level, and human settlement and land use. Part of the margin is above sea level and the rest is submarine, but these land and seascape components are contiguous, and material transport from source to sink occurs as a seamless cascade. The margin responds to environmental perturbations by changing the nature and magnitude of a variety of important functions, including the distribution of soil formation and erosion; biogeochemical functioning (especially the storage and release of water, limiting nutrients and contaminants); and the form and behavior of geomorphic components from hill slopes and floodplains through the coastal zone to the continental rise. While some areas of the margin are eroding-for example, hill slopes-others accumulate sediment, such as tectonic basins and continental slope and rise. These areas record the history of surface changes. A major goal of the Earth science community is to provide quantitative explanations and predictions of the effects of environmental perturbations on surface changes and preserved sedimentary strata of continental margins. In past decades, margins have been investigated piecemeal by researchers who have tended to focus on a particular segment from one disciplinary perspective while eschewing the broader perspective of the margin as an interconnected whole. Recognizing this shortcoming, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has initiated the MARGINS Source-to-Sink (S2S) program, which, for the first time, will attempt to understand the functioning of entire margin systems through dedicated observational and community modeling studies. Following input from the Earth science community, the Waipaoa Sedimentary System (WSS) of the North Island, New Zealand, was chosen as one of the focus sites for possible study (see MARGINS Source-to-Sink science plan for selection criteria and rationale: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/margins/S2S/S2Ssciplan02.html).

  14. Automated design and optimization of flexible booster autopilots via linear programming. Volume 2: User's manual

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hauser, F. D.; Szollosi, G. D.; Lakin, W. S.

    1972-01-01

    COEBRA, the Computerized Optimization of Elastic Booster Autopilots, is an autopilot design program. The bulk of the design criteria is presented in the form of minimum allowed gain/phase stability margins. COEBRA has two optimization phases: (1) a phase to maximize stability margins; and (2) a phase to optimize structural bending moment load relief capability in the presence of minimum requirements on gain/phase stability margins.

  15. Development and Testing of Control Laws for the Active Aeroelastic Wing Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dibley, Ryan P.; Allen, Michael J.; Clarke, Robert; Gera, Joseph; Hodgkinson, John

    2005-01-01

    The Active Aeroelastic Wing research program was a joint program between the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA established to investigate the characteristics of an aeroelastic wing and the technique of using wing twist for roll control. The flight test program employed the use of an F/A-18 aircraft modified by reducing the wing torsional stiffness and adding a custom research flight control system. The research flight control system was optimized to maximize roll rate using only wing surfaces to twist the wing while simultaneously maintaining design load limits, stability margins, and handling qualities. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center developed control laws using the software design tool called CONDUIT, which employs a multi-objective function optimization to tune selected control system design parameters. Modifications were made to the Active Aeroelastic Wing implementation in this new software design tool to incorporate the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center nonlinear F/A-18 simulation for time history analysis. This paper describes the design process, including how the control law requirements were incorporated into constraints for the optimization of this specific software design tool. Predicted performance is also compared to results from flight.

  16. Typography and layout of technical reports - Survey of current practices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pinelli, T. E.; Cordle, V. M.; Mccullough, R.

    1985-01-01

    As part of a review of the NASA Langley Research Center scientific and technical information program, 50 technical reports from industry, research institutions, and government agencies were systematically examined and analyzed to determine current usage and practice in regard to (1) typography, including composition method, type style, type size, and margin treatment; (2) graphic design, including layout and imposition of material on the page; and (3) physical media, including paper, ink, and binding methods. The results indicate that approximately 50 percent of the reports were typeset, 70 percent used Roman (serif) type, 80 percent used 10- or 11-point type for text, 60 percent used a ragged right-hand margin, slightly more than half used paragraph indentation, 75 percent used a single-column layout, 65 percent had one or more figures or tables placed perpendicular to (not aligned with) the text, and perfect binding was the most frequently used binding method.

  17. Heard and valued: the development of a model to meaningfully engage marginalized populations in health services planning.

    PubMed

    Snow, M Elizabeth; Tweedie, Katherine; Pederson, Ann

    2018-03-15

    Recently, patient engagement has been identified as a promising strategy for supporting healthcare planning. However, the context and structure of universalistic, "one-size-fits-all" approaches often used for patient engagement may not enable diverse patients to participate in decision-making about programs intended to meet their needs. Specifically, standard patient engagement approaches are gender-blind and might not facilitate the engagement of those marginalized by, for example, substance use, low income, experiences of violence, homelessness, and/or mental health challenges-highly gendered health and social experiences. The project's purpose was to develop a heuristic model to assist planners to engage patients who are not traditionally included in healthcare planning. Using a qualitative research approach, we reviewed literature and conducted interviews with patients and healthcare planners regarding engaging marginalized populations in health services planning. From these inputs, we created a model and planning manual to assist healthcare planners to engage marginalized patients in health services planning, which we piloted in two clinical programs undergoing health services design. The findings from the pilots were used to refine the model. The analysis of the interviews and literature identified power and gender as barriers to participation, and generated suggestions to support diverse populations both to attend patient engagement events and to participate meaningfully. Engaging marginalized populations cannot be reduced to a single defined process, but instead needs to be understood as an iterative process of fitting engagement methods to a particular situation. Underlying this process are principles for meaningfully engaging marginalized people in healthcare planning. A one-size-fits-all approach to patient engagement is not appropriate given patients' diverse barriers to meaningful participation in healthcare planning. Instead, planners need a repertoire of skills and strategies to align the purpose of engagement with the capacities and needs of patient participants. Just as services need to meet diverse patients' needs, so too must patient engagement experiences.

  18. A Prospective Cohort Study of Outpatient Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation of Chronic Headache Patients.

    PubMed

    Krause, Steven J; Stillman, Mark J; Tepper, Deborah E; Zajac, Deborah

    2017-03-01

    To evaluate the efficacy of an intensive outpatient program designed to improve functioning and reduce psychological impairment in chronic headache patients. Chronic headaches, occurring 15 or more days per month, for three or more months, may arise from multiple International Classification of Headache Disorders diagnoses: Chronic Migraine, Chronic Tension Type Headache, New Daily Persistent Headache, Chronic Post Traumatic Headaches, and Medication Overuse Headache. Several interdisciplinary programs that treat patients with chronic headaches have reported decreases in headache frequency. This study sought to evaluate the effect of a 3 week interdisciplinary treatment program for patients with chronic headache disorders on headache severity, functional status, and psychological impairment. Subjects were 379 patients admitted to an outpatient chronic headache treatment program. Assessments of headache severity, psychological status, and functional impairment were completed by 371 (97.8%) of these at the time of admission. At discharge, 340 subjects (89.7%) provided assessment data, and 152 (40.1%) provided data at 1-year follow-up. Subjects' mean ratings on a 0-10 scale for their headache pain in the prior week declined, and these improvements were maintained at follow-up. (Estimated marginal means on a 0-10 scale for Average pain: admission 6.1, discharge 3.5, follow-up 3.3; for Least pain: admission 3.2; discharge 1.5; follow-up 1.3; for Worst pain: admission 8.2; discharge 6.4; follow-up 5.7), and similar results were found for current pain (admission 4.7; discharge 2.8; follow-up 2.4): Measures of functional impairment also improved following treatment, and these gains were maintained at 12 month follow up (Estimated marginal mean Headache Impact Test-6 score: admission 66.1, discharge 55.4, follow-up 51.9; Estimated marginal mean Pain Disability Index score: admission 36.2, discharge 14.1, follow-up 11.6). As measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, anxiety and reactivity to stress decreased following treatment, and remained improved at follow-up (Estimated marginal mean score for Anxiety: admission 8.7, discharge 5.2, follow-up 4.4; Estimated marginal mean score for stress: admission 14.9, discharge 7.2, follow-up 7.6). Depression decreased with treatment, but while 1-year follow-up depression scores remained significantly lower than at admission, they were also significantly higher than at discharge (Estimated marginal means: admission 13.3, discharge 4.1, follow-up 6.6). The study supports the efficacy of the treatment model. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed. © 2017 American Headache Society.

  19. Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice in Educational Research: Methods at the Margins

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winkle-Wagner, Rachelle, Ed.; Hunter, Cheryl A., Ed.; Ortloff, Debora Hinderliter, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    This book provides new ways of thinking about educational processes, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Concrete examples of research techniques are provided for those conducting research with marginalized populations or about marginalized ideas. This volume asserts theoretical models related to research methods and the study of…

  20. Do marginalized neighbourhoods have less healthy retail food environments? An analysis using Bayesian spatial latent factor and hurdle models.

    PubMed

    Luan, Hui; Minaker, Leia M; Law, Jane

    2016-08-22

    Findings of whether marginalized neighbourhoods have less healthy retail food environments (RFE) are mixed across countries, in part because inconsistent approaches have been used to characterize RFE 'healthfulness' and marginalization, and researchers have used non-spatial statistical methods to respond to this ultimately spatial issue. This study uses in-store features to categorize healthy and less healthy food outlets. Bayesian spatial hierarchical models are applied to explore the association between marginalization dimensions and RFE healthfulness (i.e., relative healthy food access that modelled via a probability distribution) at various geographical scales. Marginalization dimensions are derived from a spatial latent factor model. Zero-inflation occurring at the walkable-distance scale is accounted for with a spatial hurdle model. Neighbourhoods with higher residential instability, material deprivation, and population density are more likely to have access to healthy food outlets within a walkable distance from a binary 'have' or 'not have' access perspective. At the walkable distance scale however, materially deprived neighbourhoods are found to have less healthy RFE (lower relative healthy food access). Food intervention programs should be developed for striking the balance between healthy and less healthy food access in the study region as well as improving opportunities for residents to buy and consume foods consistent with dietary recommendations.

  1. Adults in Programs for the "Academically Underprepared"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Isserlis, Janet

    2008-01-01

    Adult basic education represents a marginalized field that addresses the needs of a largely marginalized population: adults who are viewed through a deficit lens labeling them as being underprepared. This article examines particular challenges and strengths of adult learners in basic education programs (including literacy, English language, and…

  2. Male Contraception: Research, New Methods, and Implications for Marginalized Populations.

    PubMed

    Plana, Olivia

    2017-07-01

    The majority of research on contraception has focused on manipulating the female reproductive system. Recent studies have identified novel contraceptives for males, including hormonal- and nonhormonal-based therapeutics. Although these new contraceptives are still undergoing clinical trials, their development and potential future use in society necessitate serious consideration of their implications for reproductive health. Through my analysis of the research conducted on male contraception over time and the current therapeutics available, it is clear that male contraception has the potential to shift societal gender dynamics and provide males with greater control over their own reproduction. This article also identifies the implications of these novel contraceptives for marginalized populations, especially men of color and men of lower socioeconomic positions. To overcome barriers to contraception among these populations, public policy efforts are needed in order to motivate the development of programs that facilitate coverage of these new male contraceptives by health plans and to increase their availability to underserved communities. Health care providers will be responsible for educating patients about these novel male contraception options and the need to continue using existing methods (e.g., condoms) in order to prevent sexually transmitted infections. This article analyzes the research conducted on male contraception and identifies the implications of these novel therapeutics for marginalized groups of men in the United States to identify the interventions that will be necessary to help ensure that all men have access to these promising scientific innovations.

  3. Male Contraception: Research, New Methods, and Implications for Marginalized Populations

    PubMed Central

    Plana, Olivia

    2015-01-01

    The majority of research on contraception has focused on manipulating the female reproductive system. Recent studies have identified novel contraceptives for males, including hormonal- and nonhormonal-based therapeutics. Although these new contraceptives are still undergoing clinical trials, their development and potential future use in society necessitate serious consideration of their implications for reproductive health. Through my analysis of the research conducted on male contraception over time and the current therapeutics available, it is clear that male contraception has the potential to shift societal gender dynamics and provide males with greater control over their own reproduction. This article also identifies the implications of these novel contraceptives for marginalized populations, especially men of color and men of lower socioeconomic positions. To overcome barriers to contraception among these populations, public policy efforts are needed in order to motivate the development of programs that facilitate coverage of these new male contraceptives by health plans and to increase their availability to underserved communities. Health care providers will be responsible for educating patients about these novel male contraception options and the need to continue using existing methods (e.g., condoms) in order to prevent sexually transmitted infections. This article analyzes the research conducted on male contraception and identifies the implications of these novel therapeutics for marginalized groups of men in the United States to identify the interventions that will be necessary to help ensure that all men have access to these promising scientific innovations. PMID:26206159

  4. Sonar Transducer Reliability Improvement Program FY 80.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-04-01

    transducers has shown that tricresvl Dhosvhate has 2 promise for use where a careful selection of rubber is possible. See Section 2.3. * Information...impedance and are frequently incompatible with the various plastics and rubbers in the transducer. Further research is necessary to find and qualify fill...have excellent or good compatibility with Viton, butyl, chlorobutyl, silicone, and EPDM elastomers. TCP shows marginal compatibility with natural

  5. The Factors That Have Influenced Counseling Services to First Generation Students with Scarce Economic Resources Who Have Completed a Bachelor's Degree

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morales Olivo, Elizabeth

    2009-01-01

    Obtaining a bachelor's degree favorably makes an impact in marginalized groups because it promotes social mobility to individuals who live in poverty. The students from the Academic Special Services Program of the Rio Piedras Campus at the University of Puerto Rico come from disadvantaged areas of society. The research was focused on finding out…

  6. Pegasus hypersonic flight research

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Curry, Robert E.; Meyer, Robert R., Jr.; Budd, Gerald D.

    1992-01-01

    Hypersonic aeronautics research using the Pegasus air-launched space booster is described. Two areas are discussed in the paper: previously obtained results from Pegasus flights 1 and 2, and plans for future programs. Proposed future research includes boundary-layer transition studies on the airplane-like first stage and also use of the complete Pegasus launch system to boost a research vehicle to hypersonic speeds. Pegasus flight 1 and 2 measurements were used to evaluate the results of several analytical aerodynamic design tools applied during the development of the vehicle as well as to develop hypersonic flight-test techniques. These data indicated that the aerodynamic design approach for Pegasus was adequate and showed that acceptable margins were available. Additionally, the correlations provide insight into the capabilities of these analytical tools for more complex vehicles in which design margins may be more stringent. Near-term plans to conduct hypersonic boundary-layer transition studies are discussed. These plans involve the use of a smooth metallic glove at about the mid-span of the wing. Longer-term opportunities are proposed which identify advantages of the Pegasus launch system to boost large-scale research vehicles to the real-gas hypersonic flight regime.

  7. Priority setting in a Canadian surgical department: a case study using program budgeting and marginal analysis

    PubMed Central

    Mitton, Craig; Donaldson, Cam; Shellian, Barb; Pagenkopf, Cort

    2003-01-01

    Introduction A key mandate of Canadian regional health authorities is to set priorities and allocate resources within a limited funding envelope. The objective in this study was to determine how resources within a surgical program in a Canadian rural hospital might be reallocated to better meet the needs of the local community. Methods Early in 2001, at the Canmore General Hospital, Canmore, Alta., an expert-panel working group, consisting of a community health service leader, operating-room nurse clinician, acute care head nurse and a general surgeon, assisted by a research assistant and 2 health economists carried out a program budgeting and marginal analysis project to assess multiple data inputs into the decision-making process and to develop recommendations for service expansion and resource release. They considered the cost and benefits of altering the mix of resources used, based on Headwaters Health Authority activity and financial data, and local expert opinion. Results The primary recommendation was to implement an additional surgery day per week (38 days of major surgery and 12 days of minor surgery over a 50-week year). However, the total dollars to fund such an expansion could not be released from within the Canmore budget, and additional dollars were not forthcoming from the health region. A secondary objective of implementing an additional minor surgery day every 3 weeks was pursued and the required resources were obtained. Conclusions Due to resource constraints in health care, efforts by both clinicians and administrators should be made to better spend available resources. The marginal analysis process used in this study served as a useful framework for priority setting, which is generalizable to other surgical and nonsurgical programs in Canada. PMID:12585790

  8. MIZEX. A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. III. Modeling the Marginal Ice Zone,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-04-01

    Ii TS C]r.I2 TAB 0] Unzanro’ unoed 0 justi fica ~r: 0 April 1984 vs - ASValabilitY Codes lvyall and/or U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering...coupled model. Fig. 1. Annual average simulated velocity fields. 3 192 Aloka 190 / 902 190+ WOO S’,. o Ice OnlY Mod" D"’, 55*w F~tth Yea’ Ice Ocean Model...A more precise delinga- inflow boundary conditions. 12 4- a. [ o ll ii traspert 00 0 0- 0e a I " i i , - - I I 1161 63 15 67 69 Ti 73 75 77 1980 *= 4h

  9. Predicted performance benefits of an adaptive digital engine control system of an F-15 airplane

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burcham, F. W., Jr.; Myers, L. P.; Ray, R. J.

    1985-01-01

    The highly integrated digital electronic control (HIDEC) program will demonstrate and evaluate the improvements in performance and mission effectiveness that result from integrating engine-airframe control systems. Currently this is accomplished on the NASA Ames Research Center's F-15 airplane. The two control modes used to implement the systems are an integrated flightpath management mode and in integrated adaptive engine control system (ADECS) mode. The ADECS mode is a highly integrated mode in which the airplane flight conditions, the resulting inlet distortion, and the available engine stall margin are continually computed. The excess stall margin is traded for thrust. The predicted increase in engine performance due to the ADECS mode is presented in this report.

  10. The lived experience of girl-to-girl aggression in marginalized girls.

    PubMed

    Zenz Adamshick, Pamela

    2010-04-01

    Girl-to-girl aggression is increasingly being recognized as a health problem, and the number of teenage girls involved in serious fighting is on the rise. Research on the experiences of girl-to-girl aggression in marginalized girls who are out of the mainstream because of poor relationship skills and physical aggression is notably absent, yet this group is at heightened risk for persistent violence. In this study I used the interpretive phenomenological approach to study the lived experience of girl-to-girl aggression in girls who were marginalized and attending an alternative school because of physically aggressive behavior. Data were collected over a 4-month period by means of in-depth interviews and field notes. For this population, girl-to-girl aggression provided self-protection, expressed girls' identity, and was also a means to finding attachment, connection, and friendship. These findings have multidisciplinary implications for interventions with physically aggressive girls, including mentoring programs, in-school support groups, and exploration of a paradigm shift in the use of alternative schools.

  11. Marginalized Student Access to Technology Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kurtcu, Wanda M.

    The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a teacher can disrupt an established curriculum that continues the cycle of inequity of access to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum by students in alternative education. For this paper, I will focus on the technology components of the STEM curriculum. Technology in the United States, if not the world economy, is developing at a rapid pace. Many areas of day to day living, from applying for a job to checking one's bank account online, involve a component of science and technology. The 'gap' in technology education is emphasized between the 'haves and have-nots', which is delineated along socio-economic lines. Marginalized students in alternative education programs use this equipment for little else than remedial programs and credit recovery. This level of inequity further widens in alternative education programs and affects the achievement of marginalized students in credit recovery or alternative education classes instead of participation technology classes. For the purposes of this paper I focus on how can I decrease the inequity of student access to 21st century technology education in an alternative education program by addressing the established curriculum of the program and modifying structural barriers of marginalized student access to a technology focused curriculum.

  12. Engaging Students in GeoPRISMS Science Planning: Preparing the Leaders of Tomorrow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Henning, A. T.; Benoit, M. H.; Marshall, J.; Goodliffe, A. M.; Morgan, J. K.; Bopp, C. J.

    2011-12-01

    GeoPRISMS is the legacy of the NSF MARGINS Program. It is a new decadal program, funded by NSF, committed to the amphibious study of the origin and evolution of continental margins through interdisciplinary, community-based investigations. MARGINS and GeoPRISMS have had notable success in fostering this team-based approach in graduate students who then continue on to become GeoPRISMS PIs. GeoPRISMS is enhancing its student outreach efforts through the development of a student symposium program, in which graduate students are invited to be more active participants in GeoPRISMS workshops, and are provided with valuable background and reference materials to enable them. This approach has been applied and updated at four GeoPRISMS workshops so far: two implementation workshops and two science planning workshops. Graduate students participated in the GeoPRISMS Rift Initiation and Evolution (RIE) implementation workshop in November 2010 and the Subduction Cycles and Deformation (SCD) workshop in January 2011, contributing to the overall design of the GeoPRISMS research program, and the selection of primary sites for study. In addition to participating in the regular meeting activities, students gave "pop-up" presentations to summarize their research and poster presentations and also worked together to develop their own draft implementation plan that was presented to the larger audience. Students responded positively to the experience of drafting their own implementation plans, which fostered a sense of community among participants and created an environment in which students felt comfortable speaking up during the meeting. Scientists attending the workshops were impressed by the students' draft implementation plans, as well as their work ethic and enthusiasm, and felt they made a very positive contribution to the workshops. Student feedback suggested providing students with a better understanding of the main scientific questions addressed at the meeting, as well as possible career paths. The sequestration of students during the workshop also raised concerns that they missed opportunities for broader community interactions. In Fall 2011, students participated in two symposia associated with the GeoPRISMS Alaska and Eastern North American Margin primary site planning workshops. The fall symposia followed a different model based on feedback from the first two workshops. A full day of activities took place prior to the workshop, including short presentations by experts in the field to provide background, a half-day field trip to enhance cohort-building, and student-only poster sessions and discussions. This approach allowed the students to participate fully in the meeting itself, with a stronger base of knowledge about the workshop topics and a larger network of colleagues.

  13. ASSESS program: Shuttle Spacelab simulation using a Lear jet aircraft (mission no. 2)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reller, J. O., Jr.; Neel, C. B.; Mason, R. H.; Pappas, C. C.

    1974-01-01

    The second shuttle Spacelab simulation mission of the ASSESS program was conducted at Ames Research Center by the Airborne Science Office (ASO) using a Lear jet aircraft based at a site remote from normal flight operations. Two experimenters and the copilot were confined to quarters on the site during the mission, departing only to do in-flight research in infrared astronomy. A total of seven flights were made in a period of 4 days. Results show that experimenters with relatively little flight experience can plan and carry out a successful research effort under isolated and physically rigorous conditions, much as would more experienced scientists. Perhaps the margin of success is not as great, but the primary goal of sustained acquisition of significant data over a 5-day period can be achieved.

  14. Station Blackout: A case study in the interaction of mechanistic and probabilistic safety analysis

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Curtis Smith; Diego Mandelli; Cristian Rabiti

    2013-11-01

    The ability to better characterize and quantify safety margins is important to improved decision making about nuclear power plant design, operation, and plant life extension. As research and development (R&D) in the light-water reactor (LWR) Sustainability (LWRS) Program and other collaborative efforts yield new data, sensors, and improved scientific understanding of physical processes that govern the aging and degradation of plant SSCs needs and opportunities to better optimize plant safety and performance will become known. The purpose of the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway R&D is to support plant decisions for risk-informed margin management with the aim tomore » improve economics, reliability, and sustain safety of current NPPs. In this paper, we describe the RISMC analysis process illustrating how mechanistic and probabilistic approaches are combined in order to estimate a safety margin. We use the scenario of a “station blackout” wherein offsite power and onsite power is lost, thereby causing a challenge to plant safety systems. We describe the RISMC approach, illustrate the station blackout modeling, and contrast this with traditional risk analysis modeling for this type of accident scenario.« less

  15. Presurgical language fMRI: Clinical practices and patient outcomes in epilepsy surgical planning.

    PubMed

    Benjamin, Christopher F A; Li, Alexa X; Blumenfeld, Hal; Constable, R Todd; Alkawadri, Rafeed; Bickel, Stephan; Helmstaedter, Christoph; Meletti, Stefano; Bronen, Richard; Warfield, Simon K; Peters, Jurriaan M; Reutens, David; Połczyńska, Monika; Spencer, Dennis D; Hirsch, Lawrence J

    2018-03-12

    The goal of this study was to document current clinical practice and report patient outcomes in presurgical language functional MRI (fMRI) for epilepsy surgery. Epilepsy surgical programs worldwide were surveyed as to the utility, implementation, and efficacy of language fMRI in the clinic; 82 programs responded. Respondents were predominantly US (61%) academic programs (85%), and evaluated adults (44%), adults and children (40%), or children only (16%). Nearly all (96%) reported using language fMRI. Surprisingly, fMRI is used to guide surgical margins (44% of programs) as well as lateralize language (100%). Sites using fMRI for localization most often use a distance margin around activation of 10mm. While considered useful, 56% of programs reported at least one instance of disagreement with other measures. Direct brain stimulation typically confirmed fMRI findings (74%) when guiding margins, but instances of unpredicted decline were reported by 17% of programs and 54% reported unexpected preservation of function. Programs reporting unexpected decline did not clearly differ from those which did not. Clinicians using fMRI to guide surgical margins do not typically map known language-critical areas beyond Broca's and Wernicke's. This initial data shows many clinical teams are confident using fMRI not only for language lateralization but also to guide surgical margins. Reported cases of unexpected language preservation when fMRI activation is resected, and cases of language decline when it is not, emphasize a critical need for further validation. Comprehensive studies comparing commonly-used fMRI paradigms to predict stimulation mapping and post-surgical language decline remain of high importance. © 2018 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Coming in from the Margin: Research Practices, Representation and the Ordinary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greiner, Karen P.

    2010-01-01

    This essay explores issues of marginality and representation in research, which emerged during life history interviews with Tammi, an "ordinary" woman living in Appalachia. I examine how my research practices, namely my thirst for drama and marginality, nearly silenced the preferred stories of the woman who shared her life with me. I…

  17. Parallel aeroelastic computations for wing and wing-body configurations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Byun, Chansup

    1994-01-01

    The objective of this research is to develop computationally efficient methods for solving fluid-structural interaction problems by directly coupling finite difference Euler/Navier-Stokes equations for fluids and finite element dynamics equations for structures on parallel computers. This capability will significantly impact many aerospace projects of national importance such as Advanced Subsonic Civil Transport (ASCT), where the structural stability margin becomes very critical at the transonic region. This research effort will have direct impact on the High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) Program of NASA in the area of parallel computing.

  18. The Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program: potential unintended consequences for hospitals serving vulnerable populations.

    PubMed

    Gu, Qian; Koenig, Lane; Faerberg, Jennifer; Steinberg, Caroline Rossi; Vaz, Christopher; Wheatley, Mary P

    2014-06-01

    To explore the impact of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) on hospitals serving vulnerable populations. Medicare inpatient claims to calculate condition-specific readmission rates. Medicare cost reports and other sources to determine a hospital's share of duals, profit margin, and characteristics. Regression analyses and projections were used to estimate risk-adjusted readmission rates and financial penalties under the HRRP. Findings were compared across groups of hospitals, determined based on their share of duals, to assess differential impacts of the HRRP. Both patient dual-eligible status and a hospital's dual-eligible share of Medicare discharges have a positive impact on risk-adjusted hospital readmission rates. Under current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service methodology, which does not adjust for socioeconomic status, high-dual hospitals are more likely to have excess readmissions than low-dual hospitals. As a result, HRRP penalties will disproportionately fall on high-dual hospitals, which are more likely to have negative all-payer margins, raising concerns of unintended consequences of the program for vulnerable populations. Policies to reduce hospital readmissions must balance the need to ensure continued access to quality care for vulnerable populations. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  19. Access and Retention of Marginalized Populations within Undergraduate Music Education Degree Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fitzpatrick, Kate R.; Henninger, Jacqueline C.; Taylor, Don M.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this collective instrumental case study was to examine the experiences of six undergraduate students from traditionally marginalized populations with regard to their preparation for, admission to, and retention within a music education degree program. Analyzed and reported through the lens of critical theory, data sources included…

  20. 12 CFR 221.122 - Applicability of margin requirements to credit in connection with Insurance Premium Funding...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... in connection with Insurance Premium Funding Programs. 221.122 Section 221.122 Banks and Banking...) Interpretations § 221.122 Applicability of margin requirements to credit in connection with Insurance Premium Funding Programs. (a) The Board has been asked numerous questions regarding purpose credit in connection...

  1. 12 CFR 221.122 - Applicability of margin requirements to credit in connection with Insurance Premium Funding...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... in connection with Insurance Premium Funding Programs. 221.122 Section 221.122 Banks and Banking...) Interpretations § 221.122 Applicability of margin requirements to credit in connection with Insurance Premium Funding Programs. (a) The Board has been asked numerous questions regarding purpose credit in connection...

  2. Wide adaptation of Green Revolution wheat: international roots and the Indian context of a new plant breeding ideal, 1960-1970.

    PubMed

    Baranski, Marci R

    2015-04-01

    Indian wheat cultivation changed radically in the 1960s due to new technologies and policy reforms introduced during the Green Revolution, and farmers' adoption of 'packages' of modern seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation. Just prior to the Green Revolution, Indian scientists adopted a new plant breeding philosophy--that varieties should have as wide an adaptation as possible, meaning high and stable yields across different environments. But scientists also argued that wide adaptation could be achieved by selecting only plants that did well in high fertility and irrigated environments. Scientists claimed that widely adapted varieties still produce high yields in marginal areas. Many people have criticized the Green Revolution for its unequal spread of benefits, but none of these critiques address wide adaptation-the core tenant held by Indian agricultural scientists to justify their focus on highly productive land while ignoring marginal or rainfed agriculture. This paper also describes Norman Borlaug's and the Rockefeller Foundation's research program in wide adaptation, Borlaug's involvement in the Indian wheat program, and internal debates about wide adaptation and selection under ideal conditions among Indian scientists. It argues that scientists leveraged the concept of wide adaptation to justify a particular regime of research focused on high production agriculture. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Incorporating Cutting Edge Scientific Results from the Margins-Geoprisms Program into the Undergraduate Curriculum, Rupturing Continental Lithosphere Part I: Introducing Seismic Interpretation and Isostasy Principles Using Gulf of California Examples

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lamb, M. A.; Cashman, S. M.; Dorsey, R. J.; Bennett, S. E. K.; Loveless, J. P.; Goodliffe, A. M.

    2014-12-01

    The NSF-MARGINS Program funded a decade of research on continental margin processes. The NSF-GeoPRISMS Mini-lesson Project, funded by NSF-TUES, is designed to integrate the significant findings from the MARGINS program into open-source college-level curriculum. The Gulf of California (GOC) served as the focus site for the Rupturing Continental Lithosphere initiative, which addressed several scientific questions: What forces drive rift initiation, localization, propagation and evolution? How does deformation vary in time and space, and why? How does crust evolve, physically and chemically, as rifting proceeds to sea-floor spreading? What is the role of sedimentation and magmatism in continental extension? We developed two weeks of curriculum designed for an upper-division structural geology, tectonics or geophysics course. The curriculum includes lectures, labs, and in-class activities that can be used as a whole or individually. The first set of materials introduces the RCL initiative to students and has them analyze the bathymetry and oblique-rifting geometry of the GOC in an exercise using GeoMapApp. The second set of materials has two goals: (1) introduce students to fundamental concepts of interpreting seismic reflection data via lectures and in-class interpretation of strata, basement, and faults from recent GOC seismic data, and (2) encourage students to discover the structural geometry and rift evolution, including the east-to-west progression of faulting and transition from detachment to high-angle faulting in the northern GOC, and changes in deformation style from north to south. In the third set of materials, students investigate isostatic affects of sediment fill in GOC oblique rift basins. This activity consists of a problem set, introduced in a lecture, where students integrate their findings from the previous bathymetry- and seismic-interpretation exercises.

  4. Impact of Brief Intervention Services on Drug Using Truant Youth Arrest Charges over Time

    PubMed Central

    Dembo, Richard; Briones-Robinson, Rhissa; Wareham, Jennifer; Schmeidler, James; Winters, Ken C.; Barrett, Kimberly; Ungaro, Rocio; Karas, Lora M.; Belenko, Steven

    2012-01-01

    School truancy is a serious concern in the U.S., with far-reaching negative consequences. Truancy has been positively associated with substance use and delinquent behavior; however, research is limited. Consequently, the Truancy Brief Intervention Project was established to treat and prevent substance use and other risky behaviors among truants. This article examines whether the Brief Intervention program is more effective in preventing future delinquency over a 12-month follow-up period, than the standard truancy program. Results indicate the Brief Intervention was marginally significant in effecting future delinquency among truants, compared to the standard truancy program. Future implications of this study are discussed. PMID:25382960

  5. Application of Green Net Metropolitan Product to Measure ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has been increasingly incorporating the concept of sustainability in its research programs. One facet of this research is the quantitative assessment of the sustainability of urban systems in light of several multidisciplinary sustainability metrics. In this work, we explore the estimation of economic measure of sustainability for Chicago Metropolitan Area (CMA) based on Green Net Metropolitan Product (GNMP), by adapting the economic models of sustainability at the macroeconomic level to regional sustainability. GNMP aims at amending the limitations of Net Domestic Product (NDP), a classical indicator of economic wellbeing, which fails to account for the degradation of environmental and natural resources caused by economic activities. We collect data for computing GNMP from publicly available secondary sources on variables such as gross metropolitan product, net income, emissions, solid waste, etc. In estimating GNMP for CMA, we have accounted for the damage costs associated with pollution emissions based on marginal damage values obtained from the literature using benefit transfers method. In addition, we attempt at accounting for the marginal value of depletion of natural resources in the CMA in terms of water depletion and changes in urban ecosystems such as green spaces. We account for the marginal damage cost associated with solid waste generation. It is expected the preliminary results of this exploration se

  6. Evaluation of hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

    PubMed

    Sheils, Catherine R; Dahlke, Allison R; Kreutzer, Lindsey; Bilimoria, Karl Y; Yang, Anthony D

    2016-11-01

    The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program is well recognized in surgical quality measurement and is used widely in research. Recent calls to make it a platform for national public reporting and pay-for-performance initiatives highlight the importance of understanding which types of hospitals elect to participate in the program. Our objective was to compare characteristics of hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to characteristics of nonparticipating US hospitals. The 2013 American Hospital Association and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Healthcare Cost Report Information System datasets were used to compare characteristics and operating margins of hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to those of nonparticipating hospitals. Of 3,872 general medical and surgical hospitals performing inpatient surgery in the United States, 475 (12.3%) participated in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Participating hospitals performed 29.0% of all operations in the United States. Compared with nonparticipating hospitals, American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program hospitals had a higher mean annual inpatient surgical case volume (6,426 vs 1,874; P < .001) and a larger mean number of hospital beds (420 vs 167; P < .001); participating hospitals were more often teaching hospitals (35.2% vs 4.1%; P < .001), had more quality-related accreditations (P < .001), and had higher mean operating margins (P < .05). States with the highest proportions of hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program had established surgical quality improvement collaboratives. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program hospitals are large teaching hospitals with more quality-related accreditations and financial resources. These findings should be considered when reviewing research studies using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data, and the findings reinforce that efforts are needed to facilitate participation in surgical quality improvement by all hospital types. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Decolonizing Strategies for Mentoring American Indians and Alaska Natives in HIV and Mental Health Research

    PubMed Central

    Simoni, Jane M.

    2009-01-01

    American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) scholars in the fields of mental health and HIV face formidable barriers to scientific success. These include justifiable mistrust of historically oppressive educational systems, educational disparities, role burdens within academe, the devaluation and marginalization of their research interests, and outright discrimination. Research partners can work to dismantle these barriers by embracing indigenous worldviews, engaging in collaborative research partnerships, building research capacity within universities and tribal communities, changing reward systems, and developing mentoring programs. At the individual level, aspiring AIAN scholars must build coalitions, reject internalized colonial messages, and utilize indigenous ethical frames. The creation of a cadre of AIAN researchers is crucial to improving the health of AIAN peoples. PMID:19246668

  8. 76 FR 19512 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The Options Clearing Corporation; Notice of Filing of Proposed...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-04-07

    ... clearing organizations. In the internal cross-margining program, there is no need for two separate accounts... Organizations; The Options Clearing Corporation; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change to Allow for an Expansion of OCC's Internal Cross-Margining Program to Include the Ability of a Pair of Affiliated Clearing...

  9. Stratified charge rotary aircraft engine technology enablement program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Badgley, P. R.; Irion, C. E.; Myers, D. M.

    1985-01-01

    The multifuel stratified charge rotary engine is discussed. A single rotor, 0.7L/40 cu in displacement, research rig engine was tested. The research rig engine was designed for operation at high speeds and pressures, combustion chamber peak pressure providing margin for speed and load excursions above the design requirement for a high is advanced aircraft engine. It is indicated that the single rotor research rig engine is capable of meeting the established design requirements of 120 kW, 8,000 RPM, 1,379 KPA BMEP. The research rig engine, when fully developed, will be a valuable tool for investigating, advanced and highly advanced technology components, and provide an understanding of the stratified charge rotary engine combustion process.

  10. Toward Affordable Systems: Portfolio Analysis and Management for Army Science and Technology Programs

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR (S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Rand...Decision Authority MDAP major defense acquisition program Abbreviations xxvii MIC marginal implementation cost MOMC marginal operating and...the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA).1 1 This section is based on U.S. Army, 2003, pp. 30–33. This 2003 Army document had taken into account the

  11. Global budgets in Maryland: early evidence on revenues, expenses, and margins in regulated and unregulated services.

    PubMed

    Malmmose, Margit; Mortensen, Karoline; Holm, Claus

    2018-04-02

    Maryland implemented one of the most aggressive payment innovations the nation has seen in several decades when it introduced global budgets in all its acute care hospitals in 2014. Prior to this, a pilot program, total patient revenue (TPR), was established for 8 rural hospitals in 2010. Using financial hospital report data from the Health Services Cost Review Commission from 2007 to 2013, we examined the hospitals' financial results including revenue, costs, and profit/loss margins to explore the impact of the adoption of the TPR pilot global budget program relative to the remaining hospitals in the state. We analyze financial results for both regulated (included in the global budget and subject to rate-setting) and unregulated services in order to capture a holistic image of the hospitals' actual revenue, cost and margin structures. Common size and difference-in-differences analyses of the data suggest that regulated profit ratios for treatment hospitals increased (from 5% in 2007 to 8% in 2013) and regulated expense-to-gross patient revenue ratios decreased (75% in 2007 and 68% in 2013) relative to the controls. Simultaneously, the profit margins for treatment hospitals' unregulated services decreased (- 12% in 2007 and - 17% in 2013), which reduced the overall margin significantly. This analysis therefore indicates cost shifting and less profit gain from the program than identified by solely focusing on the regulated margins.

  12. Forced Migration as Public Relations Process? Lothar B. Kalinowsky and the Trans-Atlantic Transfer of Electroconvulsive Therapy.

    PubMed

    Stahnisch, Frank W

    2016-01-01

    Research in biological psychiatry during the first half of the 20 th century was based upon a wide range of interrelated disciplines, including neurology, neuroanatomy, neuropathology, and experimental biology. The work of German-American psychiatrist and neurologist Lothar B. Kalinowsky (1899-1992) is taken here as an example of how such fields could be combined to produce a highly innovative and multidimensional research program in clinical neuroscience. Kalinowsky functioned exceptionally well in both scientific and clinical cultures despite the marked contextual differences between the Charité in Berlin and his later workplace in New York's Columbia Medical School. The innovative ideas exemplified by Kalinowsky's efforts, however, sometimes amounted to a dubious advantage for émigré clinical neuroscientists: they easily led to incommensurable scientific views, and sometimes even resulted in the marginalization of the innovator from existing research programs.

  13. MARGINS mini-lessons: A tour of the Mariana Subduction System (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goodliffe, A. M.; Oakley, A.

    2009-12-01

    MARGINS mini-lessons provide an efficient way to quickly move cutting edge MARGINS research into the university classroom. Instructors who are not necessarily familiar with the MARGINS program can easily use mini-lessons in a variety of educational settings. The mini-lesson described herein is centered on bathymetric and multi-channel seismic data collected during a 2003 NSF-MARGINS funded marine geophysical survey in the Mariana Basin. Designed as an approximately sixty minute lecture segment, the lesson covers both the techniques used to collect marine geophysical data and a description of the geology of the system. All geological provinces are included, from the subducting Pacific Plate in the east to the remnant arc in the west. Representative seismic lines and bathymetric images are presented for each province, along with a description of key processes including deformation of the subducting plate, serpentinite mud volcanism, forearc faulting, potentially tsunamigenic landslides, arc volcanism, and backarc spreading. The Mariana subduction system mini-lesson requires a computer with an internet connection, powerpoint, Google Earth, and a web-browser. Questions are embedded in the powerpoint presentation that can be adapted to a specific interactive response system as needed. Optimally the lesson should be used in parallel with a GeoWall. A 3-dimensional ArcScene visualization of the Mariana system is available for download through the MARGINS mini-lessons web site. Such visualizations are particularly effective in helping students understand complex three-dimensional systems. If presented in a computer lab students will benefit from being able to explore the Mariana system using tools such as GeoMapApp.

  14. 76 FR 52937 - Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From France, Germany, and Italy: Final Results of Antidumping...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-24

    ... programming and other errors in the margin calculations. Therefore, the final results are different from the... certain companies. We have corrected programming and other errors in the margins we included in the... Technologies GmbH; Italy--Schaeffler Italia S.r.l./WPB Water Pump Bearing GmbH & Co. KG/The Schaeffler Group...

  15. The Marginal Effects of High School Visits: A Step toward an Empirically Driven Marketing Program. AIR 2002 Forum Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aguilar, Lore; Gillespie, Donald A.

    Admissions officers devote substantial resources to high school visits and other recruiting events. Economic theory indicates that the best measure of effectiveness is marginal productivity. Subjects in this study were applicants to a large, Catholic, urban university and all students who participated in recruiting programs in fall 2002.…

  16. "Centering the Margins": Moving Equity to the Center of Men's Health Research.

    PubMed

    Griffith, Derek M

    2018-05-01

    How might the science of men's health progress if research on marginalized or subordinated men is moved from the margins of the literature to the center? This commentary seeks to answer this question, suggesting that if more attention is paid to men of color and other marginalized men, the field will be greatly enriched in its ability to understand determinants of men's health. Reimagining men's health by moving men's health disparities to a primary focus of the field may yield critical new insights that would be essential to moving men's health to the center of health equity research. Focusing on the dual goals of improving the health of marginalized men and examining the determinants of disparities among men and between men and women will yield insights into mechanisms, pathways, and strategies to improve men's health and address health disparities. Current definitions of health disparities limit the nation's ability to dedicate resources to populations that need attention-men of color and other marginalized men-that do not fit these definitions. Moving marginalized men to the center of research in men's health will foster new ways of understanding determinants of men's health that cannot be identified without focusing on populations of men whose health is as influenced by race, ethnicity, and other structures of marginalization as it is by gender and masculinities. Using Black men as a case example, the article illustrates how studying marginalized men can refine the study of men's health and health equity.

  17. Maximum Margin Clustering of Hyperspectral Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niazmardi, S.; Safari, A.; Homayouni, S.

    2013-09-01

    In recent decades, large margin methods such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are supposed to be the state-of-the-art of supervised learning methods for classification of hyperspectral data. However, the results of these algorithms mainly depend on the quality and quantity of available training data. To tackle down the problems associated with the training data, the researcher put effort into extending the capability of large margin algorithms for unsupervised learning. One of the recent proposed algorithms is Maximum Margin Clustering (MMC). The MMC is an unsupervised SVMs algorithm that simultaneously estimates both the labels and the hyperplane parameters. Nevertheless, the optimization of the MMC algorithm is a non-convex problem. Most of the existing MMC methods rely on the reformulating and the relaxing of the non-convex optimization problem as semi-definite programs (SDP), which are computationally very expensive and only can handle small data sets. Moreover, most of these algorithms are two-class classification, which cannot be used for classification of remotely sensed data. In this paper, a new MMC algorithm is used that solve the original non-convex problem using Alternative Optimization method. This algorithm is also extended for multi-class classification and its performance is evaluated. The results of the proposed algorithm show that the algorithm has acceptable results for hyperspectral data clustering.

  18. The Mini-Mast CSI testbed: Lessons learned

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tanner, Sharon E.; Belvin, W. Keith; Horta, Lucas G.; Pappa, R. S.

    1993-01-01

    The Mini-Mast testbed was one of the first large scale Controls-Structure-Interaction (CSI) systems used to evaluate state-of-the-art methodology in flexible structure control. Now that all the testing at Langley Research Center has been completed, a look back is warranted to evaluate the program. This paper describes some of the experiences and technology development studies by NASA, university, and industry investigators. Lessons learned are presented from three categories: the testbed development, control methods, and the operation of a guest investigator program. It is shown how structural safety margins provided a realistic environment to simulate on-orbit CSI research, even though they also reduced the research flexibility afforded to investigators. The limited dynamic coupling between the bending and torsion modes of the cantilevered test article resulted in highly successful SISO and MIMO controllers. However, until accurate models were obtained for the torque wheel actuators, sensors, filters, and the structure itself, most controllers were unstable. Controls research from this testbed should be applicable to cantilevered appendages of future large space structures.

  19. First images of the crustal structure across the eastern Algerian margin, from deep penetrating seismic data.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bouyahiaoui, Boualem; Abtout, Abdeslam; Sage, Françoise; Klingelhoeffer, Frauke; Collot, Jean-yves; Yelles-chaouche, Abdelkarim; Marok, Abbas; Djellit, Hamou; Galves, Audrey; Bracène, Rabah; Schnurle, Philippe; Graindorge, David; party, Scientific

    2013-04-01

    The Algerian continental margin North Africa presents one of only a few examples of a passive continental margin formed in a back-arc environment, which undergoes current compression and is proposed to be reactivated today. In the framework of the Algerian - French SPIRAL research program (Sismique Profonde et Investigation Regionale du nord de l'ALgérie), a seismic cruise was conducted on the R/V Atalante from September to November 2009. During the cruise, deep penetrating low frequency multichannel and wide-angle seismic data were acquired in order to study the deep structure of the Algerian margin. In this work, we present the preliminary results from wide-angle modeling of the North-east Algerian margin in the region of Annaba along a N-S transect using a data set of 42 OBS (ocean bottom seismometers) along a profile extending 117km, and 13 broadband seismological stations along a profile of 80 km length. Travel-time tomography and forward modeling were undertaken to model the velocity structure in this region. The resulting velocity models image the thickness of the sedimentary layers, which varies between a few hundred meters on the continental margin of more than 4 km in the basin. The crust is about 6 km thick in the basin, and thickens to 7-8 km between 40 and 60km distance from the margin toe. Crustal thickness increases to about 22 km at the continental slope over a distance of ~ 90 km. The nature of the crust was determined to be thin oceanic with abnormal velocity gradient in the basin, and thinned continental from around 30 km distance from the coast landward. Integration of the wide-angle seismic data with multichannel seismic, gravity and magnetic data will help to better understand the structure of the Algerian margin and the adjacent oceanic basin in the Annaba region, and to discuss the numerous cinematic models proposed in literature regarding the formation of the north-Algerian basin.

  20. DRI Technical Program: Emerging Dynamics of the Marginal Ice Zone Ice, Ocean and Atmosphere Interactions in the Arctic Marginal Ice Zone. Year 3 Annual Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-09-30

    Institution The Scottish Association for Marine Science tmaksym@whoi.edu Phil.Hwang@sams.ac.uk LONG-TERM GOALS This DRI TECHNICAL PROGRAM (Emerging...jpw28@bas.ac.uk tmaksym@whoi.edu Co-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Byongjun (Phil) Hwang The Scottish Association for Marine Science Phil.Hwang@sams.ac.uk 2

  1. A Collective Pursuit of Learning the Possibility to Be: The CAMP Experience Assisting Situationally Marginalized Mexican American Students to a Successful Student Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reyes, Reynaldo, III

    2007-01-01

    Many students of Mexican descent must learn how to be successful students. This study describes 5 students of Mexican descent from situationally marginalized lives who were a part of a support and retention scholarship program (College Assistance Migrant Program--CAMP). These case studies document how they perceived their learning and how they…

  2. The Single Sex Debate for Girls in Science: A Comparison between Two Informal Science Programs on Middle School Students' STEM Identity Formation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hughes, Roxanne M.; Nzekwe, Brandon; Molyneaux, Kristen J.

    2013-01-01

    Currently, there are policy debates regarding the efficacy and legality of single sex formal and informal education programs. This issue is particularly poignant in science education due to the historical marginalization of women in these fields. This marginalization has resulted in women being positioned as a stigmatized group within many…

  3. Anthropogenic impacts on continental margins: New frontiers and engagement arena for global sustainability research and action

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, K. K.; Glavovic, B.; Limburg, K.; Emeis, K. C.; Thomas, H.; Kremer, H.; Avril, B.; Zhang, J.; Mulholland, M. R.; Glaser, M.; Swaney, D. P.

    2014-12-01

    There is an urgent need to design and implement transformative governance strategies that safeguard Earth's life-support systems essential for long-term human well-being. From a series of meetings of the Continental Margins Working Group co-sponsored by IMBER and LOICZ of IGBP, we conclude that the greatest urgency exists at the ocean-land interface - the continental margins or the Margin - which extends from coastlands over continental shelves and slopes bordering the deep ocean. The Margin is enduring quadruple squeeze from (i) Population growth and rising demands for resources; (ii) Ecosystem degradation and loss; (iii) Rising CO2, climate change and alteration of marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems; and (iv) Rapid and irreversible changes in social-ecological systems. Some areas of the Margin that are subject to the greatest pressures (e.g. the Arctic) are also those for which knowledge of fundamental processes remains most limited. Aside from improving our basic understanding of the nature and variability of the Margin, priority issues include: (i) investment reform to prevent lethal but profitable activities; (ii) risk reduction; and (iii) jurisdiction, equity and fiscal responsibility. However, governance deficits or mismatches are particularly pronounced at the ocean-edge of the Margin and the prevailing Law of the Sea is incapable of resolving these challenges. The "gold rush" of accelerating demands for space and resources, and variability in how this domain is regulated, move the Margin to the forefront of global sustainability research and action. We outline a research strategy in 3 engagement arenas: (a) knowledge and understanding of dynamic Margin processes; (b) development, innovation and risk at the Margin; and (c) governance for sustainability on the Margin. The goals are (1) to better understand Margin social-ecological systems, including their physical and biogeochemical components; (2) to develop practical guidance for sustainable development and use of resources; (3) to design governance regimes to stem unsustainable practices; (4) to investigate how to enable equitable sharing of costs and benefits from sustainable use of resources; and (5) to evaluate alternative research approaches and partnerships that address the challenges faced on the Margin.

  4. Nonlinear Pricing in Energy and Environmental Markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ito, Koichiro

    This dissertation consists of three empirical studies on nonlinear pricing in energy and environmental markets. The first investigates how consumers respond to multi-tier nonlinear price schedules for residential electricity. Chapter 2 asks a similar research question for residential water pricing. Finally, I examine the effect of nonlinear financial rewards for energy conservation by applying a regression discontinuity design to a large-scale electricity rebate program that was implemented in California. Economic theory generally assumes that consumers respond to marginal prices when making economic decisions, but this assumption may not hold for complex price schedules. The chapter "Do Consumers Respond to Marginal or Average Price? Evidence from Nonlinear Electricity Pricing" provides empirical evidence that consumers respond to average price rather than marginal price when faced with nonlinear electricity price schedules. Nonlinear price schedules, such as progressive income tax rates and multi-tier electricity prices, complicate economic decisions by creating multiple marginal prices for the same good. Evidence from laboratory experiments suggests that consumers facing such price schedules may respond to average price as a heuristic. I empirically test this prediction using field data by exploiting price variation across a spatial discontinuity in electric utility service areas. The territory border of two electric utilities lies within several city boundaries in southern California. As a result, nearly identical households experience substantially different nonlinear electricity price schedules. Using monthly household-level panel data from 1999 to 2008, I find strong evidence that consumers respond to average price rather than marginal or expected marginal price. I show that even though this sub-optimizing behavior has a minimal impact on individual welfare, it can critically alter the policy implications of nonlinear pricing. The second chapter " How Do Consumers Respond to Nonlinear Pricing? Evidence from Household Water Demand" provides similar empirical evidence in residential water markets. In this paper, I exploit variation in residential water pricing in Southern California to examine how consumers respond to nonlinear pricing. Contrary to the standard predictions for nonlinear budget sets, I find no bunching of consumers around the kink points of their nonlinear price schedule. I then explore whether consumers respond to marginal price, expected marginal price, or average price when faced with nonlinear water price schedules. The price schedule of one service area was changed from a linear price schedule to a nonlinear price schedule. This policy change lead to an increase in marginal price and expected marginal price but a decrease in average price for many consumers. Using household-level panel data, I find strong evidence that consumers respond to average price rather than marginal or expected marginal price. Estimates of the short-run price elasticity for the summer and winter months are -.127 and -.097, and estimates of the long-run price elasticity for the summer and winter months are -.203 and -.154. I conclude with "The Effect of Cash Rewards on Energy Conservation: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design" to examine the effect of an alternative form of nonlinear pricing that was developed to provide an explicit financial incentive for conservation. In the summer of 2005, California residents received a 20% discount on their summer electricity bills if they could reduce their electricity consumption by 20% relative to 2004. Nearly all households automatically participated in the program, but the eligibility rule required households to have started their electricity service by a certain cutoff date in 2004. This rule generated an essentially random assignment of the program among households that started their service right before and after the cutoff date. Using household-level monthly billing records from the three largest California electric utilities, I find evidence that the rebate incentive reduced consumption by 5% to 10% in the areas where summer temperature is persistently high and income-level is relatively low, but the estimated treatment effects are nearly zero in other areas. To save 1 kWh of electricity, the program cost 2 cents in inland areas, 91 cents in coastal areas, and 14.8 cents for all service areas.

  5. Overcoming the Barriers of Civil/Military Industrial Integration and of Buying Commercial Goods and Services

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-05-13

    increasing defense required emphasis on “affordability” (DoD should make long -term, high-risk investments in innovative technology (while commercial firms...been followed) 8 NPS Acquisition Research Symposium ~ 5. 13.15 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) Program  The JDAM System is a tail kit...prohibitions • Contract Finance/Payments laws • Mandated low profit margins on sales to government • Push for more “insourcing” Examples of U.S

  6. A comparison of pay-as-bid and marginal pricing in electricity markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ren, Yongjun

    This thesis investigates the behaviour of electricity markets under marginal and pay-as-bid pricing. Marginal pricing is believed to yield the maximum social welfare and is currently implemented by most electricity markets. However, in view of recent electricity market failures, pay-as-bid has been extensively discussed as a possible alternative to marginal pricing. In this research, marginal and pay-as-bid pricing have been analyzed in electricity markets with both perfect and imperfect competition. The perfect competition case is studied under both exact and uncertain system marginal cost prediction. The comparison of the two pricing methods is conducted through two steps: (i) identify the best offer strategy of the generating companies (gencos); (ii) analyze the market performance under these optimum genco strategies. The analysis results together with numerical simulations show that pay-as-bid and marginal pricing are equivalent in a perfect market with exact system marginal cost prediction. In perfect markets with uncertain demand prediction, the two pricing methods are also equivalent but in an expected value sense. If we compare from the perspective of second order statistics, all market performance measures exhibit much lower values under pay-as-bid than under marginal pricing. The risk of deviating from the mean is therefore much higher under marginal pricing than under pay-as-bid. In an imperfect competition market with exact demand prediction, the research shows that pay-as-bid pricing yields lower consumer payments and lower genco profits. This research provides quantitative evidence that challenges some common claims about pay-as-bid pricing. One is that under pay-as-bid, participants would soon learn how to offer so as to obtain the same or higher profits than what they would have obtained under marginal pricing. This research however shows that, under pay-as-bid, participants can at best earn the same profit or expected profit as under marginal pricing. A second common claim refuted by this research is that pay-as-bid does not provide correct price signals if there is a scarcity of generation resources. We show that pay-as-bid does provide a price signal with such characteristics and furthermore argue that the price signal under marginal pricing with gaming may not necessarily be correct since it would then not reflect a lack of generation capacity but a desire to increase profit.

  7. Virtual Research Expeditions along Plate Margins: Examples from an Online Oceanography Course

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reed, D. L.; Moore, G. F.; Bangs, N. L.; Tobin, H. J.

    2010-12-01

    An undergraduate online course in oceanography is based on the participation of each student in a series of virtual, at-sea, research expeditions, two of which are used to examine the tectonic processes at plate boundaries. The objective is to leverage the results of major federal research initiatives in the ocean sciences into effective learning tools with a long lifespan for use in undergraduate geoscience courses. These web-based expeditions examine: (1) hydrothermal vents along the divergent plate boundary at the Explorer Ridge and (2) the convergent plate boundary fault along the Nankai Trough, which is the objective of the multi-year NanTroSEIZE drilling program. Here we focus on the convergent plate boundary in NanTroSEIZE 3-D, which is based on a seismic survey supported through NSF-MARGINS, IODP and CDEX in Japan to study the properties of the plate boundary fault system in the upper limit of the seismogenic zone off Japan. The virtual voyage can be used in undergraduate classes at anytime, since it is not directly tied to the finite duration of a specific seagoing project, and comes in two versions, one that is being used in geoscience major courses and the other in non-major courses, such as the oceanography course mentioned above and a lower-division global studies course with a science emphasis. NanTroSEIZE in 3-D places undergraduate learning in an experiential framework as students participate on the expedition and carry out research on the structure of the plate boundary fault. Students learn the scientific background of the program, especially the critical role of international collaboration, and meet the chief scientists before joining the 3-D seismic imaging expedition to identify the active faults that were the likely sources of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan in 1944 and 1948. The initial results of phase I ODP drilling that began in 2007 are also reviewed. Students document their research on a worksheet that accompanies the expedition, interpret a slice through the 3-D seismic volume, and compose an “AGU-style” abstract summarizing their work, which is submitted to the instructor for review. NanTroSEIZE in 3-D is openly available and can be accessed through the MARGINS Mini-lesson section of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC).

  8. Design verification and fabrication of active control systems for the DAST ARW-2 high aspect ratio wing, part 1

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcgehee, C. R.

    1986-01-01

    A study was conducted under Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Testing (DAST) program to accomplish the final design and hardware fabrication for four active control systems compatible with and ready for installation in the NASA Aeroelastic Research Wing No. 2 (ARW-2) and Firebee II drone flight test vehicle. The wing structure was designed so that Active Control Systems (ACS) are required in the normal flight envelope by integrating control system design with aerodynamics and structure technologies. The DAST ARW-2 configuration uses flutter suppression, relaxed static stability, and gust and maneuver load alleviation ACS systems, and an automatic flight control system. Performance goals and criteria were applied to individual systems and the systems collectively to assure that vehicle stability margins, flutter margins, flying qualities and load reductions are achieved.

  9. Stability and Controls Analysis and Flight Test Results of a 24-Foot Telescoping Nose Boom on an F-15B Airplane

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moua, Cheng M.; Cox, Timothy H.; McWherter, Shaun C.

    2008-01-01

    The Quiet Spike(TradeMark) F-15B flight research program investigated supersonic shock reduction using a 24-ft telescoping nose boom on an F-15B airplane. The program goal was to collect flight data for model validation up to 1.8 Mach. In the area of stability and controls, the primary concerns were to assess the potential destabilizing effect of the oversized nose boom on the stability, controllability, and handling qualities of the airplane and to ensure adequate stability margins across the entire research flight envelope. This paper reports on the stability and control analytical methods, flight envelope clearance approach, and flight test results of the F-15B telescoping nose boom configuration. Also discussed are brief pilot commentary on typical piloting tasks and refueling tasks.

  10. Gas hydrates and active mud volcanism on the South Shetland continental margin, Antarctic Peninsula

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tinivella, U.; Accaino, F.; Della Vedova, B.

    2008-04-01

    During the Antarctic summer of 2003 2004, new geophysical data were acquired from aboard the R/V OGS Explora in the BSR-rich area discovered in 1996 1997 along the South Shetland continental margin off the Antarctic Peninsula. The objective of the research program, supported by the Italian National Antarctic Program (PNRA), was to verify the existence of a potential gas hydrate reservoir and to reconstruct the tectonic setting of the margin, which probably controls the extent and character of the diffused and discontinuous bottom simulating reflections. The new dataset, i.e. multibeam bathymetry, seismic profiles (airgun and chirp), and two gravity cores analysed by computer-aided tomography as well as for gas composition and content, clearly shows active mud volcanism sustained by hydrocarbon venting in the region: several vents, located mainly close to mud volcanoes, were imaged during the cruise and their occurrence identified in the sediment samples. Mud volcanoes, vents and recent slides border the gas hydrate reservoir discovered in 1996 1997. The cores are composed of stiff silty mud. In core GC01, collected in the proximity of a mud volcano ridge, the following gases were identified (maximum contents in brackets): methane (46 μg/kg), pentane (45), ethane (35), propane (34), hexane (29) and butane (28). In core GC02, collected on the flank of the Vualt mud volcano, the corresponding data are methane (0 μg/kg), pentane (45), ethane (22), propane (0), hexane (27) and butane (25).

  11. Marginal Teachers from the Eyes of School Principals: Concept, Problems and Management Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erdogan, Cetin; Demirkasimoglu, Nihan

    2016-01-01

    This research aimed to determine how Turkish principals define marginal teachers and which strategies they use to deal with them. Within this purpose, the following points are examined: (a) the concept of marginal teacher, (b) the underlying reasons for marginal teacher behaviors, (c) the problems marginal teachers cause in school settings, (d)…

  12. Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones: Climate Feedback and Trigger Mechanisms for Natural Disasters. An Overview of the Activities of SFB 574.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reston, T. J.

    2005-12-01

    The special research program SFB 574 at the University of Kiel investigates the role of fluid and volatile recycling in subduction zones along the Central American convergent margin (Guatemala to Panama) through integrated geophysical, geological, volcanological, geochemical, petrological and oceanographic studies. The work is carried out by over 50 scientists within 12 focussed scientific projects, evenly distributed between the tectonics of the subduction zone, the dewatering through the forearc, and the transfer of fluids from the slab to the atmosphere through the arc. During Phase I (2001-2004), we concentrated on a segment of the erosive subduction zone system onshore and offshore Costa Rica and Nicaragua, one of the focus areas for the MARGIN initiatives SubFac and SEIZE. Along this margin, the dip of subduction, the nature of the incoming plate, and magmatic compositions along the volcanic arc are all known to change significantly. In addition to work carried out during cruises and fieldwork from the 1990s, in the past 4 years we have collected new data during a total 10 months of shiptime on the research vessels SONNE and METEOR, and during 20 man-months of fieldwork, mainly in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In Phase II (2004-2008) we will finish work off Central America, and start working in an accretionary segment of the Chile margin between 32 and 38S. In this presentation I outline some of the main results concentrating on the effect of variable input and on the output at the arc. Key effects include the influence of the Galapagos hotspot on the incoming section (and on the output at the arc), the thickness of the volcanic crust and the effects of mantle serpentinization.

  13. Integrating Safety Assessment Methods using the Risk Informed Safety Margins Characterization (RISMC) Approach

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Curtis Smith; Diego Mandelli

    Safety is central to the design, licensing, operation, and economics of nuclear power plants (NPPs). As the current light water reactor (LWR) NPPs age beyond 60 years, there are possibilities for increased frequency of systems, structures, and components (SSC) degradations or failures that initiate safety significant events, reduce existing accident mitigation capabilities, or create new failure modes. Plant designers commonly “over-design” portions of NPPs and provide robustness in the form of redundant and diverse engineered safety features to ensure that, even in the case of well-beyond design basis scenarios, public health and safety will be protected with a very highmore » degree of assurance. This form of defense-in-depth is a reasoned response to uncertainties and is often referred to generically as “safety margin.” Historically, specific safety margin provisions have been formulated primarily based on engineering judgment backed by a set of conservative engineering calculations. The ability to better characterize and quantify safety margin is important to improved decision making about LWR design, operation, and plant life extension. A systematic approach to characterization of safety margins and the subsequent margin management options represents a vital input to the licensee and regulatory analysis and decision making that will be involved. In addition, as research and development (R&D) in the LWR Sustainability (LWRS) Program and other collaborative efforts yield new data, sensors, and improved scientific understanding of physical processes that govern the aging and degradation of plant SSCs needs and opportunities to better optimize plant safety and performance will become known. To support decision making related to economics, readability, and safety, the RISMC Pathway provides methods and tools that enable mitigation options known as margins management strategies. The purpose of the RISMC Pathway R&D is to support plant decisions for risk-informed margin management with the aim to improve economics, reliability, and sustain safety of current NPPs. As the lead Department of Energy (DOE) Laboratory for this Pathway, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is tasked with developing and deploying methods and tools that support the quantification and management of safety margin and uncertainty.« less

  14. Indigenous women's voices: marginalization and health.

    PubMed

    Dodgson, Joan E; Struthers, Roxanne

    2005-10-01

    Marginalization may affect health care delivery. Ways in which indigenous women experienced marginalization were examined. Data from 57 indigenous women (18 to 65 years) were analyzed for themes. Three themes emerged: historical trauma as lived marginalization, biculturalism experienced as marginalization, and interacting within a complex health care system. Experienced marginalization reflected participants' unique perspective and were congruent with previous research. It is necessary for health care providers to assess the detrimental impact of marginalization on the health status of individuals and/or communities.

  15. Using Research Data to Stimulate Critical Thinking in Undergraduate Geoscience Courses: Examples and Future Directions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reed, D. L.; Moore, G. F.; Bangs, N. L.; Tobin, H.

    2007-12-01

    The results of major research initiatives, such as NSF-MARGINS, IODP and its predecessors DSDP and ODP, Ridge 2000, and NOAA's Ocean Explorer and Vents Programs provide a rich library of resources for inquiry-based learning in undergraduate classes in the geosciences. These materials are scalable for use in general education courses for the non-science major to upper division major and graduate courses, which are both content-rich and research-based. Examples of these materials include images and animations drawn from computer presentations at research workshops and audio/video clips from web sites, as well as data repositories, which can be accessed through GeoMapApp, a data exploration and visualization tool developed as part of the Marine Geoscience Data System by researchers at the LDEO (http://www.geomapapp.org/). Past efforts have focused on recreating sea-going research experiences by integrating and repurposing these data in web-based virtual environments to stimulate active student participation in laboratory settings and at a distance over the WWW. Virtual expeditions have been created based on multibeam mapping of the seafloor near the Golden Gate, bathymetric transects of the major ocean basins, subduction zone seismicity and related tsunamis, water column mapping and submersible dives at hydrothermal vents, and ocean drilling of deep-sea sediments to explore climate change. Students also make use of multichannel seismic data provided through the Marine Seismic Data Center of UTIG to study subduction zone processes at convergent plate boundaries. We will present the initial stages of development of a web-based virtual expedition for use in undergraduate classes, based on a recent 3-D seismic survey associated with the NanTroSEIZE program of NSF-MARGINS and IODP to study the properties of the plate boundary fault system in the upper limit of the seismogenic zone off Japan.

  16. MIZEX. A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. I. Research Strategy.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-06-01

    I0’ writing -up of results, and synthesis of the Bering km in surface area; the Bering Sea area is on the MIZ results with incoming results from the...application to rapid Ielting . Rev. Iho trne.ali Sea sdui ri Al ).f X, N. pi I 1975 Api I 19761 li la yer lj t ’ii.,i r wNil liet.,ii fol r1 od,% ’ir e r. S

  17. A Status of the Advanced Space Transportation Program from Planning to Action

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lyles, Garry; Griner, Carolyn

    1998-01-01

    A Technology Plan for Enabling Commercial Space Business was presented at the 48th International Astronautical Congress in Turin, Italy. This paper presents a status of the program's accomplishments. Technology demonstrations have progressed in each of the four elements of the program; (1) Low Cost Technology, (2) Advanced Reusable Technology, (3) Space Transfer Technology and (4) Space Transportation Research. The Low Cost Technology program element is primarily focused at reducing development and acquisition costs of aerospace hardware using a "design to cost" philosophy with robust margins, adapting commercial manufacturing processes and commercial off-the-shelf hardware. The attributes of this philosophy for small payload launch are being demonstrated at the component, sub-system, and system level. The X-34 "Fastrac" engine has progressed through major component and subsystem demonstrations. A propulsion system test bed has been implemented for system-level demonstration of component and subsystem technologies; including propellant tankage and feedlines, controls, pressurization, and engine systems. Low cost turbopump designs, commercial valves and a controller are demonstrating the potential for a ten-fold reduction in engine and propulsion system costs. The Advanced Reusable Technology program element is focused on increasing life through high strength-to-weight structures and propulsion components, highly integrated propellant tanks, automated checkout and health management and increased propulsion system performance. The validation of rocket based combined cycle (RBCC) propulsion is pro,-,ressing through component and subsystem testing. RBCC propulsion has the potential to provide performance margin over an all rocket system that could result in lower gross liftoff weight, a lower propellant mass fraction or a higher payload mass fraction. The Space Transfer Technology element of the program is pursuing technology that can improve performance and dramatically reduce the propellant and structural mass of orbit transfer and deep space systems. Flight demonstration of ion propulsion is progressing towards launch. Ion propulsion is the primary propulsion for Deep Space 1; a flyby of comet West-kohoutek-lkemura and asteroid 3352 McAuliffe. Testing of critical solar-thermal propulsion subsystems have been accomplished and planning is continuing for the flight demonstration of an electrodynamic tether orbit transfer system. The forth and final element of the program, Space Transportation Research, has progressed in several areas of propulsion research. This element of the program is focused at long-term (25 years) breakthrough concepts that could bring launch costs to a factor of one hundred below today's cost or dramatically expand planetary travel and enable interstellar travel.

  18. Pitfalls, Potentials, and Ethics of Online Survey Research: LGBTQ and Other Marginalized and Hard-to-Access Youths.

    PubMed

    McInroy, Lauren B

    2016-06-01

    Online research methodologies may serve as an important mechanism for population-focused data collection in social work research. Online surveys have become increasingly prevalent in research inquiries with young people and have been acknowledged for their potential in investigating understudied and marginalized populations and subpopulations, permitting increased access to communities that tend to be less visible-and thus often less studied-in offline contexts. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young people are a socially stigmatized, yet digitally active, youth population whose participation in online surveys has been previously addressed in the literature. Many of the opportunities and challenges of online survey research identified with LGBTQ youths may be highly relevant to other populations of marginalized and hard-to-access young people, who are likely present in significant numbers in the online environment (for example, ethnoracialized youths and low-income youths). In this article, the utility of online survey methods with marginalized young people is discussed, and recommendations for social work research are provided.

  19. Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental Research (PETER): evaluation of 114 measures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bittner, A. C. Jr; Carter, R. C.; Kennedy, R. S.; Harbeson, M. M.; Krause, M.

    1986-01-01

    The goal of the Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental Research (PETER) Program was to identify a set of measures of human capabilities for use in the study of environmental and other time-course effects. 114 measures studied in the PETER Program were evaluated and categorized into four groups based upon task stability and task definition. The Recommended category contained 30 measures that clearly obtained total stabilization and had an acceptable level of reliability efficiency. The Acceptable-But-Redundant category contained 15 measures. The 37 measures in the Marginal category, which included an inordinate number of slope and other derived measures, usually had desirable features which were outweighed by faults. The 32 measures in the Unacceptable category had either differential instability or weak reliability efficiency. It is our opinion that the 30 measures in the Recommended category should be given first consideration for environmental research applications. Further, it is recommended that information pertaining to preexperimental practice requirements and stabilized reliabilities should be utilized in repeated-measures environmental studies.

  20. Longitudinal Relationship Between Sitting Time on a Working Day and Vitality, Work Performance, Presenteeism, and Sickness Absence.

    PubMed

    Hendriksen, Ingrid J M; Bernaards, Claire M; Steijn, Wouter M P; Hildebrandt, Vincent H

    2016-08-01

    The aim of this study was to explore the longitudinal relationship between sitting time on a working day and vitality, work performance, presenteeism, and sickness absence. At the start and end of a five-month intervention program at the workplace, as well as 10 months after the intervention, sitting time and work-related outcomes were measured using a standardized self-administered questionnaire and company records. Generalized linear mixed models were used to estimate the longitudinal relationship between sitting time and work-related outcomes, and possible interaction effects over time. A significant and sustainable decrease in sitting time on a working day was observed. Sitting less was significantly related to higher vitality scores, but this effect was marginal (b = -0.0006, P = 0.000). Our finding of significant though marginal associations between sitting time and important work-related outcomes justifies further research.

  1. Design verification and fabrication of active control systems for the DAST ARW-2 high aspect ratio wing. Part 2: Appendices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcgehee, C. R.

    1986-01-01

    This is Part 2-Appendices of a study conducted under Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Testing (DAST) Program to accomplish the final design and hardware fabrication for four active control systems compatible with and ready for installation in the NASA Aeroelastic Research Wing No. 2 (ARW-2) and Firebee II drone flight test vehicle. The wing structure was designed so that Active Control Systems (ACS) are required in the normal flight envelope by integrating control system design with aerodynamics and structure technologies. The DAST ARW-2 configuration uses flutter suppression, relaxed static stability, and gust and maneuver load alleviation ACS systems, and an automatic flight control system. Performance goals and criteria were applied to individual systems and the systems collectively to assure that vehicle stability margins, flutter margins, flying qualities, and load reductions were achieved.

  2. Stator hub treatment study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wisler, D. C.; Hilvers, D. E.

    1974-01-01

    The results of an experimental research program to investigate the potential of improving compressor stall margin by the application of hub treatment are presented. Extensive tuft probing showed that the two-stage, 0.5 radius ratio compressor selected for the test was indeed hub critical. Circumferential groove and baffled wide blade angle slot hub treatments under the stators were tested. Performance measurements were made with total and static pressure probes, wall static pressure taps, flow angle measuring instrumentation and hot film anemometers. Stator hub treatment was not found to be effective in improving compressor stall margin by delaying the point of onset of rotating stall or in modifying compressor performance for any of the configurations tested. Extensive regions of separated flow were observed on the suction surface of the stators near the hub. However, the treatment did not delay the point where flow separation in the stator hub region becomes apparent.

  3. Beyond Diversity as Usual: Expanding Critical Cultural Approaches to Marginalization in Engineering Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Secules, Stephen

    In general, what we think of as "diversity work" in undergraduate engineering education focuses in the following ways: more on the overlooked assets of minority groups than on the acts of overlooking, more on the experiences of marginalized groups than on the mechanisms of marginalization by dominant groups, more on supporting and increasing minority student retention than on critiquing and remediating the systems which lead minority students to leave engineering. This dissertation presents a series of arguments which push beyond a status quo understanding of diversity in engineering education. The first approach the dissertation takes up is to problematize educational facts around failure by interrogating their roots in interactions and cultural norms in an engineering classroom. In another argument, the dissertation places the engineering classroom cultural norms of competition, whiteness, and masculinity in a critical historical context of the discipline at large. Finally, I demonstrate how engaging students in a critique of marginalizing educational culture can be an important source of agency. In addition to applying and demonstrating the value of specific novel approaches in engineering education, the dissertation contributes to the research community by discussing the respective affordances between these and other possible scholarly approaches to culture and marginalization in education. I also suggest how a consideration of the taken-for-granted culture of engineering education can be an important tool for instructors seeking to gain insight into persistent educational problems. In addition, this dissertation makes implications for diversity support practice, envisioning new forms of support programming rooted in intersectionality and critical praxis.

  4. Identifying Gaps in the Performance of Pediatric Trainees Who Receive Marginal/Unsatisfactory Ratings.

    PubMed

    Li, Su-Ting T; Tancredi, Daniel J; Schwartz, Alan; Guillot, Ann; Burke, Ann; Trimm, R Franklin; Guralnick, Susan; Mahan, John D; Gifford, Kimberly A

    2018-01-01

    To perform a derivation study to determine in which subcompetencies marginal/unsatisfactory pediatric residents had the greatest deficits compared with their satisfactorily performing peers and which subcompetencies best discriminated between marginal/unsatisfactory and satisfactorily performing residents. Multi-institutional cohort study of all 21 milestones (rated on four or five levels) reported to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and global marginal/unsatisfactory versus satisfactory performance reported to the American Board of Pediatrics. Data were gathered in 2013-2014. For each level of training (postgraduate year [PGY] 1, 2, and 3), mean differences between milestone levels of residents with marginal/unsatisfactory and satisfactory performance adjusted for clustering by program and C-statistics (area under receiver operating characteristic curve) were calculated. A Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold of .0007963 was used to account for multiple comparisons. Milestone and overall performance evaluations for 1,704 pediatric residents in 41 programs were obtained. For PGY1s, two subcompetencies had almost a one-point difference in milestone levels between marginal/unsatisfactory and satisfactory trainees and outstanding discrimination (≥ 0.90): organize/prioritize (0.93; C-statistic: 0.91) and transfer of care (0.97; C-statistic: 0.90). The largest difference between marginal/unsatisfactory and satisfactory PGY2s was trustworthiness (0.78). The largest differences between marginal/unsatisfactory and satisfactory PGY3s were ethical behavior (1.17), incorporating feedback (1.03), and professionalization (0.96). For PGY2s and PGY3s, no subcompetencies had outstanding discrimination. Marginal/unsatisfactory pediatric residents had different subcompetency gaps at different training levels. While PGY1s may have global deficits, senior residents may have different performance deficiencies requiring individualized counseling and targeted performance improvement plans.

  5. Application of economic principles in healthcare priority setting.

    PubMed

    Bate, Angela; Mitton, Craig

    2006-06-01

    In healthcare, resources are often insufficient to meet all claims on them. In this respect, resources are considered scarce and have to be managed by prioritizing between competing claims. Economics as a discipline explicitly addresses this reality by acknowledging resource scarcity. However, the extent to which economics actually influences such prioritizing decisions in healthcare is unclear. The purpose of this paper is to review the use of economics in priority setting decision making. We outline the key principles of economics as they apply to priority setting and review the methods reported in the literature with respect to these. We find that these methods, even economic methods (e.g., those typically used in conducting economic evaluations such as cost-effectiveness analyses) do not tend to explicitly incorporate economic principles. We argue therefore that these methods, when applied to the context of priority setting, are not sufficient and that what is required is a broader framework that can incorporate the output from economic methods yet also be pragmatically applicable. We then go on to present an alternative approach - namely program budgeting and marginal analysis. Finally, we put forward our case for using program budgeting and marginal analysis in priority setting practice and set out some future research challenges.

  6. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Food Insecurity, Dietary Quality, and Obesity Among U.S. Adults.

    PubMed

    Nguyen, Binh T; Shuval, Kerem; Bertmann, Farryl; Yaroch, Amy L

    2015-07-01

    We examined whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation changes associations between food insecurity, dietary quality, and weight among US adults. We analyzed adult dietary intake data (n = 8333) from the 2003 to 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Bivariate and multivariable methods assessed associations of SNAP participation and 4 levels of food security with diet and weight. Measures of dietary quality were the Healthy Eating Index 2010, total caloric intake, empty calories, and solid fat; weight measures were body mass index (BMI), overweight, and obesity. SNAP participants with marginal food security had lower BMI (1.83 kg/m2; P < .01) and lower probability of obesity (9 percentage points; P < .05). SNAP participants with marginal (3.46 points; P < .01), low (1.98 points; P < .05), and very low (3.84 points; P < .01) food security had better diets, as illustrated by the Healthy Eating Index. Associations between SNAP participation and improved diet and weight were stronger among Whites than Blacks and Hispanics. Our research highlights the role of SNAP in helping individuals who are at risk for food insecurity to obtain a healthier diet and better weight status.

  7. Whose banner are we waving? Exploring STEM partnerships for marginalized urban youth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ridgeway, Monica L.; Yerrick, Randy K.

    2018-03-01

    This case study examines after school programming in citizen science from the perspective of Critical Race Theory. During the course of enacting community outreach projects this data was used to examine the positioning of experts, student, and teachers within the program. This study explores the role of race and ethnicity, and the ways in which marginalization can manifest itself with black urban youth and teachers. Implications for partner selection and training are addressed.

  8. Network Approaches to Substance Use and HIV/Hepatitis C Risk among Homeless Youth and Adult Women in the United States: A Review

    PubMed Central

    Dombrowski, Kirk; Sittner, Kelley; Crawford, Devan; Welch-Lazoritz, Melissa; Habecker, Patrick; Khan, Bilal

    2016-01-01

    During the United States economic recession of 2008–2011, the number of homeless and unstably housed people in the United States increased considerably. Homeless adult women and unaccompanied homeless youth make up the most marginal segments of this population. Because homeless individuals are a hard to reach population, research into these marginal groups has traditionally been a challenge for researchers interested in substance abuse and mental health. Network analysis techniques and research strategies offer means for dealing with traditional challenges such as missing sampling frames, variation in definitions of homelessness and study inclusion criteria, and enumeration/population estimation procedures. This review focuses on the need for, and recent steps toward, solutions to these problems that involve network science strategies for data collection and analysis. Research from a range of fields is reviewed and organized according to a new stress process framework aimed at understanding how homeless status interacts with issues related to substance abuse and mental health. Three types of network innovation are discussed: network scale-up methods, a network ecology approach to social resources, and the integration of network variables into the proposed stress process model of homeless substance abuse and mental health. By employing network methods and integrating these methods into existing models, research on homeless and unstably housed women and unaccompanied young people can address existing research challenges and promote more effective intervention and care programs. PMID:28042394

  9. Network Approaches to Substance Use and HIV/Hepatitis C Risk among Homeless Youth and Adult Women in the United States: A Review.

    PubMed

    Dombrowski, Kirk; Sittner, Kelley; Crawford, Devan; Welch-Lazoritz, Melissa; Habecker, Patrick; Khan, Bilal

    2016-09-01

    During the United States economic recession of 2008-2011, the number of homeless and unstably housed people in the United States increased considerably. Homeless adult women and unaccompanied homeless youth make up the most marginal segments of this population. Because homeless individuals are a hard to reach population, research into these marginal groups has traditionally been a challenge for researchers interested in substance abuse and mental health. Network analysis techniques and research strategies offer means for dealing with traditional challenges such as missing sampling frames, variation in definitions of homelessness and study inclusion criteria, and enumeration/population estimation procedures. This review focuses on the need for, and recent steps toward, solutions to these problems that involve network science strategies for data collection and analysis. Research from a range of fields is reviewed and organized according to a new stress process framework aimed at understanding how homeless status interacts with issues related to substance abuse and mental health. Three types of network innovation are discussed: network scale-up methods, a network ecology approach to social resources, and the integration of network variables into the proposed stress process model of homeless substance abuse and mental health. By employing network methods and integrating these methods into existing models, research on homeless and unstably housed women and unaccompanied young people can address existing research challenges and promote more effective intervention and care programs.

  10. Final Report - Cycling of DOC and DON by novel heterotrophic and photoheterotrophic bacteria in the ocean

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Royer, David F

    2011-06-10

    This report describes a collaboration between Lincoln University and the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment at the University of Delaware and was funded under the Department of Energy Biological Investigations – Ocean Margins Program (BI-OMP). The principal outcomes of the grant are (1) the opportunity for Lincoln students to participate in marine research at the University of Delaware, (2) the opportunity for participating students to present their research at a variety of scientific meetings, (3) the establishment of an environmental science major and a microbial ecology course at Lincoln, (4) the upgrade of research capabilities at Lincoln, and (5)more » the success of participating students in graduate and professional school.« less

  11. Marginal Lands: Concept, Assessment and Management

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kang, Shujiang; Post, Wilfred M; West, Tristram O.

    2013-01-01

    Marginal lands have received wide attention for their potential to improve food security and support bioenergy production. However, environmental, ecosystem service, and sustainability concerns have been widely raised over the use of marginal land. Knowledge of the extent, location, and quality of marginal lands as well as their assessment and management are limited and diverse. This paper provides a review of the historical development of marginal concept, its application and assessment. Limitations and priority research needs of marginal land assessment and management were discussed.

  12. A review and assessment of non-governmental organization-based STD/AIDS education and prevention projects for marginalized groups.

    PubMed

    Crane, S F; Carswell, J W

    1992-06-01

    A review of projects run by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in primarily developing countries, which have aimed to provide STD/AIDS education and prevention skills to various marginalized groups, reveals that past quantitative and formative research has failed to identify key programmatic factors which lead to more successful project implementation and sustainability. In observations, interviews with field staff, visits to program sites and information drawn from the literature, a variety of methods to reach a wide range of groups such as men who have sex with men, prostitutes, clients of prostitutes, prisoners, street children, migrant workers and refugees are explored. Factors found to facilitate project success include the following: at least one full-time committed staff member; respectful treatment and appropriate motivation of the target group; suitable and sufficient equipment and supplies (particularly condoms); planning ahead for the participation of HIV-positive individuals and ways to meet their needs; focusing on qualitative rather than quantitative evaluation; planning in advance beyond a 9 or 12 month 'model'. Despite some evidence that marginalized groups can be successfully motivated to practise safer sex through prevention education, long-term behaviour change still presents major challenges--even when specific conditions are met.

  13. Developmental Advising for Marginalized Community College Students: An Action Research Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Terrica S.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this action research study was to understand, evaluate, and improve the developmental advising practices used at a Washington State community college. This action research study endeavored to strengthen the developmental advising model originally designed to support the college's marginalized students. Guiding questions for the…

  14. Undergraduates Conducting Research Using High-Resolution Multibeam and Sidescan Sonar to Map and Characterize the Seabed: the BEAMS Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harris, M. S.; Sautter, L.

    2017-12-01

    The College of Charleston's BEnthic Acoustic Mapping and Survey (BEAMS) Program has just completed its 10th year of operation, and has proven to be remarkably effective at activating and maintaining undergraduate student interest in conducting research using sophisticated software, state-of-the-art instrumentation, enormous datasets, and significant experiential time. BEAMS students conduct research as part of a minimum 3-course sequence of marine geology-based content, marine geospatial software, and seafloor research courses. Over 140 students have completed the program, 56% of the graduated students remain active in the marine geospatial workforce or academic arenas. Forty-eight percent (48%) of those students are female. As undergraduates, students not only conduct independent research projects, but present their work at national conferences each year. Additionally, over 90 % of all "BEAMers" have been provided a 2-3 day at-sea experience on a dedicated BEAMS Program multibeam survey research cruise, and many students also volunteer as survey technicians aboard NOAA research vessels. Critical partnerships have developed with private industry to provide numerous collaborative opportunities and an employment/employer pipeline, as well as provision of software and hardware at many fiscal levels. Ongoing collaboration with the Marine Institute of Ireland and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens has also provided valuable field opportunities and collaborative experiences. This talk will summarize the program while highlighting some of the key areas and topics investigated by students, including detailed geomorphologic studies of continental margins, submarine canyons, tectonic features and seamounts. Students also work with NOAA investigators to aid in the characterization of fish and deep coral habitats, and with BOEM researchers to study offshore windfield suitability and submerged cultural landscapes. Our sister program at the University of Washington will also be discussed, as will developing relationships with our international and private industry partners.

  15. Incentive pricing and cost recovery at the basin scale.

    PubMed

    Ward, Frank A; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel

    2009-01-01

    Incentive pricing programs have potential to promote economically efficient water use patterns and provide a revenue source to compensate for environmental damages. However, incentive pricing may impose disproportionate costs and aggravate poverty where high prices are levied for basic human needs. This paper presents an analysis of a two-tiered water pricing system that sets a low price for subsistence needs, while charging a price equal to marginal cost, including environmental cost, for discretionary uses. This pricing arrangement can promote efficient and sustainable water use patterns, goals set by the European Water Framework Directive, while meeting subsistence needs of poor households. Using data from the Rio Grande Basin of North America, a dynamic nonlinear program, maximizes the basin's total net economic and environmental benefits subject to several hydrological and institutional constraints. Supply costs, environmental costs, and resource costs are integrated in a model of a river basin's hydrology, economics, and institutions. Three programs are compared: (1) Law of the River, in which water allocations and prices are determined by rules governing water transfers; (2) marginal cost pricing, in which households pay the full marginal cost of supplying treated water; (3) two-tiered pricing, in which households' subsistence water needs are priced cheaply, while discretionary uses are priced at efficient levels. Compared to the Law of the River and marginal cost pricing, two-tiered pricing performs well for efficiency and adequately for sustainability and equity. Findings provide a general framework for formulating water pricing programs that promote economically and environmentally efficient water use programs while also addressing other policy goals.

  16. Examining the margins: a concept analysis of marginalization.

    PubMed

    Vasas, Elyssa B

    2005-01-01

    The aim of this analysis is to explore the concept of social marginalization for the purpose of concept development. Specifically, the article intends to clarify the relationship between health disparities and marginalization and generate knowledge about working with people who are socially marginalized. Concept development evolved from the critical analysis of relevant literature generated through searches of nursing and social science databases. Literature was organized thematically and themes related to marginalization as a social process were included and analyzed. The article explores the challenges of using marginalization as an independent concept and suggests areas for future inquiry and research.

  17. Scientific networking to address the causes, timing, emplacement mechanisms, and consequences of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Camerlenghi, Angelo; Lofi, Johanna; Aloisi, Vanni; Flecker, Rachel

    2017-04-01

    The origin of the Mediterranean salt giant is linked to an extraordinary event in the geological history of the Mediterranean region, commonly referred to as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). After 45 years of intense yet disunited research efforts, the international scientific community at large faces a unique opportunity to access the deep and marginal basins Messinian depositional successions in the Mediterranean through scientific drilling, namely through the Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP). Scientific activity to promote scientific drilling offshore and onshore is in progress under the broad umbrella of the Uncovering a Salt Giant' IODP Multi-Platform Drilling proposal, that has generated the Deep-Sea Records of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (DREAM) site-specific pre-proposal for riserless drilling on Messinian marginal basins and the related ICDP-IODP amphibious initiative Investigating Miocene Mediterranean- Atlantic gateway exchange (IMMAGE). Scientific networking has begun to establish a broad cross-disciplinary research community embracing geology, geophysics, geochemistry, microbiology, and paleoclimatology. Formal networking activities represent an opportunity for the scientific community to share objectives, data, expertise and tools with industry since there is considerable interest in oil and gas exploration, and consequent hazards, targeting the Mediterranean's deep salt deposits. With the acronym MEDSALT, we have established two networks working in close cooperation: (1) COST Action CA15103 Uncovering the Mediterranean salt giant (MEDSALT) (https://medsalt.eu/) is a 4-year long network established in May 2016 comprising scientific institutions from 28 states. This COST Action will provide an opportunity to develop further our knowledge of salt rock formation addressing four overarching scientific questions: a) What are the causes, timing and emplacement mechanisms of the Mediterranean salt giant? b) What are the factors responsible for and the socio-economic consequences of early salt deformation and fluid flow across and out of the halite layer? c) Do salt giants promote the development of a phylogenetically diverse and exceptionally active deep biosphere? d) What are the mechanisms underlying the spectacular vertical motions inside basins and their margins? (2) ANR Project 'Uncovering the Mediterranean Salt Giant' (MEDSALT) aims at establishing networking action to prepare an Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) full proposal to drill the Mediterranean Salt Giant with the R/V JOIDES Resolution. This 18-month long network consists of a core group of 22 scientists from 10 countries working in close cooperation with the brother COST Action MEDSALT. These inter-sectorial and multinational cooperation networks comprise a critical mass of both experienced and early-career researchers from Europe and beyond. The goal will be achieved through capacity building, researchers' mobility, skills development, knowledge exchange and scientific networking.

  18. Pitfalls, Potentials, and Ethics of Online Survey Research: LGBTQ and Other Marginalized and Hard-to-Access Youths

    PubMed Central

    McInroy, Lauren B.

    2016-01-01

    Online research methodologies may serve as an important mechanism for population-focused data collection in social work research. Online surveys have become increasingly prevalent in research inquiries with young people and have been acknowledged for their potential in investigating understudied and marginalized populations and subpopulations, permitting increased access to communities that tend to be less visible—and thus often less studied—in offline contexts. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) young people are a socially stigmatized, yet digitally active, youth population whose participation in online surveys has been previously addressed in the literature. Many of the opportunities and challenges of online survey research identified with LGBTQ youths may be highly relevant to other populations of marginalized and hard-to-access young people, who are likely present in significant numbers in the online environment (for example, ethnoracialized youths and low-income youths). In this article, the utility of online survey methods with marginalized young people is discussed, and recommendations for social work research are provided. PMID:27257362

  19. Accelerated Training of Skilled Birth Attendants in a Marginalized Population on the Thai-Myanmar Border: A Multiple Methods Program Evaluation.

    PubMed

    White, Adrienne Lynne; Min, Thaw Htwe; Gross, Mechthild M; Kajeechiwa, Ladda; Thwin, May Myo; Hanboonkunupakarn, Borimas; Than, Hla Hla; Zin, Thet Wai; Rijken, Marcus J; Hoogenboom, Gabie; McGready, Rose

    2016-01-01

    To evaluate a skilled birth attendant (SBA) training program in a neglected population on the Thai-Myanmar border, we used multiple methods to show that refugee and migrant health workers can be given effective training in their own environment to become SBAs and teachers of SBAs. The loss of SBAs through resettlement to third countries necessitated urgent training of available workers to meet local needs. All results were obtained from student records of theory grades and clinical log books. Qualitative evaluation of both the SBA and teacher programs was obtained using semi-structured interviews with supervisors and teachers. We also reviewed perinatal indicators over an eight-year period, starting prior to the first training program until after the graduation of the fourth cohort of SBAs. Four SBA training programs scheduled between 2009 and 2015 resulted in 79/88 (90%) of students successfully completing a training program of 250 theory hours and 625 supervised clinical hours. All 79 students were able to: achieve pass grades on theory examination (median 80%, range [70-89]); obtain the required clinical experience within twelve months; achieve clinical competence to provide safe care during childbirth. In 2010-2011, five experienced SBAs completed a train-the-trainer (TOT) program and went on to facilitate further training programs. Perinatal indicators within Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), such as place of birth, maternal and newborn outcomes, showed no significant differences before and after introduction of training or following graduate deployment in the local maternity units. Confidence, competence and teamwork emerged from qualitative evaluation by senior SBAs working with and supervising students in the clinics. We demonstrate that in resource-limited settings or in marginalized populations, it is possible to accelerate training of skilled birth attendants to provide safe maternity care. Education needs to be tailored to local needs to ensure evidence-based care of women and their families.

  20. Accelerated Training of Skilled Birth Attendants in a Marginalized Population on the Thai-Myanmar Border: A Multiple Methods Program Evaluation

    PubMed Central

    White, Adrienne Lynne; Min, Thaw Htwe; Gross, Mechthild M.; Kajeechiwa, Ladda; Thwin, May Myo; Hanboonkunupakarn, Borimas; Than, Hla Hla; Zin, Thet Wai; Rijken, Marcus J.; Hoogenboom, Gabie; McGready, Rose

    2016-01-01

    Background To evaluate a skilled birth attendant (SBA) training program in a neglected population on the Thai-Myanmar border, we used multiple methods to show that refugee and migrant health workers can be given effective training in their own environment to become SBAs and teachers of SBAs. The loss of SBAs through resettlement to third countries necessitated urgent training of available workers to meet local needs. Methods and Findings All results were obtained from student records of theory grades and clinical log books. Qualitative evaluation of both the SBA and teacher programs was obtained using semi-structured interviews with supervisors and teachers. We also reviewed perinatal indicators over an eight-year period, starting prior to the first training program until after the graduation of the fourth cohort of SBAs. Results Four SBA training programs scheduled between 2009 and 2015 resulted in 79/88 (90%) of students successfully completing a training program of 250 theory hours and 625 supervised clinical hours. All 79 students were able to: achieve pass grades on theory examination (median 80%, range [70–89]); obtain the required clinical experience within twelve months; achieve clinical competence to provide safe care during childbirth. In 2010–2011, five experienced SBAs completed a train-the-trainer (TOT) program and went on to facilitate further training programs. Perinatal indicators within Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), such as place of birth, maternal and newborn outcomes, showed no significant differences before and after introduction of training or following graduate deployment in the local maternity units. Confidence, competence and teamwork emerged from qualitative evaluation by senior SBAs working with and supervising students in the clinics. Conclusions We demonstrate that in resource-limited settings or in marginalized populations, it is possible to accelerate training of skilled birth attendants to provide safe maternity care. Education needs to be tailored to local needs to ensure evidence-based care of women and their families. PMID:27711144

  1. Robust Flutter Margin Analysis that Incorporates Flight Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lind, Rick; Brenner, Martin J.

    1998-01-01

    An approach for computing worst-case flutter margins has been formulated in a robust stability framework. Uncertainty operators are included with a linear model to describe modeling errors and flight variations. The structured singular value, mu, computes a stability margin that directly accounts for these uncertainties. This approach introduces a new method of computing flutter margins and an associated new parameter for describing these margins. The mu margins are robust margins that indicate worst-case stability estimates with respect to the defined uncertainty. Worst-case flutter margins are computed for the F/A-18 Systems Research Aircraft using uncertainty sets generated by flight data analysis. The robust margins demonstrate flight conditions for flutter may lie closer to the flight envelope than previously estimated by p-k analysis.

  2. Procedural Portfolio Planning in Plastic Surgery, Part 2: Collaboration Between Surgeons and Hospital Administrators to Develop a Funds Flow Model for Procedures Performed at an Academic Medical Center.

    PubMed

    Hultman, Charles Scott

    2016-06-01

    Although plastic surgeons make important contributions to the clinical, educational, and research missions of academic medical centers (AMCs), determining the financial value of a plastic surgery service can be difficult, due to complex cost accounting systems. We analyzed the financial impact of plastic surgery on an AMC, by examining the contribution margins and operating income of surgical procedures. We collaborated with hospital administrators to implement 3 types of strategic changes: (1) growth of areas with high contribution margin, (2) curtailment of high-risk procedures with negative contribution margin, (3) improved efficiency of mission-critical services with high resource consumption. Outcome measures included: facility charges, hospital collections, contribution margin, operating margin, and operating room times. We also studied the top 50 Current Procedural Terminology codes (total case number × charge/case), ranking procedures for profitability, as determined by operating margin. During the 2-year study period, we had no turnover in faculty; did not pursue any formal marketing; did not change our surgical fees, billing system, or payer mix; and maintained our commitment to indigent care. After rebalancing our case mix, through procedural portfolio planning, average hospital operating income/procedure increased from $-79 to $+816. Volume and diversity of cases increased, with no change in payer mix. Although charges/case decreased, both contribution margin and operating margin increased, due to improved throughput and decreased operating room times. The 5 most profitable procedures for the hospital were hernia repair, mandibular osteotomy, hand skin graft, free fibula flap, and head and neck flap, whereas the 5 least profitable were latissimus breast reconstruction, craniosynostosis repair, free-flap breast reconstruction, trunk skin graft, and cutaneous free flap. Total operating income for the hospital, from plastic surgery procedures, increased from $-115,103 to $+1,277,040, of which $350,000 (25%) was returned to the practice plan as enterprise funds to support program development. Through focused strategic initiatives, plastic surgeons and hospital administrators can work together to unlock the latent value of a plastic surgery service to an AMC. Specific financial benefits to the hospital include increased contribution margin and operating income, the latter of which can be reinvested in the plastic surgery service through a gain-sharing model.

  3. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY'S RESEARCH PROGRAM IN THE NEWLY PROCLAIMED EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hill, Gary

    1984-01-01

    The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been developing a program which would emphasize broad-scale surveys of the continental margin and intensive studies of 'baseline corridors' in various areas of the U. S. EEZ to gather energy and mining information in this new frontier as quickly as possible. Of twelve baseline corridors identified to date along the east and west coasts and the Gulf of Mexico, the highest priority would be placed on areas off the west coast, including Juan De Fuca and Gorda Ridges and off Hawaii. Each corridor assessment will involve collection of multi-channel and high resolution geophysical data, bottom relief and sampling, and production of reports and cartographic products displaying the scientific findings of the assessments.

  4. Medicare Payment Penalties and Safety Net Hospital Profitability: Minimal Impact on These Vulnerable Hospitals.

    PubMed

    Bazzoli, Gloria J; Thompson, Michael P; Waters, Teresa M

    2018-02-08

    To examine relationships between penalties assessed by Medicare's Hospital Readmission Reduction Program and Value-Based Purchasing Program and hospital financial condition. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, American Hospital Association, and Area Health Resource File data for 4,824 hospital-year observations. Bivariate and multivariate analysis of pooled cross-sectional data. Safety net hospitals have significantly higher HRRP/VBP penalties, but, unlike nonsafety net hospitals, increases in their penalty rate did not significantly affect their total margins. Safety net hospitals appear to rely on nonpatient care revenues to offset higher penalties for the years studied. While reassuring, these funding streams are volatile and may not be able to compensate for cumulative losses over time. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  5. Down-selection of candidate alloys for further testing of advanced replacement materials for LWR core internals

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Was, Gary; Leonard, Keith J.; Tan, Lizhen

    Life extension of the existing nuclear reactors imposes irradiation of high fluences to structural materials, resulting in significant challenges to the traditional reactor materials such as type 304 and 316 stainless steels. Advanced alloys with superior radiation resistance will increase safety margins, design flexibility, and economics for not only the life extension of the existing fleet but also new builds with advanced reactor designs. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) teamed up with Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program to initiate the Advanced Radiation Resistant Materials (ARRM) program, aiming to identify and develop advanced alloys with superiormore » degradation resistance in light water reactor (LWR)-relevant environments by 2024.« less

  6. Environmental Impact Research Program: Reservoir Bank Erosion and Cultural Resources: Experiments in Mapping and Predicting the Erosion of Archeological Sediments at Reservoirs Along the Middle Missouri River with Sequential Historical Aerial Photographs

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-08-01

    points on both the photos and base map. Transects placed at 100-m intervals along the waterline, oriented perpendicular to the gradient or slope just...the identifica- tion of major factors influencing bank erosion, independent variables measured included gradient of the land at the intersection of...have a very steep gradient , approaching vertical in some cases, broken only by intermittent minor drainages which have dissected terrace margins. b

  7. Overview of the University of Pittsburgh/amfAR Training Program in HIV Prevention Research for MSM and Male-to-Female Transgender Populations in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

    PubMed

    Stall, Ron; Egan, James E; Kinsky, Suzanne; Coulter, Robert W S; Friedman, M Reuel; Matthews, Derrick D; Klindera, Kent; Cowing, Michael

    2016-12-01

    Gay men, other men who have sex with men and transgender (GMT) populations suffer a disproportionate burden of HIV disease around the globe, which is directly attributable to the virulently homophobic environments in which many GMT people live. In addition to the direct effects of homophobia on GMT individuals, the ongoing marginalization of GMT people has meant that there is limited social capital on which effective HIV prevention and care programs can be built in many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Thus, meaningful responses meant to address the dire situation of GMT populations in LMIC settings must include a combination of bold and innovative approaches if efforts to end the epidemic are to have any chance of making a real difference. The HIV Scholars Program at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for LGBT Health Research is a prime example of a creative and dynamic approach to raising the expertise needed within GMT populations to respond to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.

  8. Barriers to Education for the Marginalized Adult Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flynn, Sarah; Brown, Jason; Johnson, Andrew; Rodger, Susan

    2011-01-01

    This qualitative study examines barriers to adult education by the marginalized adult learner. We adopted an inclusive approach by interviewing potential adult learners who had not participated in adult education programs due to illiteracy. Five overlapping themes related to barriers emerged and were categorized as: family values and…

  9. 77 FR 50730 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Order...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-22

    ... (``CFTC''), and currently operates a substantial business clearing both IRS and interest rate futures... Proposed Rule Change To Amend Rules To Facilitate Customer Portfolio Margining of Interest Rate Futures and...'') and interest rate futures clearing offerings by establishing a portfolio margining program for...

  10. Marginal Maidens and Educational Policy for Women's Institutions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connor, Kathleen M.

    Unfavorable world and national economic and social trends of recent years have been paralleled by a reduced commitment to social services for marginalized peoples, including educational programs for women inmates. The potential negative results for future levels of delinquency and crime cannot be precisely calculated, according to sociologists and…

  11. Advances through collaboration: sharing seismic reflection data via the Antarctic Seismic Data Library System for Cooperative Research (SDLS)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wardell, N.; Childs, J. R.; Cooper, A. K.

    2007-01-01

    The Antarctic Seismic Data Library System for Cooperative Research (SDLS) has served for the past 16 years under the auspices of the Antarctic Treaty (ATCM Recommendation XVI-12) as a role model for collaboration and equitable sharing of Antarctic multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) data for geoscience studies. During this period, collaboration in MCS studies has advanced deciphering the seismic stratigraphy and structure of Antarctica’s continental margin more rapidly than previously. MCS data compilations provided the geologic framework for scientific drilling at several Antarctic locations and for high-resolution seismic and sampling studies to decipher Cenozoic depositional paleoenvironments. The SDLS successes come from cooperation of National Antarctic Programs and individual investigators in “on-time” submissions of their MCS data. Most do, but some do not. The SDLS community has an International Polar Year (IPY) goal of all overdue MCS data being sent to the SDLS by end of IPY. The community science objective is to compile all Antarctic MCS data to derive a unified seismic stratigraphy for the continental margin – a stratigraphy to be used with drilling data to derive Cenozoic circum-Antarctic paleobathymetry maps and local-to-regional scale paleoenvironmental histories.

  12. Engaging a Diverse Group of Students with a Broad Spectrum of Geological Experience: The CSUN Catalyst Approach and a MARGINS Application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marsaglia, K. M.; Vazquez, J.; Yule, J. D.; Simila, G.

    2007-12-01

    Imagine the challenge of teaching a one-unit Geoscience course composed of a diverse mix of first-year graduate majors, senior to freshman majors, and high school students with little earth science background. With the help of Geodiversity grants from NSF (CSUN Catalyst program), we have developed a successful environment for learning and mentorship via a series of short (2-3 week) inquiry-based exercises that emphasize teamwork. Each exercise is organized around research projects headed by Catalyst Faculty members: Northridge Earthquake, San Andreas Fault System, Yellowstone and Long Valley supervolcanoes, and New Zealand MARGIN geology. After participating in the course, students conduct independent research within one of four research groups as part of their MS or BS theses including summer research experiences. One exercise, constructed as a version of "The Oil Game," is meant to familiarize students with MARGINS Source-to-Sink focus (Waipaoa Sedimentary System, North Island) and alternate focus (Bounty Fan, South Island) sites in New Zealand. Students are divided into rival petroleum companies (Tiger Oil and Flower Petroleum) and asked to evaluate offshore areas for an impending government lease sale and to provide the rationale for competitive sealed bids that they recommend in a final presentation to management (Catalyst Faculty). To accomplish this they are supplied with reference materials on onshore geology and known petroleum production, samples of New Zealand rock units and stream sediments, and a limited budget. In addition to geological parameters (source rocks, seals, reservoir rocks, trapping mechanisms) they must also take into account environmental, economic and infrastructure concerns. Other projects included documenting volcanic hazards around Long Valley caldera and evaluating seismic hazards of local high school sites. The tiered structure of the projects perhaps best serves the undergraduate participants, who benefit from being mentored by graduate students as well as serving as mentors for the high school students.

  13. Youth participatory research and evaluation to inform a Chagas disease prevention program in Ecuador.

    PubMed

    Marco-Crespo, Belén; Casapulla, Sharon; Nieto-Sanchez, Claudia; Urrego, J Guillermo Gómez; Grijalva, Mario J

    2018-04-30

    This qualitative study engaged a group of young people in participatory research and evaluation activities in order to study to what extent engaging youth in health interventions can inform research and evaluation processes. We applied a youth participatory research and evaluation approach (PRE) to inform research and evaluation on the impact of a Chagas disease control program in southern Ecuador. Our main interest was to examine the methodological contributions of PRE to knowledge sharing for health intervention planning in the context of global health and neglected tropical diseases. The results of this study suggest that by demystifying research and evaluation practices and rendering them accessible and relevant, marginalized youth can develop critical and reflexive thinking skills that could be useful for decision-making on health promotion. Our findings also reveal the potential of youth as active participants in project development in ways that enhance, validate, and improve health interventions. Young people are interested in learning about and sharing local knowledge that can benefit research and evaluation processes. Despite the numerous strengths demonstrated by PRE, the inherent complexities of international development, such as cultural differences, asymmetrical power relations, and the ongoing challenges of sustainability, remain. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Cultural humility and working with marginalized populations in developing countries.

    PubMed

    Kools, Susan; Chimwaza, Angela; Macha, Swebby

    2015-03-01

    Population health needs in developing countries are great and countries are scaling up health professional education to meet these needs. Marginalized populations, in particular, are vulnerable to poor health and health care. This paper presents a culturally appropriate diversity training program delivered to Global Health Fellows who are educators and leaders in health professions in Malawi and Zambia. The purpose of this interprofessional education experience was to promote culturally competent and humble care for marginalized populations. © The Author(s) 2014.

  15. Submarine landslide and tsunami hazards offshore southern Alaska: Seismic strengthening versus rapid sedimentation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sawyer, Derek E.; Reece, Robert S.; Gulick, Sean P. S.; Lenz, Brandi L.

    2017-08-01

    The southern Alaskan offshore margin is prone to submarine landslides and tsunami hazards due to seismically active plate boundaries and extreme sedimentation rates from glacially enhanced mountain erosion. We examine the submarine landslide potential with new shear strength measurements acquired by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 341 on the continental slope and Surveyor Fan. These data reveal lower than expected sediment strength. Contrary to other active margins where seismic strengthening enhances slope stability, the high-sedimentation margin offshore southern Alaska behaves like a passive margin from a shear strength perspective. We interpret that seismic strengthening occurs but is offset by high sedimentation rates and overpressure. This conclusion is supported by shear strength outside of the fan that follow an active margin trend. More broadly, seismically active margins with wet-based glaciers are susceptible to submarine landslide hazards because of the combination of high sedimentation rates and earthquake shaking.

  16. Three decades of BGR airborne geophysical surveys over the polar regions - a review

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Damaske, Detlef

    2013-04-01

    The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has been conducting geological polar research since 1979. A few years later BGR engaged in airborne geophysical projects. Investigation of the lithosphere of the continent and the continental margins was one of the key issues for BGR. Right from the beginning geophysical research was closely associated with the geological activities. The GANOVEX (German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition) program combined geological research with geophysical (mainly airborne) investigations. This proved to be a fruitful approach to many of the open questions regarding the tectonic development of the Ross Sea region. Aeromagnetic surveys evolved into a powerful tool for identifying geological structures and following them underneath the ice covered areas - not accessible to direct geological investigations. To achieve this aim it was essential to lay out these surveys with a relatively closely spaced line separation on the expense of covering large areas at the same time. Nevertheless, over many years of continues research areas of more than a just regional extent could be covered. This was, however, only possible through international collaboration. During the first years, working in the Ross Sea area, the cooperation with the US and Italian programs played a significant role, especially the GITARA (German-Italian Aeromagnetic Research in Antarctica) program has to be mentioned. GEOMAUD (Geoscientific Expedition to Dronning Maud Land) and the German-Australian joint venture PCMEGA (Prince Charles Mountains Expedition of Germany & Australia) expanded research activities to the East Antarctic shield area. In the International Polar Year (IPY), BGR played a leading role in the international project AGAP (Antarctica's GAmburtsev Province) as part of the main topic "Venture into Unknown Regions". AGAP was jointly conducted by the USA, Great Britain, Australia, China and Germany. While in the Ross Sea area even smaller scale surveys - getting close to industry standards - targeted specific geological questions, the reconnaissance type of aerogeophysical projects continued in Dronning Maud Land, now in close cooperation with the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI). This very successful cooperation between the two German institutions - both working continuously in the polar regions - was already established in Arctic projects, namely in northern Greenland. Also, since the late 1990's BGR conducted together with Canada airborne surveys as part of PMAP (Polar Margins Aeromagnetic Program), thematically linked to the predominantly geological CASE (Circum Arctic Structural Events) program of BGR. A joint project of GSC (Geological Survey of Canada) and BGR in the Nares Strait was a highlight of combined geological and aeromagnetic research addressing the still widely discussed Wegener fault between Greenland and Ellesmere Island and the extent of tertiary basins in the Nares Strait itself. BGR intends to continue its successful combined geological-geophysical work in both polar regions. The increasing logistic and financial challenges to work in these extreme areas will demand not only a continuation but an intensification of national and international collaboration.

  17. Hierarchical Marginal Land Assessment for Land Use Planning

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kang, Shujiang; Post, Wilfred M; Wang, Dali

    2013-01-01

    Marginal land provides an alternative potential for food and bioenergy production in the face of limited land resources; however, effective assessment of marginal lands is not well addressed. Concerns over environmental risks, ecosystem services and sustainability for marginal land have been widely raised. The objective of this study was to develop a hierarchical marginal land assessment framework for land use planning and management. We first identified major land functions linking production, environment, ecosystem services and economics, and then classified land resources into four categories of marginal land using suitability and limitations associated with major management goals, including physically marginal land,more » biologically marginal land, environmental-ecological marginal land, and economically marginal land. We tested this assessment framework in south-western Michigan, USA. Our results indicated that this marginal land assessment framework can be potentially feasible on land use planning for food and bioenergy production, and balancing multiple goals of land use management. We also compared our results with marginal land assessment from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and land capability classes (LCC) that are used in the US. The hierarchical assessment framework has advantages of quantitatively reflecting land functions and multiple concerns. This provides a foundation upon which focused studies can be identified in order to improve the assessment framework by quantifying high-resolution land functions associated with environment and ecosystem services as well as their criteria are needed to improve the assessment framework.« less

  18. Marginal Man and Military Service, A Review

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1965-12-01

    of Research and Development , Department of the Army. Members of the group were Dr. Robert Vineberg of the Human Resources Research Office of the...careful analysis of the situation; in others, research may be necessary to supply an unambiguous answer as to the best course of action. Development ...attempt to provide? Experience—and research - will be needed to develop guidelines for the instructor who undertakes to train marginal adults in a

  19. Impacts of Hospital Budget Limits in Rochester, New York

    PubMed Central

    Friedman, Bernard; Wong, Herbert S.

    1995-01-01

    During 1980-87, eight hospitals in the Rochester, New York area participated in an experimental program to limit total revenue. This article analyzes: increase of costs for Rochester hospitals; trends for inputs and compensation; and cash flow margins. Real expense per case grew annually by about 3 percent less in Rochester. However, after 1984, Medicare prospective payment had an effect of similar size outside Rochester. Some capital inputs to hospital care were restrained, as were wages and particularly benefits. The program did not generally raise or stabilize hospital revenue margins, while the ratio of cash flow to debt trended down. Financial stringency of this program relative to alternatives may have contributed to its end. PMID:10151889

  20. Impacts of hospital budget limits in Rochester, New York.

    PubMed

    Friedman, B; Wong, H S

    1995-01-01

    During 1980-87, eight hospitals in the Rochester, New York area participated in an experimental program to limit total revenue. This article analyzes: increase of costs for Rochester hospitals; trends for inputs and compensation; and cash flow margins. Real expense per case grew annually by about 3 percent less in Rochester. However, after 1984, Medicare prospective payment had an effect of similar size outside Rochester. Some capital inputs to hospital care were restrained, as were wages and particularly benefits. The program did not generally raise or stabilize hospital revenue margins, while the ratio of cash flow to debt trended down. Financial stringency of this program relative to alternatives may have contributed to its end.

  1. Is the Alma Ata vision of comprehensive primary health care viable? Findings from an international project

    PubMed Central

    Labonté, Ronald; Sanders, David; Packer, Corinne; Schaay, Nikki

    2014-01-01

    Background The 4-year (2007–2011) Revitalizing Health for All international research program (http://www.globalhealthequity.ca/projects/proj_revitalizing/index.shtml) supported 20 research teams located in 15 low- and middle-income countries to explore the strengths and weaknesses of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC) initiatives at their local or national levels. Teams were organized in a triad comprised of a senior researcher, a new researcher, and a ‘research user’ from government, health services, or other organizations with the authority or capacity to apply the research findings. Multiple regional and global team capacity-enhancement meetings were organized to refine methods and to discuss and assess cross-case findings. Objective Most research projects used mixed methods, incorporating analyses of qualitative data (interviews and focus groups), secondary data, and key policy and program documents. Some incorporated historical case study analyses, and a few undertook new surveys. The synthesis of findings in this report was derived through qualitative analysis of final project reports undertaken by three different reviewers. Results Evidence of comprehensiveness (defined in this research program as efforts to improve equity in access, community empowerment and participation, social and environmental health determinants, and intersectoral action) was found in many of the cases. Conclusions Despite the important contextual differences amongst the different country studies, the similarity of many of their findings, often generated using mixed methods, attests to certain transferable health systems characteristics to create and sustain CPHC practices. These include:  Well-trained and supported community health workers (CHWs) able to work effectively with marginalized communities Effective mechanisms for community participation, both informal (through participation in projects and programs, and meaningful consultation) and formal (though program management structures) Co-partnership models in program and policy development (in which financial and knowledge supports from governments or institutions are provided to communities, which retain decision-making powers in program design and implementation) Support for community advocacy and engagement in health and social systems decision making These characteristics, in turn, require a political context that supports state responsibilities for redistributive health and social protection measures. PMID:25150030

  2. Is the Alma Ata vision of comprehensive primary health care viable? Findings from an international project.

    PubMed

    Labonté, Ronald; Sanders, David; Packer, Corinne; Schaay, Nikki

    2014-01-01

    The 4-year (2007-2011) Revitalizing Health for All international research program (http://www.globalhealthequity.ca/projects/proj_revitalizing/index.shtml) supported 20 research teams located in 15 low- and middle-income countries to explore the strengths and weaknesses of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC) initiatives at their local or national levels. Teams were organized in a triad comprised of a senior researcher, a new researcher, and a 'research user' from government, health services, or other organizations with the authority or capacity to apply the research findings. Multiple regional and global team capacity-enhancement meetings were organized to refine methods and to discuss and assess cross-case findings. Most research projects used mixed methods, incorporating analyses of qualitative data (interviews and focus groups), secondary data, and key policy and program documents. Some incorporated historical case study analyses, and a few undertook new surveys. The synthesis of findings in this report was derived through qualitative analysis of final project reports undertaken by three different reviewers. Evidence of comprehensiveness (defined in this research program as efforts to improve equity in access, community empowerment and participation, social and environmental health determinants, and intersectoral action) was found in many of the cases. Despite the important contextual differences amongst the different country studies, the similarity of many of their findings, often generated using mixed methods, attests to certain transferable health systems characteristics to create and sustain CPHC practices. These include:1. Well-trained and supported community health workers (CHWs) able to work effectively with marginalized communities2. Effective mechanisms for community participation, both informal (through participation in projects and programs, and meaningful consultation) and formal (though program management structures)3. Co-partnership models in program and policy development (in which financial and knowledge supports from governments or institutions are provided to communities, which retain decision-making powers in program design and implementation)4. Support for community advocacy and engagement in health and social systems decision makingThese characteristics, in turn, require a political context that supports state responsibilities for redistributive health and social protection measures.

  3. Health and indigenous people: intercultural health as a new paradigm toward the reduction of cultural and social marginalization?

    PubMed

    Torri, Maria Costanza

    2010-01-01

    The precarious socio-economic and health conditions of indigenous populations legitimize claims of marginalization and attest to the inherent inequality that indigenous groups suffer. In the last few years, advocates have urged the use of traditional indigenous health practices as more culturally fitting for most indigenous populations. An intercultural health program can reduce the conditions of social and cultural marginalization in an indigenous population. However, accepting and integrating indigenous medicine into a westernized health system presents a major challenge to intercultural healthcare in Latin America. The objective of this paper is to analyze the case of Makewe hospital, one of the first and few examples of intercultural health initiatives in Chile. The paper will examine the implementation of this initiative and the main challenges in creating an effective intercultural health program.

  4. Overview of the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program of the Caltech Tectonics Observatory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kovalenko, L.; Jain, K.; Maloney, J.

    2009-12-01

    The Caltech Tectonics Observatory (TO) is an interdisciplinary center, focused on geological processes occurring at the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu). Over the past year, the TO has made a major effort to develop an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program. Our goals are to (1) stimulate the interest of students and the general public in Earth Sciences, particularly in the study of tectonic processes, (2) inform and educate the general public about science in the context of TO discoveries and advancements, and (3) provide opportunities for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty to do outreach in the local K-12 schools. We have hosted local high school students and teachers to provide them with research experience (as part of Caltech’s “Summer Research Connection”); participated in teacher training workshops (organized by the local school district); hosted tours for local elementary school students; and brought hands-on activities into local elementary and middle school classrooms, science clubs, and science nights. We have also led local school students and teachers on geology field trips through nearby parks. In addition, we have developed education modules for undergraduate classes (as part of MARGINS program), and have written educational web articles on TO research (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu/outreach). The presentation will give an overview of these activities and their impact on our educational program.

  5. Measuring quality of delivery in a substance use prevention program.

    PubMed

    Giles, Steven; Jackson-Newsom, Julia; Pankratz, Melinda M; Hansen, William B; Ringwalt, Christopher L; Dusenbury, Linda

    2008-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an observation measure designed to capture teachers' use of interactive teaching skills within the delivery of the All Stars substance use prevention program. Coders counted the number of times teachers praised and encouraged students, accepted and used students' ideas, asked questions, self-disclosed personal anecdotes, and corrected student misbehavior. These teacher behaviors loaded on three factors: classroom management, acknowledgment, and student-centered methods. Classroom management was negatively related to student engagement. Acknowledgment was negatively related to students' normative beliefs. Student-centered methods were positively related to student idealism and normative beliefs, and marginally predicted decreases in student marijuana use. Editors' Strategic Implications: The authors provide a promising approach to studying pedagogical prevention approaches, and they also link teaching processes to student outcomes. This study of program delivery should be of general interest (i.e., not limited to substance use prevention) to practitioners and researchers.

  6. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Food Insecurity, Dietary Quality, and Obesity Among US Adults

    PubMed Central

    Shuval, Kerem; Bertmann, Farryl; Yaroch, Amy L.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives. We examined whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation changes associations between food insecurity, dietary quality, and weight among US adults. Methods. We analyzed adult dietary intake data (n = 8333) from the 2003 to 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Bivariate and multivariable methods assessed associations of SNAP participation and 4 levels of food security with diet and weight. Measures of dietary quality were the Healthy Eating Index 2010, total caloric intake, empty calories, and solid fat; weight measures were body mass index (BMI), overweight, and obesity. Results. SNAP participants with marginal food security had lower BMI (1.83 kg/m2; P < .01) and lower probability of obesity (9 percentage points; P < .05). SNAP participants with marginal (3.46 points; P < .01), low (1.98 points; P < .05), and very low (3.84 points; P < .01) food security had better diets, as illustrated by the Healthy Eating Index. Associations between SNAP participation and improved diet and weight were stronger among Whites than Blacks and Hispanics. Conclusions. Our research highlights the role of SNAP in helping individuals who are at risk for food insecurity to obtain a healthier diet and better weight status. PMID:25973830

  7. Adspots and Green Eyes: 'National' Identity in Irish TV Commercials and Other 'Marginal' Areas of Irish Television.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McBride, Stephanie

    This paper discusses the relationship between national identity and the so-called "marginal" areas of Irish television, i.e., advertisements, continuity announcements, and promotional trailers. The following issues are considered: (1) how these "spaces" between television programs compare in terms of use and influence to…

  8. Integrating Art and Music into Social Studies Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Risinger, C. Frederick

    2012-01-01

    The author truly believes that the marginalization of social studies is not only harming the profession, it is jeopardizing the democracy. But if social studies is in jeopardy, consider the colleagues in the arts and music. Art and music programs have been reduced or eliminated in thousands of schools throughout the nation. Marginalizing art and…

  9. Aboriginal Business Capacity Building Programs in the Central Interior of British Columbia: A Collaborative Project between the University and Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kunkel, Titi; Schorcht, Blanca; Brazzoni, Randall

    2011-01-01

    Aboriginal communities in Canada are typically marginalized, have very low employment participation rates, and have limited economic infrastructure. The downturn in global economies further marginalized these communities. The University of Northern British Columbia's (UNBC) Continuing Studies department piloted an Aboriginal and Small Business…

  10. Proof-of-Concept Demonstrations for Computation-Based Human Reliability Analysis. Modeling Operator Performance During Flooding Scenarios

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Joe, Jeffrey Clark; Boring, Ronald Laurids; Herberger, Sarah Elizabeth Marie

    The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program has the overall objective to help sustain the existing commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs). To accomplish this program objective, there are multiple LWRS “pathways,” or research and development (R&D) focus areas. One LWRS focus area is called the Risk-Informed Safety Margin and Characterization (RISMC) pathway. Initial efforts under this pathway to combine probabilistic and plant multi-physics models to quantify safety margins and support business decisions also included HRA, but in a somewhat simplified manner. HRA experts at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have been collaborating with othermore » experts to develop a computational HRA approach, called the Human Unimodel for Nuclear Technology to Enhance Reliability (HUNTER), for inclusion into the RISMC framework. The basic premise of this research is to leverage applicable computational techniques, namely simulation and modeling, to develop and then, using RAVEN as a controller, seamlessly integrate virtual operator models (HUNTER) with 1) the dynamic computational MOOSE runtime environment that includes a full-scope plant model, and 2) the RISMC framework PRA models already in use. The HUNTER computational HRA approach is a hybrid approach that leverages past work from cognitive psychology, human performance modeling, and HRA, but it is also a significant departure from existing static and even dynamic HRA methods. This report is divided into five chapters that cover the development of an external flooding event test case and associated statistical modeling considerations.« less

  11. Oceanographic Mower Cruise

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valencia, J.; Ercilla, G.; Hernández-Molina, F. J.; Casas, D.

    2015-04-01

    The MOWER Cruise has executed a geophysics and geologic expedition in the Gulf of Cádiz (sector adjacent to the Strait of Gibraltar) and west off Portugal, in the framework of the coordinate research project MOWER "Erosive features and associated sandy deposits generated by the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) around Iberia: paleoceanographic, sedimentary & economic implications" (CTM 2012-39599-C03). The main aim of this project is to identify and study the erosional features (terraces and channels) and associated sedimentary deposits (sandy contourites) generated by the Mediterranean Water Masses around the middle continental slope of Iberia (The Mediterranean Outflow Water - MOW - in the Atlantic margins), their Pliocene and Quaternary evolution and their paleoceanographic, sedimentary and economic implications. This objective directly involves the study of alongslope (contourite) processes associated with the MOW and across-slope (turbiditic flows, debris flows, etc.) processes in the sedimentary stacking pattern and evolution of the Iberian margins. The MOWER project and cruise are related to the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 339 (Mediterranean Outflow). It is also linked and coordinated with CONDRIBER Project "Contourite drifts and associated mass-transport deposits along the SW Iberia margin - implications to slope stability and tsunami hazard assessment" (2013-2015) funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (PTDC/GEO-GEO/4430/2012).

  12. Perceived Marginalization and the Prediction of Romantic Relationship Stability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lehmiller, Justin J.; Agnew, Christopher R.

    2007-01-01

    The present research examined how perceived marginalization of one's romantic relationship is associated with level of future commitment to and stability of that involvement. Results from a 7-month longitudinal study of romantically involved individuals (N = 215) revealed that perceived social network marginalization at Time 1 predicted breakup…

  13. The use of Photovoice to document and characterize the food security of users of community food programs in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

    PubMed

    Lardeau, M-P; Healey, G; Ford, J

    2011-01-01

    Food insecurity is a chronic problem affecting Inuit communities. The most comprehensive assessment of Inuit food security to-date, the Inuit Health Survey, reported that 70% of Inuit pre-school children lived in 'food insecure' households. Food banks and soup kitchens are relatively new in the Arctic but the number of users is increasing. Little is known about the experience and determinants of food insecurity among food program users who are often among the most marginalized (socially and economically) in communities. The use of participatory research methods when working in the north of Canada can promote meaningful knowledge exchange with community members and this approach was used in the present 'Photovoice' research. Photovoice uses photography to develop a baseline understanding of an issue, in this case the experience and determinants of food insecurity among users of community food programs in Iqaluit, Nunavut. The target population includes those who face significant social and economic marginalization, an often neglected group in Arctic food systems research. Eight regular users of food programs were recruited and engaged in a Photovoice research project to document factors determining their daily food consumption. The research method was introduced in workshops and discussion included the ethical concerns related to photography and how to take pictures. Participants were supplied with digital cameras, and asked to answer the following question using photography: 'What aspects of your everyday life affect what you eat and how much you have to eat?'. In the final workshop, photographs were discussed among the group and participants identified key themes in the photographs, offering an understanding of food insecurity from their perspectives. The group then discussed what should be done with the knowledge gained. Factors improving food security were the customary systems for sharing 'country food', and the presence of social support networks in the community, such as the Food Bank, the Soup Kitchen and the Tukisigiarvik Center. Factors identified as negatively affecting food security were the high cost of food in the Arctic, and substance abuse. The participants decided by consensus whether and how the knowledge from this project would be disseminated. They decided that a museum exhibit of the photographs in the summer of 2010 and promotion of the results among policy-makers in Nunavut were of high priority. The use of participatory research approaches such as Photovoice offers promise for exploring food security issues among similarly disadvantaged and vulnerable populations elsewhere in the Arctic. This approach was found to be a useful method for gathering and sharing research data because the data was generated and analysed by the participants. The clear and concise messages developed by the participants can be used to inform policy. This research method can assist in making a valuable contribution to health research, both in the Arctic and worldwide, because it promotes an understanding of the experiences of individuals from their own perspective.

  14. Matching the Statistical Model to the Research Question for Dental Caries Indices with Many Zero Counts.

    PubMed

    Preisser, John S; Long, D Leann; Stamm, John W

    2017-01-01

    Marginalized zero-inflated count regression models have recently been introduced for the statistical analysis of dental caries indices and other zero-inflated count data as alternatives to traditional zero-inflated and hurdle models. Unlike the standard approaches, the marginalized models directly estimate overall exposure or treatment effects by relating covariates to the marginal mean count. This article discusses model interpretation and model class choice according to the research question being addressed in caries research. Two data sets, one consisting of fictional dmft counts in 2 groups and the other on DMFS among schoolchildren from a randomized clinical trial comparing 3 toothpaste formulations to prevent incident dental caries, are analyzed with negative binomial hurdle, zero-inflated negative binomial, and marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial models. In the first example, estimates of treatment effects vary according to the type of incidence rate ratio (IRR) estimated by the model. Estimates of IRRs in the analysis of the randomized clinical trial were similar despite their distinctive interpretations. The choice of statistical model class should match the study's purpose, while accounting for the broad decline in children's caries experience, such that dmft and DMFS indices more frequently generate zero counts. Marginalized (marginal mean) models for zero-inflated count data should be considered for direct assessment of exposure effects on the marginal mean dental caries count in the presence of high frequencies of zero counts. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  15. Matching the Statistical Model to the Research Question for Dental Caries Indices with Many Zero Counts

    PubMed Central

    Preisser, John S.; Long, D. Leann; Stamm, John W.

    2017-01-01

    Marginalized zero-inflated count regression models have recently been introduced for the statistical analysis of dental caries indices and other zero-inflated count data as alternatives to traditional zero-inflated and hurdle models. Unlike the standard approaches, the marginalized models directly estimate overall exposure or treatment effects by relating covariates to the marginal mean count. This article discusses model interpretation and model class choice according to the research question being addressed in caries research. Two datasets, one consisting of fictional dmft counts in two groups and the other on DMFS among schoolchildren from a randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing three toothpaste formulations to prevent incident dental caries, are analysed with negative binomial hurdle (NBH), zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB), and marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial (MZINB) models. In the first example, estimates of treatment effects vary according to the type of incidence rate ratio (IRR) estimated by the model. Estimates of IRRs in the analysis of the RCT were similar despite their distinctive interpretations. Choice of statistical model class should match the study’s purpose, while accounting for the broad decline in children’s caries experience, such that dmft and DMFS indices more frequently generate zero counts. Marginalized (marginal mean) models for zero-inflated count data should be considered for direct assessment of exposure effects on the marginal mean dental caries count in the presence of high frequencies of zero counts. PMID:28291962

  16. Harm reduction services as a point-of-entry to and source of end-of-life care and support for homeless and marginally housed persons who use alcohol and/or illicit drugs: a qualitative analysis.

    PubMed

    McNeil, Ryan; Guirguis-Younger, Manal; Dilley, Laura B; Aubry, Tim D; Turnbull, Jeffrey; Hwang, Stephen W

    2012-05-17

    Homeless and marginally housed persons who use alcohol and/or illicit drugs often have end-of-life care needs that go unmet due to barriers that they face to accessing end-of-life care services. Many homeless and marginally housed persons who use these substances must therefore rely upon alternate sources of end-of-life care and support. This article explores the role of harm reduction services in end-of-life care services delivery to homeless and marginally housed persons who use alcohol and/or illicit drugs. A qualitative case study design was used to explore end-of-life care services delivery to homeless and marginally housed persons in six Canadian cities. A key objective was to explore the role of harm reduction services. 54 health and social services professionals participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. All participants reported that they provided care and support to this population at end-of-life. Harm reduction services (e.g., syringe exchange programs, managed alcohol programs, etc.) were identified as a critical point-of-entry to and source of end-of-life care and support for homeless and marginally housed persons who use alcohol and/or illicit drugs. Where possible, harm reduction services facilitated referrals to end-of-life care services for this population. Harm reduction services also provided end-of-life care and support when members of this population were unable or unwilling to access end-of-life care services, thereby improving quality-of-life and increasing self-determination regarding place-of-death. While partnerships between harm reduction programs and end-of-life care services are identified as one way to improve access, it is noted that more comprehensive harm reduction services might be needed in end-of-life care settings if they are to engage this underserved population.

  17. Resilience mediated the association between acculturation and psychological growth in college students from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, China.

    PubMed

    Yu, Nancy Xiaonan; Liu, Chang; Yue, Zhenzhu

    2017-08-01

    The number of Hong Kong citizens living in mainland China is increasing. The process of acculturation may create opportunities for psychological growth. This study aimed at examining whether resilience mediated the effects of acculturation on psychological growth in college students from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. In this cross-sectional survey, 164 college students in Guangzhou who were Hong Kong permanent residents (female: 46%, age: 21.09 ± 1.50) joined the study. The integration group reported more psychological growth than the assimilation, separation, and marginalization groups. Resilience partially mediated the effect of integration on psychological growth and fully mediated the effect of marginalization on psychological growth. Resilience represents one of the mechanisms to explain beneficial effects of integration on psychological growth in college students from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. Theoretical considerations to rethink the acculturation model, implications for developing intervention programs, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

  18. Launching native health leaders: students as community-campus ambassadors.

    PubMed

    Segrest, Valerie; James, Rosalina; Madrid, Teresa; Fernandes, Roger

    2010-01-01

    Ancient teaching styles such as storytelling can help Native students to navigate the educational pipeline, and become forces for shaping health and research landscapes. Many experience isolation on campuses where these worldviews are marginalized. Launching Native Health Leaders (LNHL) reduces academic isolation by creating an environment where students identify with Native values while exposing them to health and research career opportunities and interdisciplinary professional and community networks. Student experiences and the LNHL mentoring approach are described through phases of the Hero's Journey, a universal mythic story of human struggle and transformation. Undergraduates were recruited to attend health and research conferences through college and university student service programs. Tribal community representatives led group discussions focused on tribal health issues, and students explored intersections of indigenous knowledge with community-based participatory research (CBPR) and their educational journeys. LNHL supported more than sixty students to attend eight professional conferences since 2006 that included themes of cancer control, tribal wellness, and indigenous knowledge systems for health. Students pursuing higher degrees and community service careers participated in conference sessions, small group discussions, and reflection activities with professional and tribal community mentors. Mainstream academic systems must include indigenous voices at all levels of leadership to shift the direction of health trends. LNHL builds capacity for community-based efforts by balancing Indigenous and academic mentoring and empowering Native students to navigate their personal journeys and create pathways to serve the needs of Indigenous peoples. Students from other marginalized groups may benefit from an LNHL mentoring approach.

  19. A Research Roadmap for Computation-Based Human Reliability Analysis

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boring, Ronald; Mandelli, Diego; Joe, Jeffrey

    2015-08-01

    The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) is sponsoring research through the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program to extend the life of the currently operating fleet of commercial nuclear power plants. The Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) research pathway within LWRS looks at ways to maintain and improve the safety margins of these plants. The RISMC pathway includes significant developments in the area of thermalhydraulics code modeling and the development of tools to facilitate dynamic probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). PRA is primarily concerned with the risk of hardware systems at the plant; yet, hardware reliability is oftenmore » secondary in overall risk significance to human errors that can trigger or compound undesirable events at the plant. This report highlights ongoing efforts to develop a computation-based approach to human reliability analysis (HRA). This computation-based approach differs from existing static and dynamic HRA approaches in that it: (i) interfaces with a dynamic computation engine that includes a full scope plant model, and (ii) interfaces with a PRA software toolset. The computation-based HRA approach presented in this report is called the Human Unimodels for Nuclear Technology to Enhance Reliability (HUNTER) and incorporates in a hybrid fashion elements of existing HRA methods to interface with new computational tools developed under the RISMC pathway. The goal of this research effort is to model human performance more accurately than existing approaches, thereby minimizing modeling uncertainty found in current plant risk models.« less

  20. Light Water Reactor Sustainability Accomplishments Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McCarthy, Kathryn A.

    Welcome to the 2014 Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program Accomplishments Report, covering research and development highlights from 2014. The LWRS Program is a U.S. Department of Energy research and development program to inform and support the long-term operation of our nation’s commercial nuclear power plants. The research uses the unique facilities and capabilities at the Department of Energy national laboratories in collaboration with industry, academia, and international partners. Extending the operating lifetimes of current plants is essential to supporting our nation’s base load energy infrastructure, as well as reaching the Administration’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80%more » below 1990 levels by the year 2050. The purpose of the LWRS Program is to provide technical results for plant owners to make informed decisions on long-term operation and subsequent license renewal, reducing the uncertainty, and therefore the risk, associated with those decisions. In January 2013, 104 nuclear power plants operated in 31 states. However, since then, five plants have been shut down (several due to economic reasons), with additional shutdowns under consideration. The LWRS Program aims to minimize the number of plants that are shut down, with R&D that supports long-term operation both directly (via data that is needed for subsequent license renewal), as well indirectly (with models and technology that provide economic benefits). The LWRS Program continues to work closely with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to ensure that the body of information needed to support SLR decisions and actions is available in a timely manner. This report covers selected highlights from the three research pathways in the LWRS Program: Materials Aging and Degradation, Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization, and Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies, as well as a look-ahead at planned activities for 2015. If you have any questions about the information in the report, or about the LWRS Program, please contact me, Richard A. Reister (the Federal Program Manager), or the respective research pathway leader (noted on pages 26 and 27), or visit the LWRS Program website (www.inl.gov/lwrs). The annually updated Integrated Program Plan and Pathway Technical Program Plans are also available for those seeking more detailed technical Information.« less

  1. Does harm reduction programming make a difference in the lives of highly marginalized, at-risk drug users?

    PubMed Central

    Rogers, Susan J; Ruefli, Terry

    2004-01-01

    Harm reduction is a controversial model for treating drug users, with little formal research available on its operation and effectiveness. In order to advance the field, we first conducted participatory research of harm reduction with 120 clients using nominal-group technique to develop culturally relevant outcomes to measure progress. Second, we conducted focus group interviews with a different group of clients to help validate the outcomes. Third, we used the outcomes in an evaluation of the largest harm reduction program in New York City, which involved a representative sample of 261 and entailed baseline, post, and six follow-up assessments. The participatory research resulted in outcomes of 10 life areas important to drug users. Evaluation results showed that program participants made positive improvements across most outcomes, with the most substantial progress made in how clients dealt with drug-use problems. Along with their participation in the program, progress in some outcomes was also associated with clients' type of drug use (i.e., stable vs. chaotic), where more stable drug use was associated with better ways of making an income and types of housing. Surprisingly, progress was not associated with the kinds or numbers of services received or the length of time in the program. This was attributed to the service delivery model of harm reduction, in which clients are less inclined to associate their success with a single staff person or with a single service or intervention received than with the program as a whole. PMID:15171790

  2. Flight Research Using F100 Engine P680063 in the NASA F-15 Airplane

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burcham, Frank W., Jr.; Conners, Timothy R.; Maxwell, Michael D.

    1994-01-01

    The value of flight research in developing and evaluating gas turbine engines is high. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center has been conducting flight research on propulsion systems for many years. The F100 engine has been tested in the NASA F-15 research airplane in the last three decades. One engine in particular, S/N P680063, has been used for the entire program and has been flown in many pioneering propulsion flight research activities. Included are detailed flight-to-ground facility tests; tests of the first production digital engine control system, the first active stall margin control system, the first performance-seeking control system; and the first use of computer-controlled engine thrust for emergency flight control. The flight research has been supplemented with altitude facility tests at key times. This paper presents a review of the tests of engine P680063, the F-15 airplanes in which it flew, and the role of the flight test in maturing propulsion technology.

  3. Biofuel development, food security and the use of marginal land in China.

    PubMed

    Qiu, Huanguang; Huang, Jikun; Keyzer, Michiel; van Veen, Wim; Rozelle, Scott; Fisher, Guenther; Ermolieva, Tatiana

    2011-01-01

    With concerns of energy shortages, China, like the United States, European Union, and other countries, is promoting the development of biofuels. However, China also faces high future demand for food and feed, and so its bioenergy program must try to strike a balance between food and fuel. The goals of this paper are to provide an overview of China's current bioethanol program, identify the potential for using marginal lands for feedstock production, and measure the likely impacts of China's bioethanol development on the nation's future food self-sufficiency. Our results indicate that the potential to use marginal land for bioethanol feedstock production is limited. Applying a modeling approach based on highly disaggregated data by region, our analysis shows that the target of 10 million t of bioethanol by 2020 seems to be a prudent target, causing no major disturbances in China's food security. But the expansion of bioethanol may increase environmental pressures due to the higher levels of fertilizer use. This study shows also that if China were able to cultivate 45% of its required bioethanol feedstock on new marginal land, it would further limit negative effects of the bioethanol program on the domestic and international economy, but at the expense of having to apply another 750 thousand t of fertilizer. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  4. A Worst-Case Approach for On-Line Flutter Prediction

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lind, Rick C.; Brenner, Martin J.

    1998-01-01

    Worst-case flutter margins may be computed for a linear model with respect to a set of uncertainty operators using the structured singular value. This paper considers an on-line implementation to compute these robust margins in a flight test program. Uncertainty descriptions are updated at test points to account for unmodeled time-varying dynamics of the airplane by ensuring the robust model is not invalidated by measured flight data. Robust margins computed with respect to this uncertainty remain conservative to the changing dynamics throughout the flight. A simulation clearly demonstrates this method can improve the efficiency of flight testing by accurately predicting the flutter margin to improve safety while reducing the necessary flight time.

  5. Independent Predictors of Prognosis Based on Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma Surgical Margins.

    PubMed

    Buchakjian, Marisa R; Ginader, Timothy; Tasche, Kendall K; Pagedar, Nitin A; Smith, Brian J; Sperry, Steven M

    2018-05-01

    Objective To conduct a multivariate analysis of a large cohort of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) cases for independent predictors of local recurrence (LR) and overall survival (OS), with emphasis on the relationship between (1) prognosis and (2) main specimen permanent margins and intraoperative tumor bed frozen margins. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary academic head and neck cancer program. Subjects and Methods This study included 426 patients treated with OCSCC resection between 2005 and 2014 at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Patients underwent excision of OCSCC with intraoperative tumor bed frozen margin sampling and main specimen permanent margin assessment. Multivariate analysis of the data set to predict LR and OS was performed. Results Independent predictors of LR included nodal involvement, histologic grade, and main specimen permanent margin status. Specifically, the presence of a positive margin (odds ratio, 6.21; 95% CI, 3.3-11.9) or <1-mm/carcinoma in situ margin (odds ratio, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.19-4.87) on the main specimen was an independent predictor of LR, whereas intraoperative tumor bed margins were not predictive of LR on multivariate analysis. Similarly, independent predictors of OS on multivariate analysis included nodal involvement, extracapsular extension, and a positive main specimen margin. Tumor bed margins did not independently predict OS. Conclusion The main specimen margin is a strong independent predictor of LR and OS on multivariate analysis. Intraoperative tumor bed frozen margins do not independently predict prognosis. We conclude that emphasis should be placed on evaluating the main specimen margins when estimating prognosis after OCSCC resection.

  6. Wind-tunnel investigation of longitudinal and lateral-directional stability and control characteristics of a 0.237-scale model of a remotely piloted research vehicle with a thick, high-aspect-ratio supercritical wing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Byrdsong, T. A.; Brooks, C. W., Jr.

    1980-01-01

    A 0.237-scale model of a remotely piloted research vehicle equipped with a thick, high-aspect-ratio supercritical wing was tested in the Langley 8-foot transonic tunnel to provide experimental data for a prediction of the static stability and control characteristics of the research vehicle as well as to provide an estimate of vehicle flight characteristics for a computer simulation program used in the planning and execution of specific flight-research mission. Data were obtained at a Reynolds number of 16.5 x 10 to the 6th power per meter for Mach numbers up to 0.92. The results indicate regions of longitudinal instability; however, an adequate margin of longitudinal stability exists at a selected cruise condition. Satisfactory effectiveness of pitch, roll, and yaw control was also demonstrated.

  7. Are food insecurity's health impacts underestimated in the U.S. population? Marginal food security also predicts adverse health outcomes in young U.S. children and mothers.

    PubMed

    Cook, John T; Black, Maureen; Chilton, Mariana; Cutts, Diana; Ettinger de Cuba, Stephanie; Heeren, Timothy C; Rose-Jacobs, Ruth; Sandel, Megan; Casey, Patrick H; Coleman, Sharon; Weiss, Ingrid; Frank, Deborah A

    2013-01-01

    This review addresses epidemiological, public health, and social policy implications of categorizing young children and their adult female caregivers in the United States as food secure when they live in households with "marginal food security," as indicated by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. Existing literature shows that households in the US with marginal food security are more like food-insecure households than food-secure households. Similarities include socio-demographic characteristics, psychosocial profiles, and patterns of disease and health risk. Building on existing knowledge, we present new research on associations of marginal food security with health and developmental risks in young children (<48 mo) and health in their female caregivers. Marginal food security is positively associated with adverse health outcomes compared with food security, but the strength of the associations is weaker than that for food insecurity as usually defined in the US. Nonoverlapping CIs, when comparing odds of marginally food-secure children's fair/poor health and developmental risk and caregivers' depressive symptoms and fair/poor health with those in food-secure and -insecure families, indicate associations of marginal food security significantly and distinctly intermediate between those of food security and food insecurity. Evidence from reviewed research and the new research presented indicates that households with marginal food security should not be classified as food secure, as is the current practice, but should be reported in a separate discrete category. These findings highlight the potential underestimation of the prevalence of adverse health outcomes associated with exposure to lack of enough food for an active, healthy life in the US and indicate an even greater need for preventive action and policies to limit and reduce exposure among children and mothers.

  8. Data report: Permeabilities of eastern equatorial Pacific and Peru margin sediments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gamage, Kusali; Bekins, Barbara A.; Screaton, Elizabeth; Jørgensen, Bo B.; D'Hondt, Steven L.; Miller, D. Jay

    2006-01-01

    Constant-flow permeability tests were conducted on core samples from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 201 from the eastern equatorial Pacific and the Peru margin. Eighteen whole-round core samples from Sites 1225, 1226, 1227, 1230, and 1231 were tested for vertical permeabilities. Sites 1225, 1226, and 1231 represent sediments of the open ocean, whereas Sites 1227 and 1230 represent sediments of the ocean margin. Measured vertical permeabilities vary from ~8 x 10–19 m2 to ~1 x 10–16 m2 for a porosity range of 45%–90%.

  9. [The economic margins of activities of a bovine practitioner on dairy farms].

    PubMed

    van Genugten, A J M; van Haaften, J A; Hogeveen, H

    2011-11-01

    Because of lower margins and market liberalisation veterinarians and farmers are increasingly negotiating rates. Therefore, the margins of veterinarians are under pressure. In addition, the sales if drugs, performance of operations or giving of advice are more and more separated. These developments give veterinarians uncertainty about the profitability of their activities for dairy farmers. Not much is known about margins on veterinary activities on dairy farms. Moreover, it is interesting to see how much margins of the bovine practitioner differ between veterinary practises and dairy farms. In this study, invoices for bovine activities of 14 veterinary practises were combined with milk production registration data of the dairy farms of these practices. This way, the gross margin per bovine practitioner could be studied for the different veterinary practise. Moreover the relation between gross margin and specification of the veterinary practise could be studied. Finally, the gross margin per dairy farm and the factors that influenced this gross margin were studied. The most important result was the observation that the gross margin per bovine practitioner was dependent on the number of dairy farms per practitioner, the margin on drugs and the region of the veterinary practise. The size of the veterinary practise, the share of the dairy farming within the practise and the source of the gross margin (drugs, time or operations) did not influence the gross margin. Variables that explained the gross margin per dairy farm were, amongst others, the number of dairy cows, the milk production level of the farms and participation in PIR-DAP (a system to support the veterinarians herd health and management program). There is no relation of gross margin per dairy farm and the veterinary practise or region.

  10. Initial Validation of the Physical Education Marginalization and Isolation Survey (PE-MAIS)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gaudreault, Karen Lux; Richards, K. Andrew R.; Mays Woods, Amelia

    2017-01-01

    Qualitative research conducted through occupational socialization theory has documented that physical educators feel marginalized and isolated in schools. We sought to propose and provide initial evidence of validity and reliability for the Physical Education Marginalization and Isolation Survey (PE-MAIS). Physical educators (n = 420) completed an…

  11. Mentoring and Academic Resilience: Academic Progress in a Predominantly White Institution as a Historically Marginalized Student

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reed-Hendon, Caryn Y.

    2013-01-01

    Mentoring for historically marginalized students in the post-secondary education years has been used as a means to mitigate factors of attrition in academic programs. As a student development construct, academic resilience utilizes protective processes for managing behavioral and emotional responses to difficult situations inside and outside of…

  12. Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: Risk-Informed Safety Margins Characterization (RISMC) Pathway Technical Program Plan

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Smith, Curtis; Rabiti, Cristian; Martineau, Richard

    Safety is central to the design, licensing, operation, and economics of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). As the current Light Water Reactor (LWR) NPPs age beyond 60 years, there are possibilities for increased frequency of Systems, Structures, and Components (SSCs) degradations or failures that initiate safety-significant events, reduce existing accident mitigation capabilities, or create new failure modes. Plant designers commonly “over-design” portions of NPPs and provide robustness in the form of redundant and diverse engineered safety features to ensure that, even in the case of well-beyond design basis scenarios, public health and safety will be protected with a very high degreemore » of assurance. This form of defense-in-depth is a reasoned response to uncertainties and is often referred to generically as “safety margin.” Historically, specific safety margin provisions have been formulated, primarily based on “engineering judgment.”« less

  13. ROCOPT: A user friendly interactive code to optimize rocket structural components

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rule, William K.

    1989-01-01

    ROCOPT is a user-friendly, graphically-interfaced, microcomputer-based computer program (IBM compatible) that optimizes rocket components by minimizing the structural weight. The rocket components considered are ring stiffened truncated cones and cylinders. The applied loading is static, and can consist of any combination of internal or external pressure, axial force, bending moment, and torque. Stress margins are calculated by means of simple closed form strength of material type equations. Stability margins are determined by approximate, orthotropic-shell, closed-form equations. A modified form of Powell's method, in conjunction with a modified form of the external penalty method, is used to determine the minimum weight of the structure subject to stress and stability margin constraints, as well as user input constraints on the structural dimensions. The graphical interface guides the user through the required data prompts, explains program options and graphically displays results for easy interpretation.

  14. Aeroelasticity of wing and wing-body configurations on parallel computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Byun, Chansup

    1995-01-01

    The objective of this research is to develop computationally efficient methods for solving aeroelasticity problems on parallel computers. Both uncoupled and coupled methods are studied in this research. For the uncoupled approach, the conventional U-g method is used to determine the flutter boundary. The generalized aerodynamic forces required are obtained by the pulse transfer-function analysis method. For the coupled approach, the fluid-structure interaction is obtained by directly coupling finite difference Euler/Navier-Stokes equations for fluids and finite element dynamics equations for structures. This capability will significantly impact many aerospace projects of national importance such as Advanced Subsonic Civil Transport (ASCT), where the structural stability margin becomes very critical at the transonic region. This research effort will have direct impact on the High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) Program of NASA in the area of parallel computing.

  15. MIZEX (Marginal Ice Zone Program): A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experimemts om Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. V. MIZEX 84. Summer Experiment PI (Principal Investigator) Preliminary Reports,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-10-01

    164 W.O. Smith, L.A. Codispoti and S.L. Smith Biological Production ................................................. 168 H.-J. Neubert ...in the vicinity of the Kvit Bj orn. 78 Ii The MIZEX-84 High Frequency Accelerometer Study Paul K. Becker and Seelye Martin The field portion of the...w,-9 tested. 4 Natural Tritium Content Hanns-J. Neubert * ~ At station no. 333 (see Fiq.) a hole of’ >7000 m was f’ound. To qet inf’ormation about

  16. Submarine Landslide Hazards Offshore Southern Alaska: Seismic Strengthening Versus Rapid Sedimentation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sawyer, D.; Reece, R.; Gulick, S. P. S.; Lenz, B. L.

    2017-12-01

    The southern Alaskan offshore margin is prone to submarine landslides and tsunami hazards due to seismically active plate boundaries and extreme sedimentation rates from glacially enhanced mountain erosion. We examine the submarine landslide potential with new shear strength measurements acquired by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 341 on the continental slope and Surveyor Fan. These data reveal lower than expected sediment strength. Contrary to other active margins where seismic strengthening enhances slope stability, the high-sedimentation margin offshore southern Alaska behaves like a passive margin from a shear strength perspective. We interpret that seismic strengthening occurs but is offset by high sedimentation rates and overpressure within the slope and Surveyor Fan. This conclusion is supported because shear strength follows an expected active margin profile outside of the fan, where background sedimentation rates occur. More broadly, seismically active margins with wet-based glaciers are susceptible to submarine landslide hazards because of the combination of high sedimentation rates and earthquake shaking

  17. Preface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohriak, Webster; Talwani, Manik

    In compiling this volume, we have aimed to develop and enhance our current understanding of the structural evolution and sedimentation processes along divergent continental margins. To counteract the unfortunate situation of a lack of modem seismic and potential fields data on circum-Atlantic passive margins in the literature, we have linked new data from oil companies with that of research institutions. To update the data offered in most volumes used as reference works for the study of continental margins, now upwards of 20 years old, and to remedy the dispersal of important, more recent contributions in specialized journals, we present a current synthesis of materials in one volume focused on the deeper geology of the sedimentary basins along continental margins. In the early 1990s, as oil companies and other institutions developed tools to probe deeper into the architecture of passive margin sedimentary basins, a great amount of data based on regional deep seismic profiles evolved rapidly from its specialized niche as geophysical interpretation of the Earth's interior to widespread use by those same companies and institutions. At the same time, these findings demonstrated that some breakthroughs in data acquisition, processing and interpretation initially achieved by research institutions could almost instantaneously be globalized throughout different research groups, thereby influencing the thinking of geoscientists worldwide.

  18. Outcomes of an International Audiology Service-Learning Study-Abroad Program.

    PubMed

    Krishnan, Lata A; Richards, K Andrew R; Simpson, Jennifer M

    2016-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate students' academic and civic learning, with particular interest in cultural competence, gained through participation in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences in Zambia study-abroad program. Twelve female students participated in the program. Quantitative data collected included pre- and postprogram administration of the Public Affairs Scale (Levesque-Bristol & Cornelius-White, 2012) to measure changes in participants' civic learning. Qualitative data included journals, end-of-program reflection papers, videos, and researcher field notes. Feedback was also obtained from community-partner organizations via a questionnaire and rating scale. Comparison of the pre- and postprogram Public Affairs Scale data showed a significant increase in cultural competence and a marginal increase in community engagement at the conclusion of the program. Qualitative data showed that participants' cultural awareness was increased, they benefited from hands-on learning, and they experienced a variety of emotions and emotional and personal growth. Results show that a short-term study-abroad program with a service-learning component can be a mechanism for students to enhance academic and civic learning, specifically cultural competence and clinical skills. Sustainability of programs is a challenge that needs to be addressed.

  19. A Simulation Modeling Framework to Optimize Programs Using Financial Incentives to Motivate Health Behavior Change.

    PubMed

    Basu, Sanjay; Kiernan, Michaela

    2016-01-01

    While increasingly popular among mid- to large-size employers, using financial incentives to induce health behavior change among employees has been controversial, in part due to poor quality and generalizability of studies to date. Thus, fundamental questions have been left unanswered: To generate positive economic returns on investment, what level of incentive should be offered for any given type of incentive program and among which employees? We constructed a novel modeling framework that systematically identifies how to optimize marginal return on investment from programs incentivizing behavior change by integrating commonly collected data on health behaviors and associated costs. We integrated "demand curves" capturing individual differences in response to any given incentive with employee demographic and risk factor data. We also estimated the degree of self-selection that could be tolerated: that is, the maximum percentage of already-healthy employees who could enroll in a wellness program while still maintaining positive absolute return on investment. In a demonstration analysis, the modeling framework was applied to data from 3000 worksite physical activity programs across the nation. For physical activity programs, the incentive levels that would optimize marginal return on investment ($367/employee/year) were higher than average incentive levels currently offered ($143/employee/year). Yet a high degree of self-selection could undermine the economic benefits of the program; if more than 17% of participants came from the top 10% of the physical activity distribution, the cost of the program would be expected to always be greater than its benefits. Our generalizable framework integrates individual differences in behavior and risk to systematically estimate the incentive level that optimizes marginal return on investment. © The Author(s) 2015.

  20. A simulation modeling framework to optimize programs using financial incentives to motivate health behavior change

    PubMed Central

    Basu, Sanjay; Kiernan, Michaela

    2015-01-01

    Introduction While increasingly popular among mid- to large-size employers, using financial incentives to induce health behavior change among employees has been controversial, in part due to poor quality and generalizability of studies to date. Thus, fundamental questions have been left unanswered: to generate positive economic returns on investment, what level of incentive should be offered for any given type of incentive program and among which employees? Methods We constructed a novel modeling framework that systematically identifies how to optimize marginal return on investment from programs incentivizing behavior change by integrating commonly-collected data on health behaviors and associated costs. We integrated “demand curves” capturing individual differences in response to any given incentive with employee demographic and risk factor data. We also estimated the degree of self-selection that could be tolerated, i.e., the maximum percentage of already-healthy employees who could enroll in a wellness program while still maintaining positive absolute return on investment. In a demonstration analysis, the modeling framework was applied to data from 3,000 worksite physical activity programs across the nation. Results For physical activity programs, the incentive levels that would optimize marginal return on investment ($367/employee/year) were higher than average incentive levels currently offered ($143/employee/year). Yet a high degree of self-selection could undermine the economic benefits of the program; if more than 17% of participants came from the top 10% of the physical activity distribution, the cost of the program would be expected to always be greater than its benefits. Discussion Our generalizable framework integrates individual differences in behavior and risk to systematically estimate the incentive level that optimizes marginal return on investment. PMID:25977362

  1. Economic evaluation of progeny-testing and genomic selection schemes for small-sized nucleus dairy cattle breeding programs in developing countries.

    PubMed

    Kariuki, C M; Brascamp, E W; Komen, H; Kahi, A K; van Arendonk, J A M

    2017-03-01

    In developing countries minimal and erratic performance and pedigree recording impede implementation of large-sized breeding programs. Small-sized nucleus programs offer an alternative but rely on their economic performance for their viability. We investigated the economic performance of 2 alternative small-sized dairy nucleus programs [i.e., progeny testing (PT) and genomic selection (GS)] over a 20-yr investment period. The nucleus was made up of 453 male and 360 female animals distributed in 8 non-overlapping age classes. Each year 10 active sires and 100 elite dams were selected. Populations of commercial recorded cows (CRC) of sizes 12,592 and 25,184 were used to produce test daughters in PT or to create a reference population in GS, respectively. Economic performance was defined as gross margins, calculated as discounted revenues minus discounted costs following a single generation of selection. Revenues were calculated as cumulative discounted expressions (CDE, kg) × 0.32 (€/kg of milk) × 100,000 (size commercial population). Genetic superiorities, deterministically simulated using pseudo-BLUP index and CDE, were determined using gene flow. Costs were for one generation of selection. Results show that GS schemes had higher cumulated genetic gain in the commercial cow population and higher gross margins compared with PT schemes. Gross margins were between 3.2- and 5.2-fold higher for GS, depending on size of the CRC population. The increase in gross margin was mostly due to a decreased generation interval and lower running costs in GS schemes. In PT schemes many bulls are culled before selection. We therefore also compared 2 schemes in which semen was stored instead of keeping live bulls. As expected, semen storage resulted in an increase in gross margins in PT schemes, but gross margins remained lower than those of GS schemes. We conclude that implementation of small-sized GS breeding schemes can be economically viable for developing countries. The Authors. Published by the Federation of Animal Science Societies and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

  2. Research of facial feature extraction based on MMC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xue, Donglin; Zhao, Jiufen; Tang, Qinhong; Shi, Shaokun

    2017-07-01

    Based on the maximum margin criterion (MMC), a new algorithm of statistically uncorrelated optimal discriminant vectors and a new algorithm of orthogonal optimal discriminant vectors for feature extraction were proposed. The purpose of the maximum margin criterion is to maximize the inter-class scatter while simultaneously minimizing the intra-class scatter after the projection. Compared with original MMC method and principal component analysis (PCA) method, the proposed methods are better in terms of reducing or eliminating the statistically correlation between features and improving recognition rate. The experiment results on Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) face database shows that the new feature extraction method of statistically uncorrelated maximum margin criterion (SUMMC) are better in terms of recognition rate and stability. Besides, the relations between maximum margin criterion and Fisher criterion for feature extraction were revealed.

  3. Reducing Risky Sexual Behavior and Substance Use Among Currently and Formerly Homeless Adults Living With HIV

    PubMed Central

    Desmond, Katherine; Comulada, W. Scott; Arnold, Elizabeth Mayfield; Johnson, Mallory

    2009-01-01

    Objectives. We examined the efficacy of the Healthy Living Program in reducing risky sexual behavior and substance use among adults with HIV infection who were marginally housed (i.e., homeless at some point over a 37-month period). Methods. We had previously conducted a randomized controlled trial with 936 adults living with HIV infection. In that study, 3 intervention modules of 5 sessions each addressed different goals: reducing risky sexual acts and drug use, improving the quality of life, and adhering to healthful behaviors. Participants were interviewed at baseline and at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 months; 746 completed 4 or more assessments. In this study, we analyzed sexual behavior and drug use outcomes for the 35% (n = 270 of 767) of participants who were considered marginally housed. Results. Among the marginally housed participants, there were significantly greater reductions in unprotected risky sexual acts, the number of sexual partners of HIV negative or unknown serostatus, alcohol or marijuana use, and hard drug use among the intervention group than among the control group. Conclusions. Intensive, skill-focused intervention programs may improve the lives of marginally housed adults living with HIV infection. PMID:18799777

  4. Margins: a status report from the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons.

    PubMed

    Harness, Jay K; Giuliano, Armando E; Pockaj, Barbara A; Downs-Kelly, Erinn

    2014-10-01

    Since the emergence of breast conserving surgery (BCS) as an alternative to mastectomy in the 1980's, there has been little consensus on what constitutes acceptable margins for cases of invasive breast cancer, how best to evaluate margins in the operating room, or an understanding of the challenging process of margin assessment by pathologists. The program committee for the 15th Annual Meeting of The American Society of Breast Surgeons organized a plenary session to discuss the latest thinking and guidelines for these important issues. The SSO/ASTRO Consensus Guideline on Margins for BCS was an important focus of discussion. The SSO/ASTRO consensus panelists concluded that "no ink on tumor" is an adequate surgical margin for BCS in patients with invasive breast cancers. Intraoperative strategies to decrease the incidence of positive margins include intraoperative localization techniques (wire-localization, ultrasound, radioactive seed) and intraoperative margin assessments with specimen radiography, imprint cytology, and frozen section. Studies also demonstrate the positive effect of shave margins with or without intraoperative margin assessment. The College of American Pathologists protocols for breast specimen margin evaluation consider multiple variables that can impact the proper assessment of margins. These variables include: tissue fixation time, specimen orientation, cold ischemia time, leaking ink, specimen pancaking and others that surgeons need to be aware of. Determining when "enough is enough" should not only be the application of guidelines and national standards, but also a multidisciplinary discussion between breast cancer specialists for what is right for the individual patient's unique circumstances.

  5. Perceived marginalization and aggression: a longitudinal study with low-educated adolescents.

    PubMed

    Issmer, Christian; Wagner, Ulrich

    2015-03-01

    Social exclusion can evoke aggression. In the past two decades research has demonstrated this effect both for interpersonal and societal forms of exclusion. In addition, recent violent uprisings, like the London riots in August 2011, have been linked to social exclusion in the media. However, so far there is a lack of longitudinal studies which examine the aggression-enhancing effect of societal-level exclusion (i.e., marginalization) in disadvantaged groups. This research investigates the impact of perceived marginalization on aggression in a sample of N = 181 adolescents with a low educational background by means of a two-wave longitudinal study. The results of structural equation analyses are consistent with the hypothesis that perceived marginalization enhances aggression, and that this effect is mediated by the extent of negative societal meta-stereotypes. Furthermore, the reverse path from aggression to perceptions of marginalization is also significant. We discuss the implications of these findings and highlight practical consequences. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  6. Using Interdisciplinary Research Methods to Revise and Strengthen the NWS TsunamiReadyTM Community Recognition Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scott, C.; Gregg, C. E.; Ritchie, L.; Stephen, M.; Farnham, C.; Fraser, S. A.; Gill, D.; Horan, J.; Houghton, B. F.; Johnson, V.; Johnston, D.

    2013-12-01

    The National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) partnered with the National Weather Service (NWS) in early 2000 to create the TsunamiReadyTM Community Recognition program. TsunamiReadyTM, modeled after the older NWS StormReadyTM program, is designed to help cities, towns, counties, universities and other large sites in coastal areas reduce the potential for disastrous tsunami-related consequences. To achieve TsunamiReadyTM recognition, communities must meet certain criteria aimed at better preparing a community for tsunami, including specific actions within the following categories: communications and coordination, tsunami warning reception, local warning dissemination, community preparedness, and administration. Using multidisciplinary research methods and strategies from Public Health; Psychology; Political, Social and Physical Sciences and Evaluation, our research team is working directly with a purposive sample of community stakeholders in collaboration and feedback focus group sessions. Invitation to participate is based on a variety of factors including but not limited to an individual's role as a formal or informal community leader (e.g., in business, government, civic organizations), or their organization or agency affiliation to emergency management and response. Community organizing and qualitative research methods are being used to elicit discussion regarding TsunamiReadyTM requirements and the division of requirements based on some aspect of tsunami hazard, vulnerability and risk, such as proximity to active or passive plate margins or subduction zone generated tsunamis versus earthquake-landslide generated tsunamis . The primary aim of this research is to use social science to revise and refine the NWS TsunamiReadyTM Guidelines in an effort to better prepare communities to reduce risk to tsunamis.

  7. Product line development: a strategy for clinical success in academic centers.

    PubMed

    Turnipseed, William D; Lund, Dennis P; Sollenberger, Donna

    2007-10-01

    Academic medical centers, which have traditionally been relatively inefficient, have increasing difficulty in meeting the missions of patient care, teaching, and research in a progressively competitive medical marketplace. One strategy for improved efficiency in patient care while keeping quality high is utilization of a product line matrix. This study addresses the outcome of utilizing a product line strategy consisting of 3 service lines during the past 5 years at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC). Service lines in heart and vascular surgery, oncology, and pediatrics have been organized since 2001, and report directly to hospital leadership as a product line. Service line leadership consists of a combination of medical leaders plus representatives of hospital administration, and service lines are allowed direct access to resources for program development, marketing, and resource allocation. Measurements of patient numbers, market share, length of stay, net margin, and patient satisfaction have been gathered and compared with the preproduct line era. In the 3 service lines, UWHC has seen variable but steady growth in patient numbers, enhanced market share, positive net margins, and improved patient satisfaction during the period of measurement. During this same period, the insurance milieu has resulted in consistent downward pressure on reimbursement, which has been offset by improved patient care efficiency as measured by length of stay, enhanced preferred provider status, and gains in market share. Scorecard measures of quality are also being developed and show enhanced teaching and research opportunities for students and trainees as well as improved Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores. At UWHC, the development of a product line matrix consisting of 3 service lines has resulted in more patient care efficiency, enhanced patient satisfaction, improved margin for the hospital, and enlargement of teaching and research opportunities. The key to successful implementation of the product line concept is a close working relationship between the hospital administration and service line medical leadership.

  8. The strength of graduated drivers license programs and fatalities among teen drivers and passengers.

    PubMed

    Morrisey, Michael A; Grabowski, David C; Dee, Thomas S; Campbell, Christine

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of differentially stringent graduated drivers license programs on teen driver fatalities, day-time and night-time teen driver fatalities, fatalities of teen drivers with passengers present, and fatalities among teen passengers. The study uses 1992-2002 data on motor vehicle fatalities among 15-17-year-old drivers from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System to identify the effects of "good", "fair", and "marginal" GDL programs based upon designations by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Analysis is conducted using conditional negative binomial regressions with fixed effects. "Good" programs reduce total fatalities among young drivers by 19.4% (c.i. -33.0%, -5.9%). "Fair" programs reduce night-time young driver fatalities by 12.6% (c.i. -23.9%, -1.2%), but have no effect on day-time fatalities. "Marginal" programs had no statistically meaningful effect on driver fatalities. All three types of programs reduced teen passenger fatalities, but the effects of limitations on the number of passengers appear to have had only minimal effects in reducing fatalities among young drivers themselves. Stronger GDL programs are more effective than weaker programs in reducing teenage motor vehicle fatalities.

  9. [Radiological control intraoperatory of a surgical piece in non palpable breast lesions].

    PubMed

    Ruvalcaba Limón, Eva; Espejo Fonseca, Ruby; Bautista Piña, Verónica; Madero Preciado, Luis; Capurso Garcia, Marino; Serratos Garduño, José Eduardo; Hohenstein, Fernando Guisa; Rodríguez Cuevas, Sergio

    2009-09-01

    nonconcrete the mammary injuries are frequent in programs of detection of breast cancer, estereotaxic or ecographic marking is required to realize its split. The intrasurgical radiation control of the surgical piece is indispensable to evaluate the margins of the mammary cancer. to determine the effectiveness of the intrasurgical radiation control of the surgical piece in nonconcrete mammary injuries to diminish the surgical reinterventions to extend margins. women with nonconcrete mammary injuries to those who biopsy by split became, previous marking and intraoperating radiation control of the surgical piece to value margins (suitable margin the same or major of 10 mm, smaller inadequate margin of 10 mm). Intrasurgical reesicion in inadequate radiological margins became. The demographic characteristics, masto-ecographics images, histopathology of the injuries and the radiological-histopatol6gica correlation of the margins studied. Cross-sectional, prospective and descriptive study. 103 patients with 113 nonconcrete mammary injuries included themselves, with age average of 51,35 (32-73) years. In all the injuries the intrasurgical radiation control became of the surgical piece. The prevalence of mammary cancer was of 28.3% (32/113), that corresponds to stellar images (42.8%), suspicious microcalcifications with density (39.2%), microcalcifications (31.2%) and nodules (20%). Of the 32 cancers, 16 had inadequate radiological margins that required intraoperating reescision; suitable histopatologic margins in 100% were obtained (16/16). The 16 (62.5%) cancers without intraoperating reescisi6n by suitable radiological margins had suitable histopatologic margins and 37.5% (6/16) inadequate ones that required surgical reinterventionn to control the margins. The discrepancy between margins was related to microcalcifications in 83.3% of the injuries. the intrasurgical radiation control of the surgical piece is effective to evaluate margins; the intrasurgical reescisión changed inadequate margins to suitable in 50% (16/32) of the cancers; only 18.7% (6/32) of the total of cases required another surgery to control the margins.

  10. Retention of court-referred youths in residential treatment programs: client characteristics and treatment process effects.

    PubMed

    Orlando, Maria; Chan, Kitty S; Morral, Andrew R

    2003-05-01

    The juvenile justice system relies heavily on residential treatment services for adolescents. Because treatment dropout limits the likely effectiveness of these services, in this study we examine the client and program characteristics associated with program retention among a sample of adolescent probationers referred to residential rehabilitation by the Juvenile Court in Los Angeles. Participants in the present study (n = 291) are a subset of those in the Adolescent Outcomes Project, conducted within RAND's Drug Policy Research Center, to examine the outcomes of youths entering treatment at seven residential treatment programs. Three months after a preadmission interview, youths were asked about their perceptions of counselors at the program, other residents, and their feelings of safety in the program. In addition, they were asked whether they needed and had received various services (e.g., job training, legal advice, family counseling). Results of a multivariate survival analysis revealed that pretreatment characteristics including motivation and substance use severity, as well as treatment program factors including safety, and perceived over- and underprovision of services, contribute significantly to the prediction of retention. Pretreatment environmental risk factors and ratings of program counselor and resident support were marginally significant. These results imply that changes in adolescent residential program delivery may serve to increase retention rates, thus improving long-term outcomes.

  11. WE-AB-209-08: Novel Beam-Specific Adaptive Margins for Reducing Organ-At-Risk Doses

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tsang, H; Kamerling, CP; Ziegenhein, P

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: Current practice of using 3D margins in radiotherapy with high-energy photon beams provides larger-than-required target coverage. According to the photon depth-dose curve, target displacements in beam direction result in minute changes in dose delivered. We exploit this behavior by generating margins on a per-beam basis which simultaneously account for the relative distance of the target and adjacent organs-at-risk (OARs). Methods: For each beam, we consider only geometrical uncertainties of the target location perpendicular to beam direction. By weighting voxels based on its proximity to an OAR, we generate adaptive margins that yield similar overall target coverage probability and reducedmore » OAR dose-burden, at the expense of increased target volume. Three IMRT plans, using 3D margins and 2D per-beam margins with and without adaptation, were generated for five prostate patients with a prescription dose Dpres of 78Gy in 2Gy fractions using identical optimisation constraints. Systematic uncertainties of 1.1, 1.1, 1.5mm in the LR, SI, and AP directions, respectively, and 0.9, 1.1, 1.0mm for the random uncertainties, were assumed. A verification tool was employed to simulate the effects of systematic and random errors using a population size of 50,000. The fraction of the population that satisfies or violates a given DVH constraint was used for comparison. Results: We observe similar target coverage across all plans, with at least 97.5% of the population meeting the D98%>95%Dpres constraint. When looking at the probability of the population receiving D5<70Gy for the rectum, we observed median absolute increases of 23.61% (range, 2.15%–27.85%) and 6.97% (range, 0.65%–17.76%) using per-beam margins with and without adaptation, respectively, relative to using 3D margins. Conclusion: We observed sufficient and similar target coverage using per-beam margins. By adapting each per-beam margin away from an OAR, we can further reduce OAR dose without significantly lowering target coverage probability by irradiating more less-important tissues. This work is supported by Cancer Research UK under Programme C33589/A19908. Research at ICR is also supported by Cancer Research UK under Programme C33589/A19727 and NHS funding to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at RMH and ICR.« less

  12. Multidisciplinary scientific program of investigation of the structure and evolution of the Demerara marginal plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Loncke, Lies; Basile, Christophe; Roest, Walter; Graindorge, David; Mercier de Lépinay, Marion; Klinghelhoefer, Frauke; Heuret, Arnauld; Pattier, France; Tallobre, Cedric; Lebrun, Jean-Frédéric; Poetisi, Ewald; Loubrieu, Benoît; Iguanes, Dradem, Margats Scientific Parties, Plus

    2017-04-01

    Mercier de Lépinay et al. published in 2016 an updated inventory of transform passive margins in the world. This inventory shows that those margins represent 30% of continental passive margins and a cumulative length of 16% of non-convergent margins. It also highlights the fact that many submarine plateaus prolong transform continental margins, systematically at the junction of oceanic domains of different ages. In the world, we identified twenty of those continental submarine plateaus (Falklands, Voring, Demerara, Tasman, etc). Those marginal plateaus systematically experiment two phases of deformation: a first extensional phase and a second transform phase that allows the individualization of those submarine reliefs appearing on bathymetry as seaward continental-like salients. The understanding of the origin, nature, evolution of those marginal plateaus has many scientific and economic issues. The Demerara marginal plateau located off French Guiana and Surinam belongs to this category of submarine provinces. The French part of this plateau has been the locus of a first investigation in 2003 in the framework of the GUYAPLAC cruise dedicated to support French submissions about extension of the limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. This cruise was the starting point of a scientific program dedicated to geological investigations of the Demerara plateau that was sustained by different cruises and collaborations (1) IGUANES (2013) that completed the mapping of this plateau including off Surinam, allowed to better understand the segmentation of the Northern edge of this plateau, and to evidence the combined importance of contourite and mass-wasting processes in the recent sedimentary evolution of this domain, (2) Collaboration with TOTAL (Mercier de Lépinay's PhD thesis) that allowed to better qualify the two main phases of structural evolution of the plateau respectively during Jurassic times for its Western border, Cretaceous times for its Northern and Eastern border (2) DRADEM (2016) (see poster session) that better mapped the continental slope domain of the transform margin north of the Demerara plateau and was dedicated to the dredging of rocks outcropping on the continental slope, suspected to be Cretaceous in age and older, (3) MARGATS (2016) (see poster session) that was dedicated to the better understanding of the internal structure of the plateau and its different margins using multi-channels seismic and refraction methods. The combination of all those experiments allow us to paint an integrated portrait of the Demerara marginal plateau - that may be very useful in understanding the processes involved (1) in the individualization of such plateaus (volcanism, heritages, kinematics, …) (2) in their evolution (subsidence, mass-wasting processes, domains of deep-sea current acceleration). In the future, those scientific advances may allow to better define the natural resources associated with such marginal domains.

  13. Engineering Margin Factors Used in the Design of the VVER Fuel Cycles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lizorkin, M. P.; Shishkov, L. K.

    2017-12-01

    The article describes methods for determination of the engineering margin factors currently used to estimate the uncertainties of the VVER reactor design parameters calculated via the KASKAD software package developed at the National Research Center Kurchatov Institute. These margin factors ensure the meeting of the operating (design) limits and a number of other restrictions under normal operating conditions.

  14. The Deafening Silence: Discussing Children's Drawings for Understanding and Addressing Marginalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Angelides, Panayiotis; Michaelidou, Antonia

    2009-01-01

    Researchers who deal with inclusive education have made great efforts to listen to the voices of children in order to understand marginalization. Despite the fact that these efforts take place, the voices of many children fail to be heard and hence many children continue to be marginalized. In this article we will develop and implement a technique…

  15. Functional Performance of Pyrovalves

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bement, Laurence J.

    1996-01-01

    Following several flight and ground test failures of spacecraft systems using single-shot, 'normally closed' pyrotechnically actuated valves (pyrovalves), a government/industry cooperative program was initiated to assess the functional performance of five qualified designs. The goal of the program was to improve performance-based requirements for the procurement of pyrovalves. Specific objectives included the demonstration of performance test methods, the measurement of 'blowby' (the passage of gases from the pyrotechnic energy source around the activating piston into the valve's fluid path), and the quantification of functional margins for each design. Experiments were conducted in-house at NASA on several units each of the five valve designs. The test methods used for this program measured the forces and energies required to actuate the valves, as well as the energies and the pressures (where possible) delivered by the pyrotechnic sources. Functional performance ranged widely among the designs. Blowby cannot be prevented by o-ring seals; metal-to-metal seals were effective. Functional margin was determined by dividing the energy delivered by the pyrotechnic sources in excess to that required to accomplish the function by the energy required for that function. All but two designs had adequate functional margins with the pyrotechnic cartridges evaluated.

  16. Development of robotic program: an Asian experience.

    PubMed

    Sahabudin, R M; Arni, T; Ashani, N; Arumuga, K; Rajenthran, S; Murali, S; Patel, V; Hemal, A; Menon, M

    2006-06-01

    Robotic surgery was started in the Department of Urology, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, in April 2004. We present our experience in developing the program and report the results of our first 50 cases of robotic radical prostatectomy. A three-arm da Vinci robotic system was installed in our hospital in March 2004. Prior to installation, the surgeons underwent training at various centers in the United States and Paris. The operating theatre was renovated to house the system. Subsequently, the initial few cases were done with the help of proctors. Data were prospectively collected on all patients who underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy for localized carcinoma of the prostate. Fifty patients underwent robot assisted radical prostatectomy from March 2004 to June 2005. Their ages ranged from 52 to 75 years, (average age 60.2 years). PSA levels ranged from 2.5 to 35 ng/ml (mean 10.6 ng/ml). Prostate volume ranged from 18 to 130 cc (average 32.4 cc). Average operating time for the first 20 cases was 4 h and for the next 30 cases was 2.5 h. Patients were discharged 1-3 days post-operatively. Catheters were removed on the fifth day following a cystogram. The positive margin rate as defined by the presence of cancer cells at the inked margin was 30%. Twenty-one patients had T1c disease and one had T1b on clinical staging. Of these, two were apical margin positive. Twenty-six patients had T2 disease and eight of them were apical margin positive. Two patients had T3 disease, one of whom was apical margin positive. Five patients (10%) had PSA recurrence. Five patients had a poorly differentiated carcinoma and the rest had Gleason 6 or 7. Eighty percent of the patients were continent on follow-up at 3 months. Of those who were potent before the surgery, 50% were potent at 3-6 months. The robotic surgery program was successfully implemented at our center on the lines of a structured program, developed at Vattikuti Urology Institute (VUI). We succeeded in creating a team and safely implemented the robotic program in our system. Adequate funding and extensive training followed by a short term proctoring are essential for this implementation.

  17. The Effect of Water or Wax-based Binders on the Chemical and Morphological Characteristics of the Margin Ceramic-Framework Interface.

    PubMed

    Güler, Umut; de Queiroz, José Renato Cavalcanti; de Oliveira, Luiz Fernando Cappa; Canay, Senay; Ozcan, Mutlu

    2015-09-01

    This study evaluated the effect of binder choice in mixing ceramic powder on the chemical and morphological features between the margin ceramic-framework interfaces. Titanium and zirconia frameworks (15 x 5 x 0.5 mm3) were veneered with margin ceramics prepared with two different binders, namely a) water/conventional or b) wax-based. For each zirconia framework material, four different margin ceramics were used: a- Creation Zi (Creation Willi Geller International); b- GC Initial Zr (GC America); Triceram (Dentaurum); and d- IPS emax (voclar Vivadent). For the titanium framework, three different margin ceramics were used: a- Creation Ti (Creation Willi Geller International); b- Triceram (Dentaurum); and c- VITA Titaniumkeramik (Vita Zahnfabrik). The chemical composition of the framework-margin ceramic interface was analyzed using Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and porosity level was quantified within the margin ceramic using an image program (ImageJ) from four random areas (100 x 100 pixels) on each SEM image. EDS analysis showed the presence of Carbon at the margin ceramic-framework interface in the groups where wax-based binder technique was used with the concentration being the highest for the IPS emax ZirCAD group. While IPS system (IPS ZirCAD and IPS Emax) presented higher porosity concentration using wax binder, in the other groups wax-based binder reduced the porosity of margin ceramic, except for Titanium - Triceram combination.

  18. Introducing priority setting and resource allocation in home and community care programs.

    PubMed

    Urquhart, Bonnie; Mitton, Craig; Peacock, Stuart

    2008-01-01

    To use evidence from research to identify and implement priority setting and resource allocation that incorporates both ethical practices and economic principles. Program budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) is based on two key economic principles: opportunity cost (i.e. doing one thing instead of another) and the margin (i.e. resource allocation should result in maximum benefit for available resources). An ethical framework for priority setting and resource allocation known as Accountability for Reasonableness (A4R) focuses on making sure that resource allocations are based on a fair decision-making process. It includes the following four conditions: publicity; relevance; appeals; and enforcement. More recent literature on the topic suggests that a fifth condition, that of empowerment, should be added to the Framework. The 2007-08 operating budget for Home and Community Care, excluding the residential sector, was developed using PBMA and incorporating the A4R conditions. Recommendations developed using PBMA were forwarded to the Executive Committee, approved and implemented for the 2007-08 fiscal year operating budget. In addition there were two projects approved for approximately $200,000. PBMA is an improvement over previous practice. Managers of Home and Community Care are committed to using the process for the 2008-09 fiscal year operating budget and expanding its use to include mental health and addictions services. In addition, managers of public health prevention and promotion services are considering using the process.

  19. Preface - 'Biogeochemistry-ecosystem interaction on changing continental margins in the Anthropocene'

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, K.-K.; Emeis, Kay-Christian; Levin, Lisa A.; Naqvi, Wajih; Roman, Michael

    2015-01-01

    This special issue is a product of Workshop 1 of IMBIZO III held in Goa, India in January 2013 (Bundy et al., 2013). This IMBIZO (a Zulu word for gathering) has been organized by IMBER (Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research) biannually since 2008. It employs a format of three concurrent but interacting workshops designed to synthesize information on topical research areas in marine science. Workshop 1 addressed the issue, "Biogeochemistry-ecosystem interaction in changing continental margins," which belongs to the purview of the Continental Margins Working Group (CMWG), co-sponsored by IMBER and LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interaction in the Coastal Zone). As a way to explore the emerging issues that concern the CMWG, the workshop had attracted 25 talks and 18 posters that explored the following topics: Human impacts on continental margins

  20. Writing Khoisan: Harmonized Orthographies for Development of Under-Researched and Marginalized Languages--The Case of Cua, Kua, and Tsua Dialect Continuum of Botswana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chebanne, Andy

    2016-01-01

    Khoisan languages are spoken by various culturally diverse communities of Southern Africa. These languages also present an important linguistic diversity. Some of Khoisan languages communities are generally under-researched, marginalized and experiencing sustained sociolinguistic forces that threaten them. For those that have been documented,…

  1. Fish Marketing of Ribbon Fish (Trichiurus sp.) in Nusantara Fishing Port (NFP)at Palabuhanratu, West Java

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bambang, Azis Nur

    2018-02-01

    The objective of this research is to study the marketing process of ribbon fish (Trichiurus sp.), including the marketing margin, marketing agencies, traders and marketing channels The research was carried out for 3 mo in Nusantara Fishing Port (NFP), Palabuhanratu, Sukabumi, West Java. A case study was used in this research. A purposive sampling method was used to collect data from 55 respondents of fish marketing, consisting of fishermen, agents, traders, and retailers, who were involved in the marketing of ribbon fish in NFP Palabuhanratu. The result of the research showed that ribbon fish production in Palabuhanratu fluctuated from year to year. There are two types of ribbon fish marketing, i.e. type one is from fishermen to retailers, and type two is indirect marketing from fisherman to consumers through intermediate traders (exporters). The greatest marketing margin was obtained from the first type, while the smallest marketing margin was obtained from type two. The form of the market was considered to be oligopsony market. Fisherman's share is greatest in the collectors and the smallest share is on retailers. Marketing process in traders is efficient due to its lowest margin and highest fisherman's share.

  2. Launching Native Health Leaders: Students as Community–Campus Ambassadors

    PubMed Central

    Segrest, Valerie; James, Rosalina; Madrid, Teresa; Fernandes, Roger

    2010-01-01

    Background Ancient teaching styles such as storytelling can help Native students to navigate the educational pipeline, and become forces for shaping health and research landscapes. Many experience isolation on campuses where these worldviews are marginalized. Objective Launching Native Health Leaders (LNHL) reduces academic isolation by creating an environment where students identify with Native values while exposing them to health and research career opportunities and interdisciplinary professional and community networks. Student experiences and the LNHL mentoring approach are described through phases of the Hero’s Journey, a universal mythic story of human struggle and transformation. Methods Undergraduates were recruited to attend health and research conferences through college and university student service programs. Tribal community representatives led group discussions focused on tribal health issues, and students explored intersections of indigenous knowledge with community-based participatory research (CBPR) and their educational journeys. Results LNHL supported more than sixty students to attend eight professional conferences since 2006 that included themes of cancer control, tribal wellness, and indigenous knowledge systems for health. Students pursuing higher degrees and community service careers participated in conference sessions, small group discussions, and reflection activities with professional and tribal community mentors. Conclusion Mainstream academic systems must include indigenous voices at all levels of leadership to shift the direction of health trends. LNHL builds capacity for community-based efforts by balancing Indigenous and academic mentoring and empowering Native students to navigate their personal journeys and create pathways to serve the needs of Indigenous peoples. Students from other marginalized groups may benefit from an LNHL mentoring approach. PMID:20364081

  3. Reduction of earthquake risk in the united states: Bridging the gap between research and practice

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hays, W.W.

    1998-01-01

    Continuing efforts under the auspices of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program are under way to improve earthquake risk assessment and risk management in earthquake-prone regions of Alaska, California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, the New Madrid and Wabash Valley seismic zones in the central United States, the southeastern and northeastern United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and Hawaii. Geologists, geophysicists, seismologists, architects, engineers, urban planners, emergency managers, health care specialists, and policymakers are having to work at the margins of their disciplines to bridge the gap between research and practice and to provide a social, technical, administrative, political, legal, and economic basis for changing public policies and professional practices in communities where the earthquake risk is unacceptable. ?? 1998 IEEE.

  4. Adaptive Flight Control Research at NASA

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Motter, Mark A.

    2008-01-01

    A broad overview of current adaptive flight control research efforts at NASA is presented, as well as some more detailed discussion of selected specific approaches. The stated objective of the Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control Project, one of NASA s Aviation Safety programs, is to advance the state-of-the-art of adaptive controls as a design option to provide enhanced stability and maneuverability margins for safe landing in the presence of adverse conditions such as actuator or sensor failures. Under this project, a number of adaptive control approaches are being pursued, including neural networks and multiple models. Validation of all the adaptive control approaches will use not only traditional methods such as simulation, wind tunnel testing and manned flight tests, but will be augmented with recently developed capabilities in unmanned flight testing.

  5. Inclusion of Marginalized Boys: A Survey of a Summer School Using Positive Psychology Interventions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andersen, Frans Ørsted; Nissen, Poul; Poulsen, Line

    2016-01-01

    Marginalized boys at risk of dropping out of high school have for a long time been a problem in the Western world. 100 such Danish 14-16 year old boys were in the summers of 2013, 2014 and 2015 exposed to a new school program, "The Boys Academy," inspired by Seligman and the American KIPP schools suggesting seven character strengths to…

  6. The Social Cost of Trading: Measuring the Increased Damages from Sulfur Dioxide Trading in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henry, David D., III; Muller, Nicholas Z.; Mendelsohn, Robert O.

    2011-01-01

    The sulfur dioxide (SO[subscript 2]) cap and trade program established in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments is celebrated for reducing abatement costs ($0.7 to $2.1 billion per year) by allowing emissions allowances to be traded. Unfortunately, places with high marginal costs also tend to have high marginal damages. Ton-for-ton trading reduces…

  7. Empowering Equity in Postsecondary Transition for Marginalized Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Disabilities by Implementing a Culturally Responsive Summary of Performance Teacher Training and Support Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jez, Rebekka Joanne

    2011-01-01

    Marginalized culturally and linguistically diverse students with special needs often struggle after high school. Many special educators are unaware of legal mandates and best practice in postsecondary transition, especially the intricate needs when working this group. The culturally responsive Summary of Performance (CRSOP) training and support…

  8. Fallacies Leading to the Marginalization of Future CBRN Capabilities

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-05-23

    Leading to the Marginalization of Future CBRN Capabilities 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Tammy R...word monograph. At the time, this hurdle appeared daunting for this fearful soul . Through the support, guidance and faith of certain individuals the... Sampling and Identification of Biological, Chemical, and Radiological Agents SSE Sensitive Site Exploitation STANAG Standardization Agreement SUPCOM

  9. Geophysical Signatures of cold vents on the northern Cascadia margin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Riedel, M.; Paull, C. K.; Spence, G.; Hyndman, R. D.; Caress, D. W.; Thomas, H.; Lundsten, E.; Ussler, W.; Schwalenberg, K.

    2009-12-01

    The accretionary prism of the northern Cascadia margin is a classic gas hydrate research area. Ocean Drilling Program Leg 146 and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 311 documented that gas hydrate is widely distributed across the margin. In recent years an increased research focus has been on cold vents, where methane gas is actively released. Two recent expeditions funded by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) were conducted in the area of IODP Sites U1327 and U1328. An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was used to map the seafloor bathymetry followed by dives with the ROV Doc Ricketts for ground truth information of various seafloor morphological features identified. The two cruises revealed many new seafloor features indicative of methane venting that were previously unknown. Bullseye Vent (BV) has been extensively studied using seismic imaging, piston coring, heat-flow, controlled-source EM, and deep drilling. BV is seismically defined by a circular wipe-out zone but the new AUV data show that BV is rather an elongated depression. BV is associated with a shoaling in the BSR, but lacks evidence for the existence of an underlying fault in the previous data. Although a massive gas-hydrate plug was encountered within the top 40 mbsf in the IODP holes, the ROV observations only revealed some platy methane derived carbonate outcrops at the outer-most rim of the depressions, a few beds of Vesicomya clams, and no observed gas vents, which together do not indicate that BV is especially active now. Further northeast of BV, but along the same trend, active gas venting was found associated with seafloor blistering and bacterial mats suggesting that there is an underlying fault system providing a fluid flow conduit. The newly discovered vent area has few seismic line crossings; however the available seismic data surprisingly are not associated with wipe-out zones. Another prominent fault-related gas vent also was investigated during the two MBARI expeditions in 2009 (Spinnaker Vent, SV). Seismic profiles over SV show blanking and a slight uplift of the BSR that underlies the vent-area. The seafloor morphological expressions (trending over ~400 m) are similar to the elongated series of depressions seen at BV, but SV overall appears more active and younger due to the presence of widespread chemosynthetic communities, methane bubbling, massive outcrops of methane-derived carbonate as well as seafloor gas-hydrate bearing mounds. The seafloor features at SV all follow a fault trend that is clearly seen on the AUV bathymetry map, as also suggested by the earlier seismic data. Together the new MBARI expeditions and previous studies show that the area investigated on the N. Cascadia margin is dominated by fluid escape features. At least 12 cold vents (7 with bubble-plumes) are now identified within an area of ~10 km2 making a re-evaluation of the methane hydrate and associated underlying fluid-flow regimes an important focus of future studies.

  10. Highly integrated digital engine control system on an F-15 airplane

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burcham, F. W., Jr.; Haering, E. A., Jr.

    1984-01-01

    The Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control (HIDEC) program will demonstrate and evaluate the improvements in performance and mission effectiveness that result from integrated engine/airframe control systems. This system is being used on the F-15 airplane. An integrated flightpath management mode and an integrated adaptive engine stall margin mode are implemented into the system. The adaptive stall margin mode is a highly integrated mode in which the airplane flight conditions, the resulting inlet distortion, and the engine stall margin are continuously computed; the excess stall margin is used to uptrim the engine for more thrust. The integrated flightpath management mode optimizes the flightpath and throttle setting to reach a desired flight condition. The increase in thrust and the improvement in airplane performance is discussed.

  11. Utilizing community-based participatory research to adapt a mental health intervention for African American emerging adults.

    PubMed

    Mance, Gishawn A; Mendelson, Tamar; Byrd, Benjamin; Jones, Jahon; Tandon, Darius

    2010-01-01

    Adapting mental health interventions to heighten their cultural and contextual appropriateness may be critical for engaging ethnic/racial groups that have been traditionally excluded or marginalized. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a collaborative research approach that highlights unique strengths and expertise of those involved. Although intervention adaptations have garnered much attention there is little previous work specifically describing the adaptation process of mental health interventions using CBPR. This article summarizes the use of a CBPR approach to adapt a mental health intervention for urban adolescents and young adults disconnected from school and work, a population at elevated risk for poor mental health owing to the presence of numerous chronic stressors. We describe the process undertaken to modify the content and delivery format of an evidence-based intervention. Unique challenges of working with urban African American adolescents and young adults in a job training program are highlighted. By incorporating principles of co-learning and shared responsibility, this partnership was able to achieve positive outcomes. Our experience suggests that a CBPR approach can be used effectively to adapt a mental health intervention in collaboration with African American adolescents and emerging adults in a job training program.

  12. Deep structure of the Algerian margin offshore Great Kabylie: Preliminary results of an offshore-onshore seismic profile (SPIRAL campaign)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chafik, Aidi; Abd el Karim, Yelles; Marie-Odile, Beslier; Frauke, Klingelhoefer; Philippe, Schnurle; Rabah, Bracene; Hamou, Djellit; Audrey, Galve; Laure, Schenini; Françoise, Sage; Abdallah, Bounif Mohand ou; Philippe, Charvis

    2013-04-01

    In October-November 2009 the Algerian-French SPIRAL research program (Sismique Profonde et Investigation Régionale du Nord de l'ALgérie) was conducted onboard the R/V Atalante in order to understand the deep structure and tectonic history of the Algerian Margin using multichannel and wide-angle seismic data. An extensive dataset was acquired along five regional transects off Algeria, from Arzew Bay to the west, to Annaba to the east. The profiles range from 80 to 180 km long and around 40 ocean-bottom seismometers were deployed on each profile. All profiles were extended on land up to 125 km by land-stations to better constrain the structure of the margin and the nature of the ocean-continent transition zone. We present the preliminary results from modeling of deep and superficial structures in the central Algerian margin, more precisely in the region of the Great Kabylie where a N-S transect of combined wide-angle data using a set of 40 OBS (ocean bottom seismometer) and 24 on-land seismological stations and reflection seismic data was acquired. The profile with a total length of about 260 km (140 km offshore and approximately 124 km onshore), crosses from the north to south the Algeria-Provence Basin, the central Algerian Margin and onshore the geological unit of the Great Kabylie that represents the Kabylides block and the transitional zone between the internal zone (Kabylides) and the external zone in the central Algeria. The network (OBS and seismological stations), recorded 1031 low frequency air gun shots in order to ensure good penetration in the crust. Travel time tomography of first arrivals time of OBS data has yielded a preliminary model of P wave velocities along the profile. In the oceanic domain, a relatively thin crust of about 5 km thickness was imaged overlying a mantle characterized by seismic velocities of about 8 km/s, and covered by a thin sedimentary layer of about 2 km thickness. For the study of the sedimentary cover near the margin several MCS profiles were acquired in this region during the Spiral survey and previously by the Maradja cruise. This data sets allows to image reactivation of the Algerian Margin in this region.

  13. Are Food Insecurity’s Health Impacts Underestimated in the U.S. Population? Marginal Food Security Also Predicts Adverse Health Outcomes in Young U.S. Children and Mothers123

    PubMed Central

    Cook, John T.; Black, Maureen; Chilton, Mariana; Cutts, Diana; Ettinger de Cuba, Stephanie; Heeren, Timothy C.; Rose-Jacobs, Ruth; Sandel, Megan; Casey, Patrick H.; Coleman, Sharon; Weiss, Ingrid; Frank, Deborah A.

    2013-01-01

    This review addresses epidemiological, public health, and social policy implications of categorizing young children and their adult female caregivers in the United States as food secure when they live in households with “marginal food security,” as indicated by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. Existing literature shows that households in the US with marginal food security are more like food-insecure households than food-secure households. Similarities include socio-demographic characteristics, psychosocial profiles, and patterns of disease and health risk. Building on existing knowledge, we present new research on associations of marginal food security with health and developmental risks in young children (<48 mo) and health in their female caregivers. Marginal food security is positively associated with adverse health outcomes compared with food security, but the strength of the associations is weaker than that for food insecurity as usually defined in the US. Nonoverlapping CIs, when comparing odds of marginally food-secure children’s fair/poor health and developmental risk and caregivers’ depressive symptoms and fair/poor health with those in food-secure and -insecure families, indicate associations of marginal food security significantly and distinctly intermediate between those of food security and food insecurity. Evidence from reviewed research and the new research presented indicates that households with marginal food security should not be classified as food secure, as is the current practice, but should be reported in a separate discrete category. These findings highlight the potential underestimation of the prevalence of adverse health outcomes associated with exposure to lack of enough food for an active, healthy life in the US and indicate an even greater need for preventive action and policies to limit and reduce exposure among children and mothers. PMID:23319123

  14. Towards a More Meaningful Involvement of Librarians in Academic Program Reviews

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowker, Lynne

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: Using a descriptive case study approach, this paper aims to validate academic librarians' perceptions that they are marginalized by faculty during academic program reviews, and recommends ways for the two groups to collaborate more effectively to make program reviews more meaningful. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes a case…

  15. Indigenous Worldviews in Intercultural Education: Teachers' Construction of Interculturalism in a Bilingual Quechua-Spanish Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Valdiviezo, Laura Alicia

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines teachers' implementation of a bilingual intercultural education (BIE) program in Peru. This program is inspired by global policies that promote cultural pluralism and educational access to marginalized indigenous populations. Broadly addressed in policy in Andean countries, interculturalism in Peru has remained a core…

  16. Teacher Reform in Indonesia: Can Offshore Programs Create Lasting Pedagogical Shift?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allen, William; Hyde, Mervyn; Whannel, Robert; O'Neill, Maureen

    2018-01-01

    Regional and national interest in reforming teaching in Indonesia has seen governments, NGOs and education specialists combine to drive pedagogical changes among school teachers there. Results of these programs have been indifferent at best. This paper reports on teacher reform programs in Provinsi Papua, one of the most marginal societies in…

  17. Effect of Smaller Left Ventricular Capture Threshold Safety Margins to Improve Device Longevity in Recipients of Cardiac Resynchronization-Defibrillation Therapy.

    PubMed

    Steinhaus, Daniel A; Waks, Jonathan W; Collins, Robert; Kleckner, Karen; Kramer, Daniel B; Zimetbaum, Peter J

    2015-07-01

    Device longevity in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is affected by the pacing capture threshold (PCT) and programmed pacing amplitude of the left ventricular (LV) pacing lead. The aims of this study were to evaluate the stability of LV pacing thresholds in a nationwide sample of CRT defibrillator recipients and to determine potential longevity improvements associated with a decrease in the LV safety margin while maintaining effective delivery of CRT. CRT defibrillator patients in the Medtronic CareLink database were eligible for inclusion. LV PCT stability was evaluated using ≥2 measurements over a 14-day period. Separately, a random sample of 7,250 patients with programmed right atrial and right ventricular amplitudes ≤2.5 V, LV thresholds ≤ 2.5 V, and LV pacing ≥90% were evaluated to estimate theoretical battery longevity improvement using LV safety margins of 0.5 and 1.5 V. Threshold stability analysis in 43,256 patients demonstrated LV PCT stability of <0.5 V in 77% of patients and <1 V in 95%. Device longevity analysis showed that the use of a 0.5-V safety margin increased average battery longevity by 0.62 years (95% confidence interval 0.61 to 0.63) compared with a safety margin of 1.5 V. Patients with LV PCTs >1 V had the greatest increases in battery life (mean increase 0.86 years, 95% confidence interval 0.85 to 0.87). In conclusion, nearly all CRT defibrillator patients had LV PCT stability <1.0 V. Decreasing the LV safety margin from 1.5 to 0.5 V provided consistent delivery of CRT for most patients and significantly improved battery longevity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. The value and potential of multisited ethnography for science education research: a review of Jrène Rahm's Science in the Making at the Margin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beeman-Cadwallader, Nicole

    2012-03-01

    Rahm sought to illuminate how children and youth make meaning of science in three out-of-school time programs, and the identity work that is done through the trajectory of their youth toward their young adulthood. Through using multisited ethnography, she asserts that we can learn more about what the youth say about their science learning and science literacy development in these programs. She has revealed through her rich data the potential value of multisited ethnography for science education research. A similar theme of insider/outsider status to science emerged in each of the three sites. The nature of the data collected in Rahm's multisited ethnography allowed for the unveiling of the similarities in this theme, but also made evident the nuanced ways that this theme presented itself differently across the three sites. The additional potential came through in the varied data Rahm could have delved into and did not. A unique characteristic of ethnographic research, that is not necessarily present in other research methods, is that a wide array of varied data is collected. An analysis of documents, images, and observational field notes, which go beyond interview data, may provide deeper understandings previously untouched in science education.

  19. Social justice: hearing voices of marginalized girls expressed in theatre performance.

    PubMed

    Lind, Candace; Prinsloo, Ian; Wardle, Mary-Lynn; Pyrch, Timothy

    2010-01-01

    In this article we describe a research project studying the strengths of adolescent girls in an open custody treatment group home. Although the literature is replete with research about the deficits of girls in conflict with the law, their strengths are poorly understood and seldom researched. Understanding these girls' strengths fulfills a nursing mandate to foster social justice by challenging the status quo of the prevailing social order. A theatre performance of the research findings resulted in a profound audience impact. Arts-based research and participatory action research offer new ways of accessing marginalized populations' strengths and challenging harmful societal assumptions.

  20. Nanowire NMOS Logic Inverter Characterization.

    PubMed

    Hashim, Yasir

    2016-06-01

    This study is the first to demonstrate characteristics optimization of nanowire N-Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor (NW-MOS) logic inverter. Noise margins and inflection voltage of transfer characteristics are used as limiting factors in this optimization. A computer-based model used to produce static characteristics of NW-NMOS logic inverter. In this research two circuit configuration of NW-NMOS inverter was studied, in first NW-NMOS circuit, the noise margin for (low input-high output) condition was very low. For second NMOS circuit gives excellent noise margins, and results indicate that optimization depends on applied voltage to the inverter. Increasing gate to source voltage with (2/1) nanowires ratio results better noise margins. Increasing of applied DC load transistor voltage tends to increasing in decreasing noise margins; decreasing this voltage will improve noise margins significantly.

  1. FDI World Dental Federation - clinical criteria for the evaluation of direct and indirect restorations. Update and clinical examples.

    PubMed

    Hickel, Reinhard; Peschke, Arnd; Tyas, Martin; Mjör, Ivar; Bayne, Stephen; Peters, Mathilde; Hiller, Karl-Anton; Randall, Ross; Vanherle, Guido; Heintze, Siegward D

    2010-08-01

    In 2007, new clinical criteria were approved by the FDI World Dental Federation and simultaneously published in three dental journals. The criteria were categorized into three groups: esthetic parameters (four criteria), functional parameters (six criteria), and biological parameters (six criteria). Each criterion can be expressed with five scores, three for acceptable and two for non-acceptable (one for reparable and one for replacement). The criteria have been used in several clinical studies since 2007, and the resulting experience in their application has led to a requirement to modify some of the criteria and scores. The two major alterations involve staining and approximal contacts. As staining of the margins and the surface have different causes, both phenomena do not appear simultaneously. Thus, staining has been differentiated into marginal staining and surface staining. The approximal contact now appears under the name "approximal anatomic form" as the approximal contour is a specific, often non-esthetic issue that cannot be integrated into the criterion "esthetic anatomical form". In 2008, a web-based training and calibration tool called e-calib (www.e-calib.info) was made available. Clinical investigators and other research workers can train and calibrate themselves interactively by assessing clinical cases of posterior restorations, which are presented as high quality pictures. Currently, about 300 clinical cases are included in the database which is regularly updated. Training for 8 of the 16 clinical criteria is available in the program: "Surface luster"; "Staining (surface, margins)"; "Color match and translucency"; "Esthetic anatomical form"; "Fracture of material and retention"; "Marginal adaptation"; "Recurrence of caries, erosion, abfraction"; and "Tooth integrity (enamel cracks, tooth fractures)". Typical clinical cases are presented for each of these eight criteria and their corresponding five scores.

  2. Combustion Research aboard the ISS Utilizing the Combustion Integrated Rack and Microgravity Science Glovebox

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sutliff, T. J.; Otero, A. M.; Urban, D. L.

    2002-01-01

    The Physical Sciences Research Program of NASA has chartered a broad suite of peer-reviewed research investigating both fundamental combustion phenomena and applied combustion research topics. Fundamental research provides insights to develop accurate simulations of complex combustion processes and allows developers to improve the efficiency of combustion devices, to reduce the production of harmful emissions, and to reduce the incidence of accidental uncontrolled combustion (fires, explosions). The applied research benefit humans living and working in space through its fire safety program. The Combustion Science Discipline is implementing a structured flight research program utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) and two of its premier facilities, the Combustion Integrated Rack of the Fluids and Combustion Facility and the Microgravity Science Glovebox to conduct this space-based research. This paper reviews the current vision of Combustion Science research planned for International Space Station implementation from 2003 through 2012. A variety of research efforts in droplets and sprays, solid-fuels combustion, and gaseous combustion have been independently selected and critiqued through a series of peer-review processes. During this period, while both the ISS carrier and its research facilities are under development, the Combustion Science Discipline has synergistically combined research efforts into sub-topical areas. To conduct this research aboard ISS in the most cost effective and resource efficient manner, the sub-topic research areas are implemented via a multi-user hardware approach. This paper also summarizes the multi-user hardware approach and recaps the progress made in developing these research hardware systems. A balanced program content has been developed to maximize the production of fundamental and applied combustion research results within the current budgetary and ISS operational resource constraints. Decisions on utilizing the Combustion Integrated Rack and the Microgravity Science Glovebox are made based on facility capabilities and research requirements. To maximize research potential, additional research objectives are specified as desires a priori during the research design phase. These expanded research goals, which are designed to be achievable even with late addition of operational resources, allow additional research of a known, peer-endorsed scope to be conducted at marginal cost. Additional operational resources such as upmass, crewtime, data downlink bandwidth, and stowage volume may be presented by the ISS planners late in the research mission planning process. The Combustion Discipline has put in place plans to be prepared to take full advantage of such opportunities.

  3. Research on U.S. Military Women: Recruitment and Retention Challenges and Strategies.

    PubMed

    Braun, Lisa A; Kennedy, Holly P; Sadler, Lois S; Dixon, Jane

    2015-12-01

    To examine literature on recruitment and retention of military women in research studies as an underrepresented, and potentially marginalized, population. A literature search was conducted to examine challenges, identify potential barriers and facilitators, and to inform strategies for recruitment and retention of military women in research studies. This search was supplemented by findings in military-specific databases and discussions with Military Women's Health Research Interest Group subject matter experts. Ten articles addressed research recruitment and retention challenges and strategies in marginalized/underrepresented populations, providing an effective context to inform research recruitment and retention in military settings. Research with military women is often challenged by logistical, cultural, social, ethical, and methodological issues, which may hinder exploration of potentially sensitive issues. Researchers must consider military-specific challenges to conducting research that include lengthy deployments, unpredictable military exercises, and foreign assignments, in accessing research participants. A case example shows strategies used in a military cervical cancer screening study. There are few published articles specific to research recruitment and retention in female military populations. Available resources broadly address recruitment challenges for Veterans, marginalized, hard-to-access, and transient research participants, which may provide guidance and strategies for success when applied to military populations. Reprint & Copyright © 2015 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

  4. LiDAR Mapping of Earthquake Uplifted Paleo-shorelines, Southern Wairarapa Coast, North Island, New Zealand

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valenciano, J.; Angenent, J.; Marshall, J. S.; Clark, K.; Litchfield, N. J.

    2017-12-01

    The Hikurangi subduction margin along the east coast of the North Island, New Zealand accommodates oblique convergence of the Pacific Plate westward beneath the Australian plate at 45 mm/yr. Pronounced forearc uplift occurs at the southern end of the margin along the Wairarapa coast, onshore of the subducting Hikurangi plateau. Along a narrow coastal lowland, a series of uplifted Holocene marine terraces and beach ridges preserve a geologic record of prehistoric coseismic uplift events. In January 2017, we participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program of the NSF SHIRE Project (Subduction at Hikurangi Integrated Research Experiment). We visited multiple coastal sites for reconnaissance fieldwork to select locations for future in-depth study. For the coastline between Flat Point and Te Kaukau Point, we used airborne LiDAR data provided by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to create ArcGIS digital terrain models for mapping and correlating uplifted paleo-shorelines. Terrace elevations derived from the LiDAR data were calibrated through the use of Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS surveying at one field site (Glenburn Station). Prior field mapping and radiocarbon dating results (Berryman et al., 2001; Litchfield and Clark, 2015) were used to guide our LiDAR mapping efforts. The resultant maps show between four and seven uplifted terraces and associated beach ridges along this coastal segment. At some sites, terrace mapping and lateral correlation are impeded by discontinuous exposures and the presence of landslide debris, alluvial fan deposits, and sand dunes. Tectonic uplift along the southern Hikurangi margin is generated by a complex interaction between deep megathrust slip and shallow upper-plate faulting. Each uplifted Holocene paleo-shoreline is interpreted to represent a single coseismic uplift event. Continued mapping, surveying, and age dating may help differentiate between very large margin-wide megathrust earthquakes (M8.0-9.0+) and smaller, more localized upper-plate thrust events (M7.0-8.0). Both of these earthquake types pose a significant seismic and tsunami hazard for New Zealand residents.

  5. Baseband processor development for the Advanced Communications Satellite Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moat, D.; Sabourin, D.; Stilwell, J.; Mccallister, R.; Borota, M.

    1982-01-01

    An onboard-baseband-processor concept for a satellite-switched time-division-multiple-access (SS-TDMA) communication system was developed for NASA Lewis Research Center. The baseband processor routes and controls traffic on an individual message basis while providing significant advantages in improved link margins and system flexibility. Key technology developments required to prove the flight readiness of the baseband-processor design are being verified in a baseband-processor proof-of-concept model. These technology developments include serial MSK modems, Clos-type baseband routing switch, a single-chip CMOS maximum-likelihood convolutional decoder, and custom LSL implementation of high-speed, low-power ECL building blocks.

  6. Continental margin sedimentation: From sediment transport to sequence stratigraphy

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nittrouer, Charles A.; Austin, James A.; Field, Michael E.; Kravitz, Joseph H.; Syvitski, James P. M.; Wiberg, Patricia L.

    2007-01-01

    This volume on continental margin sedimentation brings together an expert editorial and contributor team to create a state-of-the-art resource. Taking a global perspective, the book spans a range of timescales and content, ranging from how oceans transport particles, to how thick rock sequences are formed on continental margins.- Summarizes and integrates our understanding of sedimentary processes and strata associated with fluvial dispersal systems on continental shelves and slopes- Explores timescales ranging from particle transport at one extreme, to deep burial at the other- Insights are presented for margins in general, and with focus on a tectonically active margin (northern California) and a passive margin (New Jersey), enabling detailed examination of the intricate relationships between a wide suite of sedimentary processes and their preserved stratigraphy- Includes observational studies which document the processes and strata found on particular margins, in addition to numerical models and laboratory experimentation, which provide a quantitative basis for extrapolation in time and space of insights about continental-margin sedimentation- Provides a research resource for scientists studying modern and ancient margins, and an educational text for advanced students in sedimentology and stratigraphy

  7. MIZEX. A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. II. A Science Plan for a Summer Marginal Ice Zone Experiment in the Fram Strait/Greenland Sea: 1984.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-05-01

    size and thickness characteris- tics. N’ore complete analysis will require combin- ing ice data with data obtained by the oceano - graphic... sol concentration and microwave brightness tem- perature. A long-range aircraft and a light aircraft Hying from Spitzbergen will study mesoscale

  8. The High Stability Engine Control (HISTEC) Program: Flight Demonstration Phase

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    DeLaat, John C.; Southwick, Robert D.; Gallops, George W.; Orme, John S.

    1998-01-01

    Future aircraft turbine engines, both commercial and military, must be able to accommodate expected increased levels of steady-state and dynamic engine-face distortion. The current approach of incorporating sufficient design stall margin to tolerate these increased levels of distortion would significantly reduce performance. The objective of the High Stability Engine Control (HISTEC) program is to design, develop, and flight-demonstrate an advanced, integrated engine control system that uses measurement-based estimates of distortion to enhance engine stability. The resulting distortion tolerant control reduces the required design stall margin, with a corresponding increase in performance and decrease in fuel burn. The HISTEC concept has been developed and was successfully flight demonstrated on the F-15 ACTIVE aircraft during the summer of 1997. The flight demonstration was planned and carried out in two phases, the first to show distortion estimation, and the second to show distortion accommodation. Post-flight analysis shows that the HISTEC technologies are able to successfully estimate and accommodate distortion, transiently setting the stall margin requirement on-line and in real-time. This allows the design stall margin requirement to be reduced, which in turn can be traded for significantly increased performance and/or decreased weight. Flight demonstration of the HISTEC technologies has significantly reduced the risk of transitioning the technology to tactical and commercial engines.

  9. A Review of Information for Managing Aging in Nuclear Power Plants

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    WC Morgan; JV Livingston

    1995-09-01

    Age related degradation effects in safety related systems of nuclear power plants should be managed to prevent safety margins from eroding below the acceptable limits provided in plant design bases. The Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Pro- gram, conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, and other related aging management programs are developing technical information on managing aging. The aging management process central to these efforts consists of three key elements: 1) selecting structures, systems, and components (SSCs) in which aging should be controlled; 2) understanding the mechanisms and rates ofmore » degradation in these SSCs; and 3) managing degradation through effective inspection, surveillance, condition monitoring, trending, record keeping, mainten- ance, refurbishment, replacement, and adjustments in the operating environment and service conditions. This document concisely reviews and integrates information developed under the NPAR Program and other aging management studies and other available information related to understanding and managing age-related degradation effects and provides specific refer- ences to more comprehensive information on the same subjects.« less

  10. Utilization of an agility assessment module in analysis and optimization of preliminary fighter configuration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ngan, Angelen; Biezad, Daniel

    1996-01-01

    A study has been conducted to develop and to analyze a FORTRAN computer code for performing agility analysis on fighter aircraft configurations. This program is one of the modules of the NASA Ames ACSYNT (AirCraft SYNThesis) design code. The background of the agility research in the aircraft industry and a survey of a few agility metrics are discussed. The methodology, techniques, and models developed for the code are presented. The validity of the existing code was evaluated by comparing with existing flight test data. A FORTRAN program was developed for a specific metric, PM (Pointing Margin), as part of the agility module. Example trade studies using the agility module along with ACSYNT were conducted using a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet aircraft model. Tile sensitivity of thrust loading, wing loading, and thrust vectoring on agility criteria were investigated. The module can compare the agility potential between different configurations and has capability to optimize agility performance in the preliminary design process. This research provides a new and useful design tool for analyzing fighter performance during air combat engagements in the preliminary design.

  11. Development of an agility assessment module for preliminary fighter design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ngan, Angelen; Bauer, Brent; Biezad, Daniel; Hahn, Andrew

    1996-01-01

    A FORTRAN computer program is presented to perform agility analysis on fighter aircraft configurations. This code is one of the modules of the NASA Ames ACSYNT (AirCraft SYNThesis) design code. The background of the agility research in the aircraft industry and a survey of a few agility metrics are discussed. The methodology, techniques, and models developed for the code are presented. FORTRAN programs were developed for two specific metrics, CCT (Combat Cycle Time) and PM (Pointing Margin), as part of the agility module. The validity of the code was evaluated by comparing with existing flight test data. Example trade studies using the agility module along with ACSYNT were conducted using Northrop F-20 Tigershark and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet aircraft models. The sensitivity of thrust loading and wing loading on agility criteria were investigated. The module can compare the agility potential between different configurations and has the capability to optimize agility performance in the preliminary design process. This research provides a new and useful design tool for analyzing fighter performance during air combat engagements.

  12. Terraced margins of inflated lava flows on Earth and Mars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zimbelman, J. R.; Garry, W. B.; Bleacher, J. E.; Crumpler, L. S.

    2011-12-01

    When fluid basaltic lava flows are emplaced over a shallow regional slope (typically much less than one degree), the lava flows often display impressive characteristics of inflation. Here we describe a distinctive marginal characteristic that is often developed along the margins of endogenously inflated basaltic lava flows; discreet topographic levels of the emplaced lava that are here termed 'terraced margins'. Terraced margins were first noted at the distal end of the Carrizozo lava flow in central New Mexico, where they are particularly well expressed, but terraces have also been observed along some margins of the McCartys lava flow (NM), the distal end of the 1859 Mauna Loa lava flow (HI), and lava flows at Craters of the Moon (ID). Differential Global Positioning System surveys across several terraced margins reveal consistent topographic characteristics: the upper surface of each terrace level is at roughly one half the height of the sheet lobe from which it emerges; when a terrace becomes the source of an additional outbreak, the upper surface of the second terrace is at roughly one half the height of the source terrace; often a subtle topographic depression is present along the contact between a terrace and its source sheet lobe, suggesting that the terrace outflow starts at a level roughly one-third the height of the source lobe; the upper surfaces of both the source sheet lobe and associated terraces are level to within tens of centimeters across length scales of many tens to hundreds of meters, indicative of inflation of all components. The field observations will be used as the constraints for modeling of the inflation and terracing mechanisms, an effort that has only recently started. The multiple imaging data sets now available for Mars have revealed the presence of terraced margins on some lava flows on Mars. Although detailed topographic data are not currently available for the Martian examples identified so far, the presence of terraced margins for lava flows on both Earth and Mars indicates that the terracing mechanism is intimately associated with the lava flow inflation process. This work was supported by grants from the Planetary Geology and Geophysics program of NASA (NNX09AD88G) and the Scholarly Studies program of the Smithsonian Institution.

  13. Advancing Understanding of Earthquakes by Drilling an Eroding Convergent Margin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    von Huene, R.; Vannucchi, P.; Ranero, C. R.

    2010-12-01

    A program of IODP with great societal relevance is sampling and instrumenting the seismogenic zone. The zone generates great earthquakes that trigger tsunamis, and submarine slides thereby endangering coastal communities containing over sixty percent of the earth’s population. To asses and mitigate this endangerment it is urgent to advance understanding of fault dynamics that allows more timely anticipation of hazardous seismicity. Seismogenesis on accreting and eroding convergent plate boundaries apparently differ because of dissimilar materials along the interplate fault. As the history of instrumentally recorded earthquakes expands the difference becomes clearer. The more homogeneous clay, silt and sand subducted at accreting margins is associated with great earthquakes (M 9) whereas the fragmented upper plate rock that can dominate subducted material along an eroding margin plate interface is associated with many tsunamigenic earthquakes (Bilek, 2010). Few areas have been identified where the seismogenic zone can be reached with scientific drilling. In IODP accreting margins are studied on the NanTroSeize drill transect off Japan where the ultimate drilling of the seismogenic interface may occur by the end of IODP. The eroding Costa Rica margin will be studied in CRISP where a drill program will begin in 2011. The Costa Rican geophysical site survey will be complete with acquisition and processing of 3D seismic data in 2011 but the entire drilling will not be accomplished in IODP. It is appropriate that the accreting margin study be accomplished soon considering the indications of a pending great earthquake that will affect a country that has devoted enormous resources to IODP. However, understanding the erosional end-member is scientifically as important to an understanding of fault mechanics. Transoceanic tsunamis affect the entire Pacific rim where most subduction zones are eroding margins. The Costa Rican subduction zone is less complex operationally and perhaps geologically than the Nankai margin. The developing Central American countries do not have the resources to contribute to IODP but this should not deter acquiring the scientific insights proposed in CRISP considering the broader scientific benefits. Such benefits include the first sampling and instrumentation of an actively eroding plate interface and drilling near or into an earthquake asperity. Drilling an eroding margin should significantly advance understanding of subduction zone fault mechanisms and help improve assessment of future hazardous earthquakes and tsunamis.

  14. "People don't understand what goes on in here": A consensual qualitative research analysis of inmate-caregiver perspectives on prison-based end-of-life care.

    PubMed

    Depner, Rachel M; Grant, Pei C; Byrwa, David J; Breier, Jennifer M; Lodi-Smith, Jennifer; Luczkiewicz, Debra L; Kerr, Christopher W

    2018-05-01

    The age demographic of the incarcerated is quickly shifting from young to old. Correctional facilities are responsible for navigating inmate access to healthcare; currently, there is no standardization for access to end-of-life care. There is growing research support for prison-based end-of-life care programs that incorporate inmate peer caregivers as a way to meet the needs of the elderly and dying who are incarcerated. This project aims to (a) describe a prison-based end-of-life program utilizing inmate peer caregivers, (b) identify inmate-caregiver motivations for participation, and (c) analyze the role of building trust and meaningful relationships within the correctional end-of-life care setting. A total of 22 semi-structured interviews were conducted with inmate-caregivers. Data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology. All inmate-caregivers currently participating in the end-of-life peer care program at Briarcliff Correctional Facility were given the opportunity to participate. All participants were male, over the age of 18, and also incarcerated at Briarcliff Correctional Facility, a maximum security, state-level correctional facility. In total, five over-arching and distinct domains emerged; this manuscript focuses on the following three: (a) program description, (b) motivation, and (c) connections with others. Findings suggest that inmate-caregivers believe they provide a unique and necessary adaptation to prison-based end-of-life care resulting in multilevel benefits. These additional perceived benefits go beyond a marginalized group gaining access to patient-centered end-of-life care and include potential inmate-caregiver rehabilitation, correctional medical staff feeling supported, and correctional facilities meeting end-of-life care mandates. Additional research is imperative to work toward greater standardization of and access to end-of-life care for the incarcerated.

  15. Tobacco control recommendations identified by LGBT Atlantans in a community-based participatory research project.

    PubMed

    Bryant, Lawrence; Damarin, Amanda K; Marshall, Zack

    2014-01-01

    Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are increasingly aware that disproportionately high smoking rates severely impact the health of their communities. Motivated to make a change, a group of LGBT community members, policymakers, and researchers from Atlanta carried out a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project. This formative research study sought to identify recommendations for culturally relevant smoking prevention and cessation interventions that could improve the health of Atlanta's LGBT communities. Data presented here come from four focus groups with 36 participants and a community meeting with 30 participants. Among study participants, the most favored interventions were providing LGBT-specific cessation programs, raising awareness about LGBT smoking rates, and getting community venues to go smoke-free. Participants also suggested providing reduced-cost cessation products for low-income individuals, using LGBT "role models" to promote cessation, and ensuring that interventions reach all parts of the community. Findings reinforce insights from community-based research with other marginalized groups. Similarities include the importance of tailoring cessation programs for specific communities, the need to acknowledge differences within communities, and the significance of community spaces in shaping discussions of cessation. Further, this study highlights the need for heightened awareness. The Atlanta LGBT community is largely unaware that high smoking rates affect its health, and is unlikely to take collective action to address this problem until it is understood.

  16. Development of the Canadian Marginalization Index: a new tool for the study of inequality.

    PubMed

    Matheson, Flora I; Dunn, James R; Smith, Katherine L W; Moineddin, Rahim; Glazier, Richard H

    2012-04-30

    Area-based measures of socio-economic status are increasingly used in population health research. Based on previous research and theory, the Canadian Marginalization Index (CAN-Marg) was created to reflect four dimensions of marginalization: residential instability, material deprivation, dependency and ethnic concentration. The objective of this paper was threefold: to describe CAN-Marg; to illustrate its stability across geographic area and time; and to describe its association with health and behavioural problems. CAN-Marg was created at the dissemination area (DA) and census tract level for census years 2001 and 2006, using factor analysis. Descriptions of 18 health and behavioural problems were selected using individual-level data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 3.1 and 2007/08. CAN-Marg quintiles created at the DA level (2006) were assigned to individual CCHS records. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was conducted to examine associations between marginalization and CCHS health and behavioural problems. The index demonstrated marked stability across time and geographic area. Each of the four dimensions showed strong and significant associations with the selected health and behavioural problems, and these associations differed depending on which of the dimensions of marginalization was examined. CAN-Marg is a census-based, empirically derived and theoretically informed tool designed to reflect a broader conceptualization of Canadian marginalization.

  17. Imagining and Moving beyond the ESL Bubble: Facilitating Communities of Practice through the ELL Ambassadors Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Przymus, Steve Daniel

    2016-01-01

    When educators do not facilitate English language learners' (ELLs) social integration in schools, this can perpetuate ELLs' marginalized status and the plateauing of ELLs' English language development. This study highlights a program for secondary ELLs called the ELL Ambassadors program, which partnered ELLs with non-ELLs based on shared…

  18. Girls' Education and Discursive Spaces for Empowerment: Perspectives from Rural India

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shah, Payal P.

    2011-01-01

    This article examines a national girls' education program and its role in addressing gender inequality in the Indian state of Gujarat. In 2004, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, enacted the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyala (KGBV) program. As a national program designed to increase educational access for the most marginalized girls, the…

  19. Classrooms of Spatial Justice: Counter-Spaces and Young Men of Color in a GED Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwartz, Joni

    2014-01-01

    This article, based on an ethnographic study of an urban General Education Development (GED) program, suggests that for some marginalized young men of color, Adult education programs are counter-spaces of spatial justice in opposition to previous negative school spaces. Framed by critical race theory (CRT) and drawing on critical geography and…

  20. A Comparison of Large-Scale Reforestation Techniques Commonly Used on Abandoned Fields in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Vally

    Treesearch

    Callie Jo Schweitzer; John A. Stanturf

    1999-01-01

    Reforesting abandoned land in the lower Mississippi alluvial valley has attracted heightened attention. Currently, federal cost share programs, such as the Wetland Reserve Program and the Conservation Reserve Program, are enticing landowners to consider reforesting lands that are marginally productive for agriculture. This study examined four reforestation techniques...

  1. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Unwin, Stephen D.; Lowry, Peter P.; Layton, Robert F.

    This is a working report drafted under the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, describing statistical models of passives component reliabilities.

  2. System Guidelines for EMC Safety-Critical Circuits: Design, Selection, and Margin Demonstration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lawton, R. M.

    1996-01-01

    Demonstration of required safety margins on critical electrical/electronic circuits in large complex systems has become an implementation and cost problem. These margins are the difference between the activation level of the circuit and the electrical noise on the circuit in the actual operating environment. This document discusses the origin of the requirement and gives a detailed process flow for the identification of the system electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) critical circuit list. The process flow discusses the roles of engineering disciplines such as systems engineering, safety, and EMC. Design and analysis guidelines are provided to assist the designer in assuring the system design has a high probability of meeting the margin requirements. Examples of approaches used on actual programs (Skylab and Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster) are provided to show how variations of the approach can be used successfully.

  3. Researcher Linguistic Vulnerability: A Note on Methodological Implications.

    PubMed

    Muller, Ashley Elizabeth; Gubrium, Erika

    2016-01-01

    We reflect on the experiences of a researcher conducting a pilot exercise project with marginalized research participants within the substance use disorder treatment field, in a language that was nonnative to her. While the project collected and analyzed quantitative data, the researcher was motivated by qualitative inquiry's commitment to reducing participant-researcher distance and power differences. Despite multiple sources of power imbalances favoring the researcher, the ability of participants to speak their native language to a nonnative researcher, and the researcher's active recognition of her linguistic vulnerability, appeared to afford them an unexpected source of power within the context of the project. We discuss the researcher's observations of these power dynamics and their implications for cross-cultural research and when working with marginalized research participants. © The Author(s) 2015.

  4. The Cost of Increasing Physical Activity and Maintaining Weight for Mid-Life Sedentary African American Women

    PubMed Central

    Johnson, Tricia; Schoeny, Michael; Fogg, Louis; Wilbur, JoEllen

    2015-01-01

    Objective To evaluate the marginal costs of increasing physical activity and maintaining weight for a lifestyle physical activity program targeting sedentary African American women. Methods Outcomes included change in minutes of total moderate to vigorous physical activity, leisure time moderate to vigorous physical activity and walking per week, and weight stability between baseline and maintenance at 48 weeks. Marginal cost effectiveness ratios (MCERs) were calculated for each outcome, and 95% confidence intervals were computed using a bootstrap method. The analysis was from the societal perspective and calculated in 2013 US dollars. Results For the 260 participants in the analysis, program costs were $165 ± 19, and participant costs were $164 ± 35, for a total cost of $329 ± 49. The MCER for change in walking was $1.50/min/wk (95% CI: 1.28, 1.87), $1.73/min/wk (95% CI: 1.41, 2.18) for change in moderate to vigorous physical activity, and $1.94/min/wk (95% CI: 1.58, 2.40) for leisure-time moderate to vigorous physical activity. The MCER for weight stability was $412 (95% CI: 399, 456). Discussion The Women's Lifestyle Physical Activity Program is a relatively low cost strategy for increasing physical activity. The marginal cost of increasing physical activity is lower than for weight stability. The participant costs related to time in the program were nearly half of the total costs, suggesting that practitioners and policy-makers should consider the participant cost when disseminating a lifestyle physical activity program into practice. PMID:26797232

  5. Research Participation as Work: Comparing the Perspectives of Researchers and Economically Marginalized Populations

    PubMed Central

    Page, Kimberly

    2012-01-01

    We examined the historical and regulatory framework of research with human participants in the United States, and described some possible unintended consequences of this framework in the context of paying young injection drug users for their time participating in behavioral and medical research. We drew upon our own experiences while conducting a long-running epidemiological study of hepatitis C virus infection. We found that existing ethical and regulatory framings of research participation may lead to injustices from the perspectives of research participants. We propose considering research participation as a specialized form of work and the use of community advisory boards to facilitate discussion about appropriate compensation for research participation among economically marginalized populations. PMID:22594754

  6. "I Think It's Very Much Placed on Us": Black Queer Men Laboring to Forge Community at a Predominantly White and (Hetero) Cisnormative Research Institution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blockett, Reginald A.

    2017-01-01

    The sociopolitical conditions in which Black queer college men exist in often marginalize them from fully participating in and engaging with the entire campus community. Some researchers suggest that Black queer men (BQM) create counterspaces on-campus to contend with their marginalization as racial, gender, and sexual minorities. This study…

  7. Margin-maximizing feature elimination methods for linear and nonlinear kernel-based discriminant functions.

    PubMed

    Aksu, Yaman; Miller, David J; Kesidis, George; Yang, Qing X

    2010-05-01

    Feature selection for classification in high-dimensional spaces can improve generalization, reduce classifier complexity, and identify important, discriminating feature "markers." For support vector machine (SVM) classification, a widely used technique is recursive feature elimination (RFE). We demonstrate that RFE is not consistent with margin maximization, central to the SVM learning approach. We thus propose explicit margin-based feature elimination (MFE) for SVMs and demonstrate both improved margin and improved generalization, compared with RFE. Moreover, for the case of a nonlinear kernel, we show that RFE assumes that the squared weight vector 2-norm is strictly decreasing as features are eliminated. We demonstrate this is not true for the Gaussian kernel and, consequently, RFE may give poor results in this case. MFE for nonlinear kernels gives better margin and generalization. We also present an extension which achieves further margin gains, by optimizing only two degrees of freedom--the hyperplane's intercept and its squared 2-norm--with the weight vector orientation fixed. We finally introduce an extension that allows margin slackness. We compare against several alternatives, including RFE and a linear programming method that embeds feature selection within the classifier design. On high-dimensional gene microarray data sets, University of California at Irvine (UCI) repository data sets, and Alzheimer's disease brain image data, MFE methods give promising results.

  8. Wide versus narrow excision margins for high-risk, primary cutaneous melanomas: long-term follow-up of survival in a randomised trial.

    PubMed

    Hayes, Andrew J; Maynard, Lauren; Coombes, Gillian; Newton-Bishop, Julia; Timmons, Michael; Cook, Martin; Theaker, Jeffrey; Bliss, Judith M; Thomas, J Meirion

    2016-02-01

    The necessary margin of excision for cutaneous melanomas greater than 2 mm in thickness is controversial. At a median follow-up of 5 years, findings from our previously published randomised trial of narrow (1 cm) versus wide (3 cm) excision margins in patients with thick cutaneous melanomas showed that narrow margins were associated with an increased frequency of locoregional relapse, but no significant difference in overall survival was apparent. We now report a long-term survival analysis of that trial. We did a randomised, open-label multicentre trial in 59 hospitals--57 in the UK, one in Poland, and one in South Africa. Patients with one primary localised cutaneous melanoma greater than 2 mm in Breslow thickness on the trunk or limbs (excluding palms or soles) were randomly assigned (1:1) centrally to receive surgery with either a 1 cm or 3 cm excision margin following an initial surgery. The randomisation lists were generated with random permuted blocks and stratified by centre and extent of initial surgery. The endpoints of this analysis were overall survival and melanoma-specific survival. Analyses were done in the intention-to-treat population. This trial was not registered because it predated mandatory trial registration. Between Dec 16, 1992, and May 22, 2001, we randomly assigned 900 patients to surgery with either a 1 cm excision margin (n=453) or a 3 cm excision margin (n=447). At a median follow-up of 8·8 years (106 months [IQR 76-135], 494 patients had died, with 359 of these deaths attributed to melanoma. 194 deaths were attributed to melanoma in the 1 cm group compared with 165 in the 3 cm group (unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1·24 [95% CI 1·01-1·53]; p=0·041). Although a higher number of deaths overall occurred in the 1 cm group compared with the 3 cm group (253 vs 241), the difference was not significant (unadjusted HR 1·14 [95% CI 0·96-1·36]; p=0·14). Surgical complications were reported in 35 (8%) patients in the 1 cm excision margin group and 65 (15%) patients in the 3 cm group. Our findings suggest that a 1 cm excision margin is inadequate for cutaneous melanoma with Breslow thickness greater than 2 mm on the trunk and limbs. Current guidelines advise a 2 cm margin for melanomas greater than 2 mm in thickness but only a 1 cm margin for thinner melanomas. The adequacy of a 1 cm margin for thinner melanomas with poor prognostic features should be addressed in future randomised studies. Cancer Research UK, North Thames National Health Service Executive, Northern and Yorkshire National Health Service Executive, British United Provident Association Foundation, British Association of Plastic Surgeons, the Meirion Thomas Cancer Research Fund, and the National Institute for Health and Research Biomedical Research Centre at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Copyright © 2016 Hayes et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  9. The Pilot Lunar Geologic Mapping Project: Summary Results and Recommendations from the Copernicus Quadrangle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Skinner, J. A., Jr.; Gaddis, L. R.; Hagerty, J. J.

    2010-01-01

    The first systematic lunar geologic maps were completed at 1:1M scale for the lunar near side during the 1960s using telescopic and Lunar Orbiter (LO) photographs [1-3]. The program under which these maps were completed established precedents for map base, scale, projection, and boundaries in order to avoid widely discrepant products. A variety of geologic maps were subsequently produced for various purposes, including 1:5M scale global maps [4-9] and large scale maps of high scientific interest (including the Apollo landing sites) [10]. Since that time, lunar science has benefitted from an abundance of surface information, including high resolution images and diverse compositional data sets, which have yielded a host of topical planetary investigations. The existing suite of lunar geologic maps and topical studies provide exceptional context in which to unravel the geologic history of the Moon. However, there has been no systematic approach to lunar geologic mapping since the flight of post-Apollo scientific orbiters. Geologic maps provide a spatial and temporal framework wherein observations can be reliably benchmarked and compared. As such, a lack of a systematic mapping program means that modern (post- Apollo) data sets, their scientific ramifications, and the lunar scientists who investigate these data, are all marginalized in regard to geologic mapping. Marginalization weakens the overall understanding of the geologic evolution of the Moon and unnecessarily partitions lunar research. To bridge these deficiencies, we began a pilot geologic mapping project in 2005 as a means to assess the interest, relevance, and technical methods required for a renewed lunar geologic mapping program [11]. Herein, we provide a summary of the pilot geologic mapping project, which focused on the geologic materials and stratigraphic relationships within the Copernicus quadrangle (0-30degN, 0-45degW).

  10. A home for body and soul: Substance using women in recovery

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background We report on an in-depth qualitative study of 28 active and former substance addicted women of low or marginal income on the core components of a harm reduction-based addiction recovery program. These women volunteered to be interviewed about their perceptions of their therapeutic needs in their transition from substance addiction to recovery. Method Data were gathered about women’s experiences and essential needs in addiction recovery, what helped and what hindered their past efforts in recovery, and their views of what would constitute an effective woman-centred recovery program. The research was based upon the experience and knowledge of the women in interaction with their communities and with recovery programs. The study was informed by harm reduction practice principles that emphasize the importance of individual experience in knowledge construction, reduction of harm, low threshold access, and the development of a hierarchy of needs in regard to addiction recovery. Results Three core needs were identified by study participants: normalization and structure, biopsychosocial-spiritual safety, and social connection. What hindered recovery efforts as identified by participants was an inner urban location, prescriptive recovery, invidious treatment, lack of safety, distress-derived distraction, problem-focused treatment, coercive elements of mutual support groups, and social marginalization. What helped included connection in counselling and therapy, multidisciplinary service provision, spirituality focus, opportunities for learning and work, and a safe and flexible structure. Core components of an effective recovery program identified by women themselves stand in contrast to the views of service providers and policymakers, particularly in regard to the need for a rural location for residential programs, low threshold access, multidisciplinary service provision of conventional and complementary modalities and therapies for integrated healing, long-term multi-phase recovery, and variety and choice of programming. Conclusion A key barrier to the addiction recovery of women is the present framework of addiction treatment, as well as current drug laws, policies and service delivery systems. The expectation of women is that harm reduction-based recovery services will facilitate safe, supportive transitioning from the point of the decision to access services, through independent living with community integration. PMID:24359089

  11. A home for body and soul: substance using women in recovery.

    PubMed

    Kruk, Edward; Sandberg, Kathryn

    2013-12-20

    We report on an in-depth qualitative study of 28 active and former substance addicted women of low or marginal income on the core components of a harm reduction-based addiction recovery program. These women volunteered to be interviewed about their perceptions of their therapeutic needs in their transition from substance addiction to recovery. Data were gathered about women's experiences and essential needs in addiction recovery, what helped and what hindered their past efforts in recovery, and their views of what would constitute an effective woman-centred recovery program. The research was based upon the experience and knowledge of the women in interaction with their communities and with recovery programs. The study was informed by harm reduction practice principles that emphasize the importance of individual experience in knowledge construction, reduction of harm, low threshold access, and the development of a hierarchy of needs in regard to addiction recovery. Three core needs were identified by study participants: normalization and structure, biopsychosocial-spiritual safety, and social connection. What hindered recovery efforts as identified by participants was an inner urban location, prescriptive recovery, invidious treatment, lack of safety, distress-derived distraction, problem-focused treatment, coercive elements of mutual support groups, and social marginalization. What helped included connection in counselling and therapy, multidisciplinary service provision, spirituality focus, opportunities for learning and work, and a safe and flexible structure. Core components of an effective recovery program identified by women themselves stand in contrast to the views of service providers and policymakers, particularly in regard to the need for a rural location for residential programs, low threshold access, multidisciplinary service provision of conventional and complementary modalities and therapies for integrated healing, long-term multi-phase recovery, and variety and choice of programming. A key barrier to the addiction recovery of women is the present framework of addiction treatment, as well as current drug laws, policies and service delivery systems. The expectation of women is that harm reduction-based recovery services will facilitate safe, supportive transitioning from the point of the decision to access services, through independent living with community integration.

  12. Mindfulness for Novice Pediatric Nurses: Smartphone Application Versus Traditional Intervention.

    PubMed

    Morrison Wylde, Chelsey; Mahrer, Nicole E; Meyer, Rika M L; Gold, Jeffrey I

    The current study compares the effects of a traditionally delivered mindfulness (TDM) intervention to a smartphone delivered mindfulness (SDM) intervention, Headspace, an audio-guided mindfulness meditation program, in a group of novice nurses. Novice nurses participating in a pediatric nurse residency program were asked to participate in either a TDM or SDM intervention. Participants (N=95) completed self-administered pencil and paper questionnaires measuring mindfulness skills, and risk and protective factors at the start of their residency and three months after entering the program. Nurses in the SDM group reported significantly more "acting with awareness" and marginally more "non-reactivity to inner experience" skills compared to the TDM group. The smartphone intervention group also showed marginally more compassion satisfaction and marginally less burnout. Additionally, nurses in the SDM group had lower risk for compassion fatigue compared to the TDM group, but only when the nurses had sub-clinical posttraumatic symptoms at the start of the residency training program. Smartphone delivered mindfulness interventions may provide more benefits for novice nurses than traditionally delivered mindfulness interventions. However, the smart-phone intervention may be better indicated for nurses without existing symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Mindfulness interventions delivered through smartphone applications show promise in equipping nurses with important coping skills to manage stress. Because of the accessibility of smartphone applications, more nurses can benefit from the intervention as compared to a therapist delivered intervention. However, nurses with existing stress symptoms may require alternate interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. The Gulf War on Computer: A Review of "Iraq Stack."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rattan, Dick

    1993-01-01

    Reviews a HyperCard stack designed for use in schools and at home. Describes the program as primarily a database of information on Iraq, Kuwait, and the Gulf War. Contends that the program is pedagogically weak and of marginal use in the classroom. (CFR)

  14. Integrating Communication and Skills Training.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bean, Robert

    1994-01-01

    Discusses the need for effective basic language, literacy, numeracy and other communication skills to support all workforce development programs. The general cultural bias towards these programs has marginalized them and is reflected in policy, curriculum and practice. Adjustments are needed in the approaches to the new climate of workplace…

  15. The marginal fit of E.max Press and E.max CAD lithium disilicate restorations: A critical review.

    PubMed

    Mounajjed, Radek; M Layton, Danielle; Azar, Basel

    2016-12-01

    This critical review aimed to assess the vertical marginal gap that was present when E.max lithium disilicate-based restoration (Press and CAD) are fabricated in-vitro. Published articles reporting vertical marginal gap measurements of in-vitro restorations that had been fabricated from E.Max lithium disilicate were sought with an electronic search of MEDLINE (PubMed) and hand search of selected dental journals. The outcomes were reviewed qualitatively. The majority of studies that compared the marginal fit of E.max press and E.max CAD restorations, found that the E.max lithium disilicate restorations fabricated with the press technique had significantly smaller marginal gaps than those fabricated with CAD technique. This research indicates that E.max lithium disilicate restorations fabricated with the press technique have measurably smaller marginal gaps when compared with those fabricated with CAD techniques within in-vitro environments. The marginal gaps achieved by the restorations across all groups were within a clinically acceptable range.

  16. Monitoring and Assessment of Tree Establishment in the Wetland Reserve Program in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Plain

    Treesearch

    Callie Jo Schweitzer

    2004-01-01

    Reforestation of marginally productive agricultural fields has been aided by cost-share programs, including the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Mississippi was chosen as a pilot State charged with implementing WRP in 1992. Reforestation efforts were emphasized under WRP. The...

  17. Wisconsin Elementary Teacher Education Project. Volume VI, Feasibility Study: Pricing and Economic Analysis Study. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisconsin Univ., Madison.

    This document is the second volume of the feasibility study report for the Wisconsin Elementary Teacher Education Project. It provides in part 1 data on program, planning and budgeting, including cost figures for preparing students in the present and new programs, marginal expenses, and costs for implementing the program on other campuses. Part 2…

  18. Farm systems assessment of bioenergy feedstock production: Integrating bio-economic models and life cycle analysis approaches

    PubMed Central

    Glithero, N.J.; Ramsden, S.J.; Wilson, P.

    2012-01-01

    Climate change and energy security concerns have driven the development of policies that encourage bioenergy production. Meeting EU targets for the consumption of transport fuels from bioenergy by 2020 will require a large increase in the production of bioenergy feedstock. Initially an increase in ‘first generation’ biofuels was observed, however ‘food competition’ concerns have generated interest in second generation biofuels (SGBs). These SGBs can be produced from co-products (e.g. cereal straw) or energy crops (e.g. miscanthus), with the former largely negating food competition concerns. In order to assess the sustainability of feedstock supply for SGBs, the financial, environmental and energy costs and benefits of the farm system must be quantified. Previous research has captured financial costs and benefits through linear programming (LP) approaches, whilst environmental and energy metrics have been largely been undertaken within life cycle analysis (LCA) frameworks. Assessing aspects of the financial, environmental and energy sustainability of supplying co-product second generation biofuel (CPSGB) feedstocks at the farm level requires a framework that permits the trade-offs between these objectives to be quantified and understood. The development of a modelling framework for Managing Energy and Emissions Trade-Offs in Agriculture (MEETA Model) that combines bio-economic process modelling and LCA is presented together with input data parameters obtained from literature and industry sources. The MEETA model quantifies arable farm inputs and outputs in terms of financial, energy and emissions results. The model explicitly captures fertiliser: crop-yield relationships, plus the incorporation of straw or removal for sale, with associated nutrient impacts of incorporation/removal on the following crop in the rotation. Key results of crop-mix, machinery use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kg of crop product and energy use per hectare are in line with previous research and industry survey findings. Results show that the gross margin – energy trade-off is £36 GJ−1, representing the gross margin forgone by maximising net farm energy cf. maximising farm gross margin. The gross margin–GHG emission trade-off is £0.15 kg−1 CO2 eq, representing the gross margin forgone per kg of CO2 eq reduced when GHG emissions are minimised cf. maximising farm gross margin. The energy–GHG emission trade-off is 0.03 GJ kg−1 CO2 eq quantifying the reduction in net energy from the farm system per kg of CO2 eq reduced when minimising GHG emissions cf. maximising net farm energy. When both farm gross margin and net farm energy are maximised all the cereal straw is baled for sale. Sensitivity analysis of the model in relation to different prices of cereal straw shows that it becomes financially optimal to incorporate wheat straw at price of £11 t−1 for this co-product. Local market conditions for straw and farmer attitudes towards incorporation or sale of straw will impact on the straw price at which farmers will supply this potential bioenergy feedstock and represent important areas for future research. PMID:25540473

  19. Investigation and evaluation of shuttle/GPS navigation system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nilsen, P. W.

    1977-01-01

    Iterative procedures were used to analyze the performance of two preliminary shuttle/GPS navigation system configurations: an early OFT experimental system and a more sophisticated system which consolidates several separate navigation functions thus permitting net cost savings from decreased shuttle avionics weight and power consumption, and from reduced ground data processing. The GPS system can provide on-orbit navigation accuracy an order of magnitude better than the baseline system, with very adequate link margins. The worst-case link margin is 4.3 dB. This link margin accounts for shuttle RF circuit losses which were minimized under the constraints of program schedule and environmental limitations. Implicit in the link analyses are the location trade-offs for preamplifiers and antennas.

  20. A Longitudinal View of the Relationship Between Social Marginalization and Obesity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Apolloni, Andrea; Marathe, Achla; Pan, Zhengzheng

    We use 3 Waves of the Add Health data collected between 1994 and 2002 to conduct a longitudinal study of the relationship between social marginalization and the weight status of adolescents and young adults. Past studies have shown that overweight and obese children are socially marginalized. This research tests (1) if this is true when we account for the sample size of each group, (2) does this phenomenon hold over time and (3) is it obesity or social marginalization that precedes in time. Our results show that when the sample size for each group is considered, the share of friendship is conforming to the size of the group. This conformity seems to increase over time as the population becomes more obese. Finally, we find that obesity precedes social marginalization which lends credence to the notion that obesity causes social marginalization and not vice versa.

  1. The effect of participatory community communication on HIV preventive behaviors among ethnic minority youth in central Vietnam

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background In Vietnam, socially marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities in mountainous areas are often difficult to engage in HIV research and prevention programs. This intervention study aimed to estimate the effect of participatory community communication (PCC) on changing HIV preventive ideation and behavior among ethnic minority youth in a rural district from central Vietnam. Methods In a cross-sectional survey after the PCC intervention, using a structured questionnaire, 800 ethnic minority youth were approached for face-to-face interviews. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique was then utilized to match these participants into two groups-intervention and control-for estimating the effect of the PCC. Results HIV preventive knowledge and ideation tended to increase as the level of recall changed accordingly. The campaign had a significant indirect effect on condom use through its effect on ideation or perceptions. When intervention and control group statistically equivalently reached in terms of individual and social characteristics by PSM, proportions of displaying HIV preventive knowledge, ideation and condom use were significantly higher in intervention group than in matched control counterparts, accounting for net differences of 7.4%, 12.7% and 5%, respectively, and can be translated into the number of 210; 361 and 142 ethnic minority youth in the population. Conclusions The study informs public health implications both theoretically and practically to guide effective HIV control programs for marginalized communities in resources-constrained settings like rural Vietnam and similar contexts of developing countries. PMID:22401660

  2. How school climate relates to chronic absence: A multi-level latent profile analysis.

    PubMed

    Van Eck, Kathryn; Johnson, Stacy R; Bettencourt, Amie; Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom

    2017-04-01

    Chronic absence is a significant problem in schools. School climate may play an important role in influencing chronic absence rates among schools, yet little research has evaluated how school climate constructs relate to chronic absence. Using multilevel latent profile analysis, we evaluated how profiles of student perceptions of school climate at both the student and school level differentiated school-level rates of chronic absence. Participants included 25,776 middle and high school students from 106 schools who completed a district administered school climate survey. Students attended schools in a large urban school district where 89% of 6th through 12th grade students were African-American and 61% were eligible for the federally subsidized school meals program. Three student-level profiles of perceptions of school climate emerged that corresponded to "positive," "moderate," and "negative" climate. Two predominant patterns regarding the distribution of these profiles within schools emerged that corresponded to the two school-level profiles of "marginal climate" and "climate challenged" schools. Students reporting "moderate" and "negative" climate in their schools were more likely to attend schools with higher chronic absence rates than students reporting that their school had "positive" climate. Likewise, "climate challenged" schools had significantly higher chronic absence rates than "marginal climate" schools. These results suggest that school climate shares an important relation with chronic absence among adolescent students attending urban schools. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Reconstructing marginality: a new model of cultural diversity in nursing.

    PubMed

    Southwick, Margaret; Polaschek, Nick

    2014-05-01

    This article presents a new model of cultural diversity in nursing that critically reconstructs the concept of marginality that underpins other models. Rather than viewing the marginal as "other," marginality is redefined as the space in between the dominant cultural reality and the cultural realities of minority groups located within a society. Members of a minority cultural group who become skilled in the difficult process of negotiating this in-between space open the possibility of transformation within nursing education and practice. This model has been applied in a study of the experience of nursing students of Pacific ethnicity in New Zealand. Subsequently, an undergraduate Pacific nursing program was developed, with greatly increased success rates in registration of Pacific nurses. This model of cultural diversity can also be used to understand nursing practice involving people from minority cultures or other socially excluded categories. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

  4. [Trends of cancer mortality rates in children and adolescents by level of marginalization in Mexico (1990-2009)].

    PubMed

    Escamilla-Santiago, Ricardo Antonio; Narro-Robles, José; Fajardo-Gutiérrez, Arturo; Rascón-Pacheco, Ramón Alberto; López-Cervantes, Malaquías

    2012-01-01

    To determine childhood and adolescent cancer mortality by the level of marginalization in Mexico. We used 1990-2009 death certificates estimating age-standardized rates. We calculated the Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) using the Joinpoint Regression program available at the National Cancer Institute to assess tendency. Cancer mortality rates increased. AAPC were 0.87% male and 0.96% female children, and for adolescents were: males 1.22% and females 0.63%. The neoplasm pattern in infants was leukemia -central nervous system- lymphomas; and in adolescents it was leukemia -bone and articulation- lymphomas. The increase in cancer mortality corresponded to the high and highest marginated areas of each state. The increase in highly marginated areas may be partly explained by well-documented local registration of deaths. Further studies focusing on survival are required in order to better assess the effectiveness of cancer detection and medical treatment in our country.

  5. Linking academic and clinical missions: UC Davis' integrated AHC.

    PubMed

    Pomeroy, Claire; Rice, Ann; McGowan, William; Osburn, Nathan

    2008-09-01

    Academic health centers (AHCs) rely on cross-subsidization of education and research programs by the clinical enterprise, but this is becoming more challenging as clinical reimbursements decline. These new realities provide an important opportunity to reevaluate the relationships between medical schools and academic medical centers. The authors examine the benefits of their ongoing commitment to create a fully integrated AHC at the University of California (UC) Davis, discussing strategies that serve as catalysts for continued growth. They explore how investments of proceeds from the clinical enterprise directly enhance educational and research initiatives, which, in turn, increase the success of patient-care programs. This has created a cycle of excellence that leads to an enhanced reputation for the entire health system. One strategy involves using clinical margins to "prime the pump" in anticipation of major research initiatives, resulting in rapid increases in external research funding and academic recognition. In turn, this facilitates recruitment of high-quality faculty and staff, improving the ability to deliver expert clinical care. The overall enhanced institutional reputation positions both the clinical and academic programs for further success. The authors posit that such approaches require executive-level commitment to a single strategic vision, unified leadership, and collaborative financial and operational decision making. Adopting such changes is not without challenges, which are discussed, but the authors suggest that an integrated AHC fosters optimized operations, enhanced reputation, and stronger performance across all mission areas. They also provide examples of how the UC Davis Health System has thus attracted philanthropists and investments from the private sector.

  6. Learning to Thrive: Building Diverse Scientists’ Access to Community and Resources through the BRAINS Program

    PubMed Central

    Margherio, Cara; Horner-Devine, M. Claire; Mizumori, Sheri J. Y.; Yen, Joyce W.

    2016-01-01

    BRAINS: Broadening the Representation of Academic Investigators in NeuroScience is a National Institutes of Health–funded, national program that addresses challenges to the persistence of diverse early-career neuroscientists. In doing so, BRAINS aims to advance diversity in neuroscience by increasing career advancement and retention of post-PhD, early-career neuroscientists from underrepresented groups (URGs). The comprehensive professional development program is structured to catalyze conversations specific to URGs in neuroscience and explicitly addresses factors known to impact persistence such as a weak sense of belonging to the scientific community, isolation and solo status, inequitable access to resources that impact career success, and marginalization from informal networks and mentoring relationships. While we do not yet have data on the long-term impact of the BRAINS program on participants’ career trajectory and persistence, we introduce the BRAINS program theory and report early quantitative and qualitative data on shorter-term individual impacts within the realms of career-advancing behaviors and career experiences. These early results suggest promising, positive career productivity, increased self-efficacy, stronger sense of belonging, and new perspectives on navigating careers for BRAINS participants. We finish by discussing recommendations for future professional development programs and research designed to broaden participation in the biomedical and life sciences. PMID:27587858

  7. Patient selection and volume in the era surrounding implementation of Medicare conditions of participation for transplant programs.

    PubMed

    White, Sarah L; Zinsser, Dawn M; Paul, Matthew; Levine, Gregory N; Shearon, Tempie; Ashby, Valarie B; Magee, John C; Li, Yi; Leichtman, Alan B

    2015-04-01

    To evaluate evidence of practice changes affecting kidney transplant program volumes, and donor, recipient and candidate selection in the era surrounding the introduction of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) conditions of participation (CoPs) for organ transplant programs. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients; CMS ESRD and Medicare claims databases. Retrospective analysis of national registry data. A Cox proportional hazards model of 1-year graft survival was used to derive risks associated with deceased-donor kidney transplants performed from 2001 to 2010. Among programs with ongoing noncompliance with the CoPs, kidney transplant volumes declined by 38 percent (n = 766) from 2006 to 2011, including a 55 percent drop in expanded criteria donor transplants. Volume increased by 6 percent (n = 638) among programs remaining in compliance. Aggregate risk of 1-year graft failure increased over time due to increasing recipient age and obesity, and longer ESRD duration. Although trends in aggregate risk of 1-year kidney graft loss do not indicate that the introduction of the CoPs has systematically reduced opportunities for marginal candidates or that there has been a systematic shift away from utilization of higher risk deceased donor kidneys, total volume and expanded criteria donor utilization decreased overall among programs with ongoing noncompliance. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  8. Impact of a New York City Supportive Housing Program on Housing Stability and Preventable Health Care among Homeless Families.

    PubMed

    Lim, Sungwoo; Singh, Tejinder P; Hall, Gerod; Walters, Sarah; Gould, L Hannah

    2018-03-12

    To assess the impact of a New York City supportive housing program on housing stability and preventable emergency department (ED) visits/hospitalizations among heads of homeless families with mental and physical health conditions or substance use disorders. Multiple administrative data from New York City and New York State for 966 heads of families eligible for the program during 2007-12. We captured housing events and health care service utilization during 2 years prior to the first program eligibility date (baseline) and 2 years postbaseline. We performed sequence analysis to measure housing stability and compared housing stability and preventable ED visits and hospitalizations between program participants (treatment group) and eligible applicants not placed in the program (comparison group) via marginal structural modeling. We matched electronically collected data. Eighty-seven percent of supportive housing tenants experienced housing stability in 2 years postbaseline. Compared with unstably housed heads of families in the comparison group, those in the treatment group were 0.60 times as likely to make preventable ED visits postbaseline (95% CI = 0.38, 0.96). Supportive housing placement was associated with improved housing stability and reduced preventable health care visits among homeless families. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  9. L-O-S-T: Logging Optimization Selection Technique

    Treesearch

    Jerry L. Koger; Dennis B. Webster

    1984-01-01

    L-O-S-T is a FORTRAN computer program developed to systematically quantify, analyze, and improve user selected harvesting methods. Harvesting times and costs are computed for road construction, landing construction, system move between landings, skidding, and trucking. A linear programming formulation utilizing the relationships among marginal analysis, isoquants, and...

  10. Communicating with "Neglected" Farmers on Regulatory Programs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

    Workshop recommendations resulting from an Animal and Plant Health Service (APHS) Seminar on ways of reaching "neglected" farmers and enlisting their support for the APHS regulatory programs are provided. The "neglected" farmer is identified as those low-income/minority group marginal farmers who cannot be reached by ordinary means, e.g., poor…

  11. INTEGRATED CARBON CREDIT PROGRAMS: A BIOFUELS PROGRAM IN MADAGASCAR THAT LINKS THE ENERGY, LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION SECTORS

    EPA Science Inventory

    We used rapid rural appraisal (RRA) techniques to gather information about these communities’ natural environment, histories, social dynamics and previous development interventions. Our resear...

  12. Equity and Access: Strengthening College Gateway Programs with Credentials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parks, Rodney; Parrish, Jesse; Holmes, Melissa

    2017-01-01

    As postsecondary credentials become even more essential to bridge education programs and career pathways, it is critical to reevaluate expectations regarding the transition from high school to college. More specifically, it must be determined how best to support students in marginalized populations that historically have been less likely to attend…

  13. Reintegrating Family Therapy Training in Psychiatric Residency Programs: Making the Case

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rait, Douglas; Glick, Ira

    2008-01-01

    Objective: Given the marginalization of couples and family therapy in psychiatric residency programs over the past two decades, the authors propose a rationale for the reintegration of these important psychosocial treatments into the mainstream of general psychiatric residency education. Methods: After reviewing recent trends in the field that…

  14. Evaluating TRIO Programs: A Case Study of Upward Bound Directors and Staff

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carr, Yolanda Regina

    2013-01-01

    For over four decades, Upward Bound programs have influenced students' aspirations and goals toward attending college, college enrollment, and overall educational achievement, providing a standard for successful college preparation for historically marginalized students. Although Upward Bound has helped many Americans prepare for and earn their…

  15. Assessing Students in the Margin: Challenges, Strategies, and Techniques

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russell, Michael; Kavanaugh, Maureen

    2011-01-01

    The importance of student assessment, particularly for summative purposes, has increased greatly over the past thirty years. At the same time, emphasis on including all students in assessment programs has also increased. Assessment programs, whether they are large-scale, district-based, or teacher developed, have traditionally attempted to assess…

  16. Spatial Strategy Use during Logo Mastery: The Impact of Cognitive Style and Development Level.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Easton, Charles E.; Watson, J. Allen

    1993-01-01

    Tested the Watson and Busch model of how children learn LOGO programing. Investigated second- and fifth-grade students' stage of cognitive development, stylistic preferences, and strategy usage. Field-independent children showed a marginal advantage over field-dependent children in learning to program in LOGO. (MM)

  17. High School Equivalency as Counter-Space

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwartz, Joni

    2014-01-01

    This chapter is based on the findings of an ethnographic study of an urban General Education Development (GED®) program and suggests that, for some marginalized African American and other young men of color, adult education programs are counter-spaces (Yosso, Ceja, Smith, & Solorzano, [Yosso, T., 2009]) of spatial justice in opposition to…

  18. Academic Support Services Programs in Higher Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharma, Shiva C.

    Programs providing academic support services in colleges and universities and the evaluation of these services are reviewed. Attention is also directed to the need for opportunities in higher education for students with marginal high school academic records, and responses to the need by institutions of higher education. It is suggested that there…

  19. IODP workshop: developing scientific drilling proposals for the Argentina Passive Volcanic Continental Margin (APVCM) - basin evolution, deep biosphere, hydrates, sediment dynamics and ocean evolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flood, Roger D.; Violante, Roberto A.; Gorgas, Thomas; Schwarz, Ernesto; Grützner, Jens; Uenzelmann-Neben, Gabriele; Hernández-Molina, F. Javier; Biddle, Jennifer; St-Onge, Guillaume; Workshop Participants, Apvcm

    2017-05-01

    The Argentine margin contains important sedimentological, paleontological and chemical records of regional and local tectonic evolution, sea level, climate evolution and ocean circulation since the opening of the South Atlantic in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous as well as the present-day results of post-depositional chemical and biological alteration. Despite its important location, which underlies the exchange of southern- and northern-sourced water masses, the Argentine margin has not been investigated in detail using scientific drilling techniques, perhaps because the margin has the reputation of being erosional. However, a number of papers published since 2009 have reported new high-resolution and/or multichannel seismic surveys, often combined with multi-beam bathymetric data, which show the common occurrence of layered sediments and prominent sediment drifts on the Argentine and adjacent Uruguayan margins. There has also been significant progress in studying the climatic records in surficial and near-surface sediments recovered in sediment cores from the Argentine margin. Encouraged by these recent results, our 3.5-day IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) workshop in Buenos Aires (8-11 September 2015) focused on opportunities for scientific drilling on the Atlantic margin of Argentina, which lies beneath a key portion of the global ocean conveyor belt of thermohaline circulation. Significant opportunities exist to study the tectonic evolution, paleoceanography and stratigraphy, sedimentology, and biosphere and geochemistry of this margin.

  20. How the powerful decide: access to research participation by those at the margins.

    PubMed

    McDonald, Katherine E; Keys, Christopher B

    2008-09-01

    How do those in power decide to include and exclude those at the margins from community life? We used simulated review of research vignettes to examine how researchers and members of Institutional Review Boards make decisions concerning the research participation of adults with and without intellectual disabilities. Results indicate that decision-makers are influenced by the disability status of the sample, characteristics of the research in which they are engaged, and their attitudes toward the research participation of adults with intellectual disabilities as well as their own relationship to the research process. For example, decision-makers may create situations that limit the self-determination of adults with intellectual disabilities and adults without disabilities within the research context, particularly when the research poses some risk of harm to participants. Implications for theory, action and research are explored.

  1. Relationship of Automobile Characteristics to List Prices and Profit Margins -- A Preliminary Analysis

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1978-08-01

    The report describes research on potential impacts of fuel economy regulations on the U.S. automobile industry. The study focused on the possible effects of auto "down-sizing" on manufacture profit margins. Historical price data were used to estimate...

  2. Widening the aim of health promotion to include the most disadvantaged: vulnerable adolescents and the social determinants of health.

    PubMed

    Mohajer, Nicole; Earnest, Jaya

    2010-06-01

    Growing numbers of adolescents are marginalized by social factors beyond their control, leading to poor health outcomes for their families and future generations. Although the role of the social determinants of health has been recognized for many years, there is a gap in our knowledge about the strategies needed to address these factors in health promotion. Drawing on a review of literature on health promotion for marginalized and out-of-school adolescents, this paper highlights some urgent areas of focus for researchers and policy makers addressing adolescent health. Social determinants of health affecting marginalized adolescents identified by the review were education, gender, identity, homelessness, poverty, family structure, culture, religion and perceived racism, yet there is little solid evidence as to how to best address these factors. More systematic research, evaluation and global debate about long-term solutions to chronic poverty, lack of education and social marginalization are needed to break the cycle of ill health among vulnerable adolescents.

  3. Forward Skirt Structural Testing on the Space Launch System (SLS) Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lohrer, J. D.; Wright, R. D.

    2016-01-01

    Structural testing was performed to evaluate heritage forward skirts from the Space Shuttle program for use on the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) program. Testing was needed because SLS ascent loads are 35% higher than Space Shuttle loads. Objectives of testing were to determine margins of safety, demonstrate reliability, and validate analytical models. Testing combined with analysis was able to show heritage forward skirts were acceptable to use on the SLS program.

  4. Comparison of Variance-to-Mean Ratio Methods for Reparables Inventory Management

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-03-01

    for Recoverable Items in the ALS [Advanced Logistics System] Marginal Analysis Algorithms”. Marginal analysis is a microeconomics technique used...in the Demands Workbook . The quantitative expected backorder and aircraft availability percentage result. Each of the 30 simulations is run five...10A, B-2A, C-17A and F-15E aircraft. The data was selected from D200A’s Ddb04 tables and flying hour programs respectively. The two workbook (OIM

  5. The performance of different propensity score methods for estimating marginal hazard ratios.

    PubMed

    Austin, Peter C

    2013-07-20

    Propensity score methods are increasingly being used to reduce or minimize the effects of confounding when estimating the effects of treatments, exposures, or interventions when using observational or non-randomized data. Under the assumption of no unmeasured confounders, previous research has shown that propensity score methods allow for unbiased estimation of linear treatment effects (e.g., differences in means or proportions). However, in biomedical research, time-to-event outcomes occur frequently. There is a paucity of research into the performance of different propensity score methods for estimating the effect of treatment on time-to-event outcomes. Furthermore, propensity score methods allow for the estimation of marginal or population-average treatment effects. We conducted an extensive series of Monte Carlo simulations to examine the performance of propensity score matching (1:1 greedy nearest-neighbor matching within propensity score calipers), stratification on the propensity score, inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using the propensity score, and covariate adjustment using the propensity score to estimate marginal hazard ratios. We found that both propensity score matching and IPTW using the propensity score allow for the estimation of marginal hazard ratios with minimal bias. Of these two approaches, IPTW using the propensity score resulted in estimates with lower mean squared error when estimating the effect of treatment in the treated. Stratification on the propensity score and covariate adjustment using the propensity score result in biased estimation of both marginal and conditional hazard ratios. Applied researchers are encouraged to use propensity score matching and IPTW using the propensity score when estimating the relative effect of treatment on time-to-event outcomes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Marginal Emissions Factors for Electricity Generation in the Midcontinent ISO.

    PubMed

    Thind, Maninder P S; Wilson, Elizabeth J; Azevedo, Inês L; Marshall, Julian D

    2017-12-19

    Environmental consequences of electricity generation are often determined using average emission factors. However, as different interventions are incrementally pursued in electricity systems, the resulting marginal change in emissions may differ from what one would predict based on system-average conditions. Here, we estimate average emission factors and marginal emission factors for CO 2 , SO 2 , and NO x from fossil and nonfossil generators in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region during years 2007-2016. We analyze multiple spatial scales (all MISO; each of the 11 MISO states; each utility; each generator) and use MISO data to characterize differences between the two emission factors (average; marginal). We also explore temporal trends in emissions factors by hour, day, month, and year, as well as the differences that arise from including only fossil generators versus total generation. We find, for example, that marginal emission factors are generally higher during late-night and early morning compared to afternoons. Overall, in MISO, average emission factors are generally higher than marginal estimates (typical difference: ∼20%). This means that the true environmental benefit of an energy efficiency program may be ∼20% smaller than anticipated if one were to use average emissions factors. Our analysis can usefully be extended to other regions to support effective near-term technical, policy and investment decisions based on marginal rather than only average emission factors.

  7. INL Experimental Program Roadmap for Thermal Hydraulic Code Validation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Glenn McCreery; Hugh McIlroy

    2007-09-01

    Advanced computer modeling and simulation tools and protocols will be heavily relied on for a wide variety of system studies, engineering design activities, and other aspects of the Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP) Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR), the DOE Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), and light-water reactors. The goal is for all modeling and simulation tools to be demonstrated accurate and reliable through a formal Verification and Validation (V&V) process, especially where such tools are to be used to establish safety margins and support regulatory compliance, or to design a system in a manner that reduces the role ofmore » expensive mockups and prototypes. Recent literature identifies specific experimental principles that must be followed in order to insure that experimental data meet the standards required for a “benchmark” database. Even for well conducted experiments, missing experimental details, such as geometrical definition, data reduction procedures, and manufacturing tolerances have led to poor Benchmark calculations. The INL has a long and deep history of research in thermal hydraulics, especially in the 1960s through 1980s when many programs such as LOFT and Semiscle were devoted to light-water reactor safety research, the EBRII fast reactor was in operation, and a strong geothermal energy program was established. The past can serve as a partial guide for reinvigorating thermal hydraulic research at the laboratory. However, new research programs need to fully incorporate modern experimental methods such as measurement techniques using the latest instrumentation, computerized data reduction, and scaling methodology. The path forward for establishing experimental research for code model validation will require benchmark experiments conducted in suitable facilities located at the INL. This document describes thermal hydraulic facility requirements and candidate buildings and presents examples of suitable validation experiments related to VHTRs, sodium-cooled fast reactors, and light-water reactors. These experiments range from relatively low-cost benchtop experiments for investigating individual phenomena to large electrically-heated integral facilities for investigating reactor accidents and transients.« less

  8. Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Scoping Workshop on Terrestrial and Coastal Carbon Fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico, St. Petersburg, FL, May 6-8, 2008

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Robbins, L.L.; Coble, P.G.; Clayton, T.D.; Cai, W.J.

    2009-01-01

    Despite their relatively small surface area, ocean margins may have a significant impact on global biogeochemical cycles and, potentially, the global air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide. Margins are characterized by intense geochemical and biological processing of carbon and other elements and exchange large amounts of matter and energy with the open ocean. The area-specific rates of productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and organic/inorganic matter sequestration are high in coastal margins, with as much as half of the global integrated new production occurring over the continental shelves and slopes (Walsh, 1991; Doney and Hood, 2002; Jahnke, in press). However, the current lack of knowledge and understanding of biogeochemical processes occurring at the ocean margins has left them largely ignored in most of the previous global assessments of the oceanic carbon cycle (Doney and Hood, 2002). A major source of North American and global uncertainty is the Gulf of Mexico, a large semi-enclosed subtropical basin bordered by the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. Like many of the marginal oceans worldwide, the Gulf of Mexico remains largely unsampled and poorly characterized in terms of its air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide and other carbon fluxes. In May 2008, the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Scoping Workshop on Terrestrial and Coastal Carbon Fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico was held in St. Petersburg, FL, to address the information gaps of carbon fluxes associated with the Gulf of Mexico and to offer recommendations to guide future research. The meeting was attended by over 90 participants from over 50 U.S. and Mexican institutions and agencies. The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry program (OCB; http://www.us-ocb.org/) sponsored this workshop with support from the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of South Florida. The goal of the workshop was to bring together researchers from multiple disciplines studying terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems to discuss the state of knowledge in carbon fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico, data gaps, and overarching questions in the Gulf of Mexico system. The discussions at the workshop were intended to stimulate integrated studies of marine and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles and associated ecosystems that will help to establish the role of the Gulf of Mexico in the carbon cycle and how it might evolve in the face of environmental change. The information derived from the plenary sessions, questions, and recommendations formulated by the participants will drive future research projects. Further discussion of carbon dynamics is needed to address scales of variability, the infrastructure required for study, and the modeling framework for cross-system integration. During the workshop, participants discussed and provided a number of priorities and recommendations, which are listed on p. 2 of the report. Participants recognized that the key to understanding the Gulf of Mexico system requires international collaboration with scientists from countries adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. Improved collaboration across existing research community boundaries will be critical and should be encouraged by the funding agencies.

  9. Fresh and Salt Water Distribution in Passive Margin Sediments: Insights from Iodp Expedition 313 ON the New Jersey Margin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lofi, J.; Inwood, J.; Proust, J.; Monteverde, D.; Loggia, D.; Basile, C.; Hayashi, T.; Stadler, S.; Fehr, A.; Pezard, P.

    2012-12-01

    For the first time in the history of international scientific drillings, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) mission-specific platform (MSP) Expedition 313 drilled three 631-755 m-deep boreholes on the middle shelf of a clastic passive margin. This expedition gathered a full set of geophysical data tied to drillcores with 80% of recovery. It offers a unique opportunity to access the internal structure of a siliciclastic system, at scales ranging from the matrix to the margin, and to correlate the geological skeleton with the spatial distribution and salinity of saturating fluids. In addition to the discovery of very low salinity pore water (<3g/l) at depths exceeding 400 m below the middle shelf, this expedition provides evidence for a multi-layered reservoir, with fresh/brackish water intervals alternating vertically with salty intervals. Our observations suggest that the processes controlling salinity distribution are strongly influenced by lithology, porosity and permeability. Saltier pore waters are recovered in less porous, more permeable, intervals whereas fresher pore waters are recovered in more porous, less permeable, intervals. Pore water concentrations are inversely correlated to the Thorium content, with high salinities in low Th intervals (i.e. sandy formations). The transition from fresher to saltier intervals is often marked by cemented horizons acting as permeability barrier. In the lower part of some holes, the salinity varies independently of lithology, suggesting different mechanisms and/or sources of salinity. We have developed a 2D model of permeability distribution along a dip transect of the margin, extrapolated from combined clinoform geometries observed on seismic data and sedimentary facies described on cores. This model clearly illustrates the importance of taking into account the spatial heterogeneity of geological system at several scales. Lithology reflects permeability at a small scale whereas seismic facies and system tracts can be used to infer the reservoir geometry at a larger scale. Four main reservoirs (R1 to R4) that are relatively disconnected have been identified. These are essentially developed in coarse-grained deposits observed either in some clinoform topsets (R4), in upper foresets (R2, R3), or in both of them (R1). R2 to R4 contain salty water while the most proximal reservoir R1, located close to the coastline, is saturated with fresh water, and may form the seaward extension of onshore aquifers. Each of these four reservoirs is separated by confining units of varied thicknesses and of relatively broad spatial extension. At the Expedition 313 drilling sites, the fresh waters stored in confining units have a post-deposition age and may have a fossil origin (Pleistocene low-stands?), whereas saltier water recovered in distal reservoirs (R2 to R4) penetrated at a later stage. Further work must be done to clarify the emplacement mechanisms. Future studies should focus on the inclusion of our 2D permeability model in a groundwater model, in order to examine the specific flow processes that are active in this environment. This research used samples and data provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP).

  10. Conceptual Modeling in the Time of the Revolution: Part II

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mylopoulos, John

    Conceptual Modeling was a marginal research topic at the very fringes of Computer Science in the 60s and 70s, when the discipline was dominated by topics focusing on programs, systems and hardware architectures. Over the years, however, the field has moved to centre stage and has come to claim a central role both in Computer Science research and practice in diverse areas, such as Software Engineering, Databases, Information Systems, the Semantic Web, Business Process Management, Service-Oriented Computing, Multi-Agent Systems, Knowledge Management, and more. The transformation was greatly aided by the adoption of standards in modeling languages (e.g., UML), and model-based methodologies (e.g., Model-Driven Architectures) by the Object Management Group (OMG) and other standards organizations. We briefly review the history of the field over the past 40 years, focusing on the evolution of key ideas. We then note some open challenges and report on-going research, covering topics such as the representation of variability in conceptual models, capturing model intentions, and models of laws.

  11. PTV margin determination in conformal SRT of intracranial lesions

    PubMed Central

    Parker, Brent C.; Shiu, Almon S.; Maor, Moshe H.; Lang, Frederick F.; Liu, H. Helen; White, R. Allen; Antolak, John A.

    2002-01-01

    The planning target volume (PTV) includes the clinical target volume (CTV) to be irradiated and a margin to account for uncertainties in the treatment process. Uncertainties in miniature multileaf collimator (mMLC) leaf positioning, CT scanner spatial localization, CT‐MRI image fusion spatial localization, and Gill‐Thomas‐Cosman (GTC) relocatable head frame repositioning were quantified for the purpose of determining a minimum PTV margin that still delivers a satisfactory CTV dose. The measured uncertainties were then incorporated into a simple Monte Carlo calculation for evaluation of various margin and fraction combinations. Satisfactory CTV dosimetric criteria were selected to be a minimum CTV dose of 95% of the PTV dose and at least 95% of the CTV receiving 100% of the PTV dose. The measured uncertainties were assumed to be Gaussian distributions. Systematic errors were added linearly and random errors were added in quadrature assuming no correlation to arrive at the total combined error. The Monte Carlo simulation written for this work examined the distribution of cumulative dose volume histograms for a large patient population using various margin and fraction combinations to determine the smallest margin required to meet the established criteria. The program examined 5 and 30 fraction treatments, since those are the only fractionation schemes currently used at our institution. The fractionation schemes were evaluated using no margin, a margin of just the systematic component of the total uncertainty, and a margin of the systematic component plus one standard deviation of the total uncertainty. It was concluded that (i) a margin of the systematic error plus one standard deviation of the total uncertainty is the smallest PTV margin necessary to achieve the established CTV dose criteria, and (ii) it is necessary to determine the uncertainties introduced by the specific equipment and procedures used at each institution since the uncertainties may vary among locations. PACS number(s): 87.53.Kn, 87.53.Ly PMID:12132939

  12. Small Retailers' Tobacco Sales and Profit Margins in Two Disadvantaged Areas of England

    PubMed Central

    Hitchman, Sara C.; Calder, Robert; Rooke, Catriona; McNeill, Ann

    2016-01-01

    Aim To explore tobacco profit margins and sales among small retailers in England. Methods Interviews with managers/owners of 62 small retail shops that sold tobacco in disadvantaged areas of Newcastle and London, England. The interviews included questions about tobacco sales and profit margins, and interest in reducing reliance on tobacco sales. Results The majority of retailers (89%) reported low overall profit margins on tobacco sales (< 6%). The most common response was a profit margin of 4–6%,with some reporting lower margins for price-marked packs of cigarettes (1–6%) and higher margins for non-price marked or premium brands (7% to over 10%). A few mentioned higher profit margins for e-cigarettes. Despite this, most thought tobacco sales were important (90%), and attributed this reliance to footfall (81%), i.e., customers purchasing tobacco also purchasing other products. 42% of retailers expressed interest in reducing their reliance on tobacco sales. Conclusions Small retailers report low tobacco profit margins, but high reliance on tobacco sales because of footfall. Retailer interest in reducing reliance on tobacco sales warrants further research into opportunities for disinvestment. Additionally, retailers' belief that they are reliant on tobacco sales because of footfall should be further investigated. PMID:29546150

  13. Costs of day hospital and community residential chemical dependency treatment.

    PubMed

    Kaskutas, Lee Ann; Zavala, Silvana K; Parthasarathy, Sujaya; Witbrodt, Jane

    2008-03-01

    Patient placement criteria developed by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) have identified a need for low-intensity residential treatment as an alternative to day hospital for patients with higher levels of severity. A recent clinical trial found similar outcomes at social model residential treatment and clinically-oriented day hospital programs, but did not report on costs. This paper addresses whether the similar outcomes in the recent trial were delivered with comparable costs, overall and within gender and ethnicity stratum. This paper reports on clients not at environmental risk who participated in a randomized trial conducted in three metropolitan areas served by a large pre-paid health plan. Cost data were collected using the Drug Abuse Treatment Cost Analysis Program (DATCAP). Costs per episode were calculated by multiplying DATCAP-derived program-specific costs by each client's length of stay. Differences in length of stay, and in per-episode costs, were compared between residential and day hospital subjects. Lengths of stay at residential treatment were significantly longer than at day hospital, in the sample overall and in disaggregated analyses. This difference was especially marked among non-Whites. The average cost per week was USD 575 per week at day hospital, versus USD 370 per week at the residential programs. However, because of the longer stays in residential, per-episode costs were significantly higher in the sample overall and among non-Whites (and marginally higher for men). These cost results must be considered in light of the null findings comparing outcomes between subjects randomized to residential versus day hospital programs. The longer stays in the sample overall and for non-White clients at residential programs came at higher costs but did not lead to better rates of abstinence. The short stays in day hospital among non-Whites call into question the attractiveness of day hospital for minority clients. Outcomes and costs at residential versus day hospital programs were similar for women and for Whites. For non-Whites, and marginally for men, a preference for residential care would appear to come at a higher cost. Lengths of stay in residential treatment were significantly longer than in day hospital, but costs per week were lower. Women and Whites appear to be equally well-served in residential and day hospital programs, with no significant cost differential. Provision of residential treatment for non-Whites may be more costly than day hospital, because their residential stays are likely to be 3 times longer than they would be if treated in day hospital. For men, residential care will be marginally more costly. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICY FORMULATION: Residential treatment appears to represent a cost-effective alternative to day hospital for female and White clients with severe alcohol and drug problems who are not at environmental risk. The much shorter stays in day hospital than at residential among non-Whites highlight the need for research to better understand how to best meet the needs and preferences of non-White clients when considering both costs and outcomes.

  14. How do drug users define their progress in harm reduction programs? Qualitative research to develop user-generated outcomes

    PubMed Central

    Ruefli, Terry; Rogers, Susan J

    2004-01-01

    Background Harm reduction is a relatively new and controversial model for treating drug users, with little formal research on its operation and effectiveness. In order to advance the study of harm reduction programs and our understanding of how drug users define their progress, qualitative research was conducted to develop outcomes of harm reduction programming that are culturally relevant, incremental, (i.e., capable of measuring change), and hierarchical (i.e., capable of showing how clients improve over time). Methods The study used nominal group technique (NGT) to develop the outcomes (phase 1) and focus group interviews to help validate the findings (phase 2). Study participants were recruited from a large harm-reduction program in New York City and involved approximately 120 clients in 10 groups in phase 1 and 120 clients in 10 focus groups in phase 2. Results Outcomes of 10 life areas important to drug users were developed that included between 10 to 15 incremental measures per outcome. The outcomes included ways of 1) making money; 2) getting something good to eat; 3) being housed/homeless; 4) relating to families; 5) getting needed programs/benefits/services; 6) handling health problems; 7) handling negative emotions; 8) handling legal problems; 9) improving oneself; and 10) handling drug-use problems. Findings also provided insights into drug users' lives and values, as well as a window into understanding how this population envisions a better quality of life. Results challenged traditional ways of measuring drug users based solely on quantity used and frequency of use. They suggest that more appropriate measures are based on the extent to which drug users organize their lives around drug use and how much drug use is integrated into their lives and negatively impacts other aspects of their lives. Conclusions Harm reduction and other programs serving active drug users and other marginalized people should not rely on institutionalized, provider-defined solutions to problems in living faced by their clients. PMID:15333130

  15. Current status of the East Sea Ecosystem in a changing world

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Sang Heon; Kang, Chang-Keun; Lee, Chung IL; Kwak, Jung Hyun

    2017-12-01

    The East/Japan Sea (hereafter the East Sea) is changing quickly. Warming and structural changes in the East Sea have been reported by CREAMS, an acronym of ″Circulation Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas″, which began in 1993 as an international research program to understand the water mass structure and circulation in the East Sea (Kim and Kim, 1996; Kim, 1997; Kim et al., 2001, 2002). A subsequent research program of the EAST-I, an acronym of ″the East Asian Seas Time-series″, was launched by PICES (North Pacific Marine Science Organization) and financially supported by the Korean government, allowing us to deepen our knowledge about rapidly changing processes in the East Sea (Chang et al., 2010). Although there has been considerable progress in developing a mechanistic understanding of the East Sea ecosystem responses to disturbances, more comprehensive studies are needed to address the impacts of the frequency and intensity of disturbances on marine ecosystems. The most important question of the research has been: how do environmental changes affect structural and functional biodiversity? Recently launched research on ″Long-term change of structure and function in marine ecosystems of Korea″, which has been supported by the Korean government since 2011, has given an unprecedented insight into the ecosystem dynamics in the East Sea. It therefore seems an appropriate time to devote a special issue to the topic of ″Current status of the East Sea ecosystem in a changing world″.

  16. Transgender women of color: discrimination and depression symptoms

    PubMed Central

    Jefferson, Kevin; Neilands, Torsten B.; Sevelius, Jae

    2014-01-01

    Purpose Trans women of color contend with multiple marginalizations; the purpose of this study is to examine associations between experiencing discriminatory (racist/transphobic) events and depression symptoms. It uses a categorical measure of combined discrimination, and examines a protective association of transgender identity on depression symptoms. Design/methodology/approach Data from a subset of trans women of color participants in the Sheroes study were analyzed with linear and logistic regression. Associations of depression symptoms with racist and transphobic events, combined discrimination, coping self-efficacy, and transgender identity were assessed with odds ratios. Findings Exposure to discriminatory events and combined discrimination positively associated with depression symptom odds. Increased transgender identity associated with increased coping self-efficacy, which negatively associated with depression symptom odds. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional study data prohibits inferring causality; results support conducting longitudinal research on discrimination’s health effects, and research on transgender identity. Results also support operationalizing intersectionality in health research. The study’s categorical approach to combined discrimination may be replicable in studies with hard to reach populations and small sample sizes. Practical implications Health programs could pursue psychosocial interventions and anti-discrimination campaigns. Interventions might advocate increasing participants’ coping self-efficacy while providing space to explore and develop social identity. Social implications There is a need for policy and health programs to center trans women of color concerns. Originality/value This study examines combined discrimination and identity in relation to depression symptoms among trans women of color, an underserved population. Paper type Research paper PMID:25346778

  17. Impact of Text Message Reminders on Caregivers’ Adherence to a Home Fortification Program Against Child Anemia in Rural Western China: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

    PubMed Central

    Zhou, Huan; Sun, Shuai; Sylvia, Sean; Yue, Ai; Shi, Yaojiang; Zhang, Linxiu; Medina, Alexis; Rozelle, Scott

    2016-01-01

    Objectives. To test whether text message reminders sent to caregivers improve the effectiveness of a home micronutrient fortification program in western China. Methods. We carried out a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 351 villages (clusters) in Shaanxi Province in 2013 and 2014, enrolling children aged 6 to 12 months. We randomly assigned each village to 1 of 3 groups: free delivery group, text messaging group, or control group. We collected information on compliance with treatments and hemoglobin concentrations from all children at baseline and 6-month follow-up. We estimated the intent-to-treat effects on compliance and child anemia using a logistic regression model. Results. There were 1393 eligible children. We found that assignment to the text messaging group led to an increase in full compliance (marginal effect = 0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03, 0.16) compared with the free delivery group and decrease in the rate of anemia at end line relative to the control group (marginal effect = −0.07; 95% CI = −0.12, −0.01), but not relative to the free delivery group (marginal effect = −0.03; 95% CI = −0.09, 0.03). Conclusions. Text messages improved compliance of caregivers to a home fortification program and children’s nutrition. PMID:27077354

  18. "I Have Work To Do": Affirmation and Marginalization of Women Full Professors.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamrick, Florence A.

    This study examined the work roles and events that signified affirmation or marginalization among female full professors at a research university. Semistructured interviews conducted with 26 female full professors at Iowa State University covered questions in four primary areas: promotion and tenure experiences, institutional citizenship and…

  19. Marginalization and School Nursing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Julia Ann

    2004-01-01

    The concept of marginalization was first analyzed by nursing researchers Hall, Stevens, and Meleis. Although nursing literature frequently refers to this concept when addressing "at risk" groups such as the homeless, gays and lesbians, and those infected with HIV/AIDS, the concept can also be applied to nursing. Analysis of current school nursing…

  20. Identifying Proactive Collaboration Strategies for Teacher Readiness for Marginalized Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akin, Imani; Neumann, Crystal

    2013-01-01

    This research discusses the value of collaborating to develop strategies that enhance teacher readiness for the marginalized student and the use of qualitative data that can lead to student academic and social success. Education domains include the learning environment, technology, and building parent and community connections. This research…

  1. Second Language Learners' Use of Marginal Glosses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Donnell, Mary E.

    2012-01-01

    The use of marginal reading glosses by 18 second language (L2) learners is examined through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of audiotaped think-aloud protocols. How these readers interact with the glosses is identified and divided into five categories or gloss interactions. Examples from each are presented. The primary research question…

  2. The importance of familia for Latina/o college students: examining the role of familial support in intragroup marginalization.

    PubMed

    Llamas, Jasmín D; Morgan Consoli, Melissa

    2012-10-01

    Intragroup marginalization refers to the perceived interpersonal distancing by members of the heritage culture when an individual exhibits cultural characteristics of the dominant group. This study expands understanding of the college experience of Latina/o students by examining relationships between intragroup marginalization, college adjustment, resilience, and thriving in a sample of 181 Latina/o college students, ranging from freshman to graduate students. In addition, the role of familial social support is explored to determine any possible mediating effects on the relationship between intragroup marginalization, college adjustment, resilience, and thriving. Findings revealed that intragroup marginalization predicted college adjustment, resilience, and thriving. Familial social support was found to mediate the relationship between intragroup marginalization and thriving. This research highlights the negative impact of intragroup marginalization for Latina/o students, as well as the role of familial support in thriving. The results also shed light on the Latina/o college experience as a means to improving Latina/o students' college outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Marginalized zero-inflated Poisson models with missing covariates.

    PubMed

    Benecha, Habtamu K; Preisser, John S; Divaris, Kimon; Herring, Amy H; Das, Kalyan

    2018-05-11

    Unlike zero-inflated Poisson regression, marginalized zero-inflated Poisson (MZIP) models for counts with excess zeros provide estimates with direct interpretations for the overall effects of covariates on the marginal mean. In the presence of missing covariates, MZIP and many other count data models are ordinarily fitted using complete case analysis methods due to lack of appropriate statistical methods and software. This article presents an estimation method for MZIP models with missing covariates. The method, which is applicable to other missing data problems, is illustrated and compared with complete case analysis by using simulations and dental data on the caries preventive effects of a school-based fluoride mouthrinse program. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  4. Test and evaluation of the HIDEC engine uptrim algorithm

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ray, R. J.; Myers, L. P.

    1986-01-01

    The highly integrated digital electronic control (HIDEC) program will demonstrate and evaluate the improvements in performance and mission effectiveness that result from integrated engine-airframe control systems. Performance improvements will result from an adaptive engine stall margin mode, a highly integrated mode that uses the airplane flight conditions and the resulting inlet distortion to continuously compute engine stall margin. When there is excessive stall margin, the engine is uptrimmed for more thrust by increasing engine pressure ratio (EPR). The EPR uptrim logic has been evaluated and implemented into computer simulations. Thrust improvements over 10 percent are predicted for subsonic flight conditions. The EPR uptrim was successfully demonstrated during engine ground tests. Test results verify model predictions at the conditions tested.

  5. Terry Turbopump Analytical Modeling Efforts in Fiscal Year 2016 ? Progress Report.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Osborn, Douglas; Ross, Kyle; Cardoni, Jeffrey N

    This document details the Fiscal Year 2016 modeling efforts to define the true operating limitations (margins) of the Terry turbopump systems used in the nuclear industry for Milestone 3 (full-scale component experiments) and Milestone 4 (Terry turbopump basic science experiments) experiments. The overall multinational-sponsored program creates the technical basis to: (1) reduce and defer additional utility costs, (2) simplify plant operations, and (3) provide a better understanding of the true margin which could reduce overall risk of operations.

  6. Terry Turbopump Expanded Operating Band Full-Scale Component and Basic Science Detailed Test Plan - Final.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Osborn, Douglas; Solom, Matthew

    This document details the milestone approach to define the true operating limitations (margins) of the Terry turbopump systems used in the nuclear industry for Milestone 3 (full-scale component experiments) and Milestone 4 (Terry turbopump basic science experiments) efforts. The overall multinational-sponsored program creates the technical basis to: (1) reduce and defer additional utility costs, (2) simplify plant operations, and (3) provide a better understanding of the true margin which could reduce overall risk of operations.

  7. Terry Turbopump Expanded Operating Band Full-Scale Component and Basic Science Detailed Test Plan-Revision 2

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Solom, Matthew; Ross, Kyle; Cardoni, Jeffrey N.

    This document details the milestone approach to define the true operating limitations (margins) of the Terry turbopump systems used in the nuclear industry for Milestone 3 (full-scale component experiments) and Milestone 4 (Terry turbopump basic science experiments) efforts. The overall multinational-sponsored program creates the technical basis to: (1) reduce and defer additional utility costs, (2) simplify plant operations, and (3) provide a better understanding of the true margin which could reduce overall risk of operations.

  8. Documentation for the Computer Assisted Diagnostic Program for Dental Pain

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-04-10

    Questioni 1, if "No" (2), then go to Questioni 20. 6. Aside from possible racial pigmentation , if present, what is the color of the gingival tissues... pigmentation , if present, what is the color of the gingival tissues (gum)? 1. Pink 2. Red 3. Pink with red gingival margins 4. Either #2 or #3 above, but...racial pigmentation , if present, what is the color of the gingival tissues (gum)? 1. Pink 2. Red 3. Pink with red gingival margins 4. Either #2 or #3

  9. Bivariate normal, conditional and rectangular probabilities: A computer program with applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Swaroop, R.; Brownlow, J. D.; Ashwworth, G. R.; Winter, W. R.

    1980-01-01

    Some results for the bivariate normal distribution analysis are presented. Computer programs for conditional normal probabilities, marginal probabilities, as well as joint probabilities for rectangular regions are given: routines for computing fractile points and distribution functions are also presented. Some examples from a closed circuit television experiment are included.

  10. Moving the Margins: Successful Programs for Marginalised Youth.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McClimont, Julie

    2000-01-01

    The Salvation Army Brunswick (Australia) Job Placement and Training (JPET) project was first established as a recreational project for connecting workers with young people, but it grew to address the educational needs of at-risk youth. Staff working in the program follow a non-conflict, adult education model, emphasizing the development of a…

  11. 76 FR 37162 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The Options Clearing Corporation; Order Approving Proposed Rule...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-24

    ... (February 7, 2011). \\3\\ Letter from Gene Thomas (Retired), (April 24, 2011); letter from Andrew S. Margolin... CFTC's regulations. OCC By-Laws, Article I, Definitions. OCC's current internal cross-margining program...-CME program. Article VI, Section 25(b) of OCC's By-Laws currently requires clearing members to obtain...

  12. Implications of a Health Careers Exploration Program for Minority Student Matriculation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Christie, Angelica Ellman

    2017-01-01

    Organizations that deliver programs to promote the entry of students from marginalized populations into the U.S. health workforce often struggle to demonstrate the effective achievement of outcomes, and face diminishing fiscal resources. This study was an empirical examination of the extent and manner that a statewide, precollege, health careers…

  13. Adult Basic Education and the Welfare Roles: An Economic and Social Alternative.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pennsylvania Association for Adult Continuing Education, Harrisburg, PA.

    In Pennsylvania where 30 percent of the adult population is functionally illiterate and another 24 percent has only marginal competence, no state funds are appropriated for adult basic education and general educational development (ABE/GED) programs. All programs are supported by federal aid. Information shows that economic revitalization and a…

  14. Interpersonal Process Group Counseling for Educationally Marginalized Youth: The MAGNIFY Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slaten, Christopher D.; Elison, Zachary M.

    2015-01-01

    Youth mental health is an area of profound disparity between the demand and supply of services, particularly in schools that serve students at risk of school dropout. This article describes the conceptual foundations and implementation of "MAGNIFY", a program that provides free group counseling to small alternative schools with students…

  15. The Balika Shivir: A Girls' Education Program with a Social Change Agenda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singh, Manjari

    2010-01-01

    The Balika Shivir, a six-month, non-formal, residential, education program for illiterate adolescent girls was an intervention strategy used to reach a traditionally underserved and marginalized population in rural western India. The primary objective of the Balika Shivir was to impart literacy and numeracy skills to attending girls, and to…

  16. A Stable Polymer Burnable Poison Material With Special Attributes

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tulenko, James S.; Baney, Ronald H.; Pressley, Linda

    2002-07-01

    The University of Florida (UF) is carrying out basic research on a new class of thermally stable boron containing materials which appear to have special properties that will greatly enhance the performance of Burnable Poison Rod Assemblies (BPRA) and also Spent Fuel Containers (SFC). This new material ('Carborane') has the special properties of containing a tailored amount of boron, an extremely high hydrogen content, and being extremely stable to high temperatures. 'Carborane' reduces the water displacement penalty by 59% by the hydrogen present in the 'Carborane'. In addition to increasing safety margins, a cost benefit of approximately $500,000 per two-yearmore » cycle is projected from reduced enrichments, resulting from the use of this burnable poison material, making it no longer necessary to offset the water displacement reactivity penalty. This research program is supported by a Department of Energy NEER grant. (authors)« less

  17. Mariner Jupiter/Saturn LCSSE thruster/valve assembly and injection propulsion unit rocket engine assemblies: 0.2-lbf T/VA development and margin limit test report

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clark, E. C.

    1975-01-01

    Thruster valve assemblies (T/VA's) were subjected to the development test program for the combined JPL Low-Cost Standardized Spacecraft Equipment (LCSSE) and Mariner Jupiter/Saturn '77 spacecraft (MJS) programs. The development test program was designed to achieve the following program goals: (1) demonstrate T/VA design compliance with JPL Specifications, (2) to conduct a complete performance Cf map of the T/VA over the full operating range of environment, (3) demonstrate T/VA life capability and characteristics of life margin for steady-state limit cycle and momentum wheel desaturation duty cycles, (4) verification of structural design capability, and (5) generate a computerized performance model capable of predicting T/VA operation over pressures ranging from 420 to 70 psia, propellant temperatures ranging from 140 F to 40 F, pulse widths of 0.008 to steady-state operation with unlimited duty cycle capability, and finally predict the transient performance associated with reactor heatup during any given duty cycle, start temperature, feed pressure, and propellant temperature conditions.

  18. Challenges to collaboration in school mental health and strategies for overcoming them.

    PubMed

    Weist, Mark D; Mellin, Elizabeth A; Chambers, Kerri L; Lever, Nancy A; Haber, Deborah; Blaber, Christine

    2012-02-01

    This article reviews challenges to collaboration in school mental health (SMH) and presents practical strategies for overcoming them. The importance of collaboration to the success of SMH programs is reviewed, with a particular focus on collaboration between school- and community-employed professionals. Challenges to effective collaboration between school- and community-employed professionals in SMH are considered. Strategies for overcoming challenges to effective collaboration are presented. Marginalization of the SMH agenda, limited interdisciplinary teamwork, restricted coordination mechanisms, confidentiality concerns, and resource and funding issues are key challenges to collaboration. Strategies targeted toward each of these challenges may help improve the effectiveness of SMH programs and ultimately student outcomes. Collaboration between school- and community-employed professionals is critical to the success of SMH programs. Despite its promise, the success of SMH programs can be jeopardized by ineffective collaboration between school- and community-employed professionals. Strategies to overcome marginalization, promote authentic interdisciplinary teamwork, build effective coordination mechanisms, protect student and family confidentiality, and promote policy change and resource enhancements should be addressed in SMH improvement planning. © 2012, American School Health Association.

  19. Vegetation and hydrology of land-margin ecosystems: the mangroves of South Florida in relation to disturbance, global change and response to restoration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Best, G.R.; Smith, T.J.

    1999-01-01

    The USGS Florida Caribbean Science Center's Restoration Ecology Branch and Florida International University is conducting research on disturbance, global change and restoration of land margin ecosystems of South Florida. Criticial research for the restoration of these systems involves understanding the responses of mangrove forests to changes in the quality, quantity, timing and distribution of freshwater inflows, response to global change (e.g. sea level rise) and catastrophic disturbances such as hurricanes.

  20. Tailored Excitation for Frequency Response Measurement Applied to the X-43A Flight Vehicle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baumann, Ethan

    2007-01-01

    An important aspect of any flight research project is assessing aircraft stability and flight control performance. In some programs this assessment is accomplished through the estimation of the in-flight vehicle frequency response. This estimation has traditionally been a lengthy task requiring separate swept sine inputs for each control axis at a constant flight condition. Hypersonic vehicles spend little time at any specific flight condition while they are decelerating. Accordingly, it is difficult to use traditional methods to calculate the vehicle frequency response and stability margins for this class of vehicle. A technique has been previously developed to significantly reduce the duration of the excitation input by tailoring the input to excite only the frequency range of interest. Reductions in test time were achieved by simultaneously applying tailored excitation signals to multiple control loops, allowing a quick estimate of the frequency response of a particular aircraft. This report discusses the flight results obtained from applying a tailored excitation input to the X-43A longitudinal and lateral-directional control loops during the second and third flights. The frequency responses and stability margins obtained from flight data are compared with preflight predictions.

  1. An Overview of Seismic Observations Along the Pacific Margin of South America: Opportunities for the SZ4D Initiative

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Woodward, R.; Frassetto, A.; Meltzer, A.

    2017-12-01

    The recent SZ4D Initiative community vision document recognizes the potential to focus community resources on studying subduction processes along, for example, the Pacific margin of South America. Preexisting geophysical infrastructure can play a vital role in establishing such new observational capabilities. For example, an SZ4D backbone observing capability could be established in South America by leveraging existing stations in the region. Such relevant existing seismic and geodetic stations, operated as part of local or national networks in South America, have been identified as a result of recent international collaborations with IRIS and others. Here we discuss the concept and experience of leveraging existing infrastructure in major new observational programs, outline the state of geophysical networks in South America (emphasizing current seismic networks but also looking back on historical temporary deployments), and provide an overview of potential scientific targets in the Americas that encompass a sampling of recently produced research results and datasets. Additionally, we reflect on strategies for establishing meaningful collaborations across South America and elsewhere, an aspect that will be critical to the international partnerships, and associated capacity building, needed for an internationally inclusive and collaborative SZ4D activity.

  2. Developing an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program for Caltech's Tectonics Observatory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kovalenko, L.; Jain, K.; Maloney, J.

    2012-12-01

    The Caltech Tectonics Observatory (TO) is an interdisciplinary center, focused on geological processes occurring at the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu). Over the past four years, the TO has made a major effort to develop an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program. Our goals are to (1) inspire students to learn Earth Sciences, particularly tectonic processes, (2) inform and educate the general public about science in the context of TO discoveries, and (3) provide opportunities for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty to do outreach in the local K-12 schools and community colleges. Our work toward these goals includes hosting local high school teachers and students each summer for six weeks of research experience (as part of Caltech's "Summer Research Connection"); organizing and hosting an NAGT conference aimed at Geoscience teachers at community colleges; participating in teacher training workshops (organized by the local school district); hosting tours for K-12 students from local schools as well as from China; and bringing hands-on activities into local elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. We also lead local school students and teachers on geology field trips through nearby canyons; develop education modules for undergraduate classes (as part of MARGINS program); write educational web articles on TO research (http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu/outreach/highlights/), and regularly give presentations to the general public. This year, we started providing content expertise for the development of video games to teach Earth Science, being created by GameDesk Institute. And we have just formed a scientist/educator partnership with a 6th grade teacher, to help in the school district's pilot program to incorporate new national science standards (NSTA's Next Generation Science Standards, current draft), as well as use Project-Based Learning. This presentation gives an overview of these activities.

  3. Estimation of marginal abatement costs of CO2 in Chinese provinces under 2020 carbon emission rights allocation: 2005-2020.

    PubMed

    Duan, Fumei; Wang, Yong; Wang, Ying; Zhao, Han

    2018-06-16

    The calculation of marginal abatement costs of CO 2 plays a vital role in meeting China's 2020 emission reduction targets by providing reference for determining carbon tax and carbon trading pricing. However, most existing researches only used one method to discuss regional and industrial marginal abatement costs, and almost no studies predicted future marginal abatement costs from the perspective of CO 2 emission efficiency. To make up for the gaps, this paper first estimates marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in three major industries of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2015 based on three assumptions. Second, based on the principle of fairness and efficiency, China's 2020 emission reduction targets are decomposed by province. Based on the ZSG-C-DDF model, the marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in all provinces in China in 2020 are estimated and compared with the marginal abatement costs of 2005 to 2015. The results show that (1) from 2005 to 2015, marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in all provinces show a fluctuating upward trend; (2) compared with the marginal abatement costs of primary industry or tertiary industry, most provinces have lower marginal abatement costs for secondary industry; and (3) the average marginal abatement costs of CO 2 for China in 2020 are 2766.882 Yuan/tonne for the 40% carbon intensity reduction target and 3334.836 Yuan/tonne for the 45% target, showing that the higher the emission reduction target, the higher the marginal abatement costs of CO 2 . (4) Overall, the average marginal abatement costs of CO 2 in China by 2020 are higher than those in 2005-2015. The empirical analysis in this paper can provide multiple references for environmental policy makers.

  4. Wavelet Filtering to Reduce Conservatism in Aeroservoelastic Robust Stability Margins

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brenner, Marty; Lind, Rick

    1998-01-01

    Wavelet analysis for filtering and system identification was used to improve the estimation of aeroservoelastic stability margins. The conservatism of the robust stability margins was reduced with parametric and nonparametric time-frequency analysis of flight data in the model validation process. Nonparametric wavelet processing of data was used to reduce the effects of external desirableness and unmodeled dynamics. Parametric estimates of modal stability were also extracted using the wavelet transform. Computation of robust stability margins for stability boundary prediction depends on uncertainty descriptions derived from the data for model validation. F-18 high Alpha Research Vehicle aeroservoelastic flight test data demonstrated improved robust stability prediction by extension of the stability boundary beyond the flight regime.

  5. Academic Facility Utilization and Survival Outcomes in Adult Head and Neck Sarcomas: An NCDB Analysis.

    PubMed

    Cannon, Richard B; Carpenter, Patrick S; Boothe, Dustin; Buchmann, Luke O; Hunt, Jason P; Lloyd, Shane; Hitchcock, Ying J; Houlton, Jeffrey J; Weis, John R; Shepherd, Hailey M; Monroe, Marcus M

    2018-04-01

    Objectives To investigate clinicopathologic and treatment factors associated with survival in adult head and neck sarcomas in the National Cancer Database (NCDB). To analyze whether treatment settings and therapies received influence survival outcomes and to compare trends in utilization via an aggregated national data set. Study Design Prospectively gathered data. Setting NCDB. Subjects and Methods The study comprised a total of 6944 adult patients treated for a head and neck sarcoma from January 2004 to December 2013. Overall survival (OS) was the primary outcome. Results Increased age and tumor size, nodal involvement, and poorly differentiated histology had significantly reduced OS ( P < .001). Angiosarcoma, malignant nerve sheath tumor, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, osteosarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma histologic subtypes had significantly reduced OS, while liposarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and chordoma had improved OS ( P < .001). Utilization of surgical therapy was associated with improved OS, while positive surgical margins were associated with treatment at a community-based cancer program and had reduced OS ( P < .001). On multivariate analysis, treatment with radiation and/or chemotherapy was not significantly associated with OS; however, primary treatment with definitive chemoradiotherapy had significantly reduced OS. Patients treated at academic/research cancer programs (n = 3874) had significantly improved 5- and 10-year OS (65% and 54%, respectively) when compared with patients treated at community-based cancer programs (n = 3027; 49% and 29%; P < .001). The percentage utilization of these programs (56% vs 44%) did not change over the study period. Conclusion For adult head and neck sarcomas, treatment at an academic/research cancer program was associated with improved survival; however, despite increasing medical specialization, the percentage utilization of these programs for this rare tumor remains constant.

  6. Challenges and promises for nurse education curriculum development in Kosovo: results of an "accidental ethnography".

    PubMed

    Goepp, Julius G; Johnson, Tiesha D; Maddow, Charles L

    2008-05-01

    Kosovo's infrastructure was devastated by armed conflict through the 1990s; in 1999 a visiting inter-disciplinary team described healthcare services as being in "disarray". Several collaborative programs were initiated to enhance delivery of emergency medical (EM) services. Our inter-disciplinary team traveled to Kosovo in 2004 to evaluate EM physician education and training. A brief renewed outbreak of hostilities created a mass casualty incident. An "accidental ethnography" focused on nurse education was conducted by team members during and after the event. Results indicated low levels of professionalization of nurses as indicated by expressions of professional self-identity and self-esteem, autonomy, and submission to patriarchal attitudes. Undergraduate nurse education is restricted to a diploma program and one foreign training project, one graduate degree program exists abroad, and no national board examination exists. Nurses' social location is described as marginalized and disenfranchised, and retention of nurses is a persistent problem. Based on these observations we outline an inter-professional curriculum development program to foster professionalization of Kosovar nurses through a synthesis of participatory action research with elements of grounded theory and standard curriculum development methodologies. The collaborative, emancipatory, and empowering nature of PAR is described in the context of professionalizing nurse education programs.

  7. Using social-emotional and character development to improve academic outcomes: a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled trial in low-income, urban schools

    PubMed Central

    Lewis, Kendra M.; DuBois, David L.; Acock, Alan; Vuchinich, Samuel; Silverthorn, Naida; Snyder, Frank J.; Day, Joseph; Ji, Peter; Flay, Brian R.

    2013-01-01

    BACKGROUND School-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs can influence not only SECD, but also academic-related outcomes. This study evaluated the impact of one SECD program, Positive Action (PA), on educational outcomes among low-income, urban youth. METHODS The longitudinal study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled design. Student-reported disaffection with learning and academic grades, and teacher ratings of academic ability and motivation were assessed for a cohort followed from grades 3 to 8. Aggregate school records were used to assess standardized test performance (for entire school, cohort, and demographic subgroups) and absenteeism (entire school). Multilevel growth-curve analyses tested program effects. RESULTS PA significantly improved growth in academic motivation and mitigated disaffection with learning. There was a positive impact of PA on absenteeism and marginally significant impact on math performance of all students. There were favorable program effects on reading for African American boys and cohort students transitioning between grades 7 and 8, and on math for girls and low-income students. CONCLUSIONS A school-based SECD program was found to influence academic outcomes among students living in low-income, urban communities. Future research should examine mechanisms by which changes in SECD influence changes in academic outcomes. PMID:24138347

  8. Using social-emotional and character development to improve academic outcomes: a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled trial in low-income, urban schools.

    PubMed

    Bavarian, Niloofar; Lewis, Kendra M; Dubois, David L; Acock, Alan; Vuchinich, Samuel; Silverthorn, Naida; Snyder, Frank J; Day, Joseph; Ji, Peter; Flay, Brian R

    2013-11-01

    School-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs can influence not only SECD but also academic-related outcomes. This study evaluated the impact of one SECD program, Positive Action (PA), on educational outcomes among low-income, urban youth. The longitudinal study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled design. Student-reported disaffection with learning and academic grades, and teacher ratings of academic ability and motivation were assessed for a cohort followed from grades 3 to 8. Aggregate school records were used to assess standardized test performance (for entire school, cohort, and demographic subgroups) and absenteeism (entire school). Multilevel growth-curve analyses tested program effects. PA significantly improved growth in academic motivation and mitigated disaffection with learning. There was a positive impact of PA on absenteeism and marginally significant impact on math performance of all students. There were favorable program effects on reading for African American boys and cohort students transitioning between grades 7 and 8, and on math for girls and low-income students. A school-based SECD program was found to influence academic outcomes among students living in low-income, urban communities. Future research should examine mechanisms by which changes in SECD influence changes in academic outcomes. © 2013, American School Health Association.

  9. Assessing the relationship between child sexual abuse and marginal living conditions on HIV/AIDS-related risk behavior among women prisoners.

    PubMed

    Mullings, J L; Marquart, J W; Brewer, V E

    2000-05-01

    There were two aims in this research. First, to examine the relationships between childhood sexual abuse and HIV drug and sexual risk taking behaviors among female prisoners, and second, to examine the relationship between a marginal adult living context and HIV drug and sexual risk taking behavior among female prisoners. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a random sample of 500 women at admission to prison in 1994. Differences between women who were sexually abused while growing up (n = 130) were compared to women who reported no sexual abuse (n = 370) along various demographic, and HIV drug and sexual risk taking dimensions. A history of sexual abuse while growing up was associated with increased sexual risk taking behaviors in adulthood. A marginal adult living situation also emerged as an important factor increasing the risk for HIV infection. Examining the co-occurrence of both childhood sexual abuse and adult marginal living context revealed a strong relationship between these two factors and HIV risk taking activities. The findings indicate that childhood sexual abuse may be a predictor for HIV sexual risk taking behaviors among incarcerated women. The marginal and chaotic adult living style of these women was also associated the extent of their HIV drug and sexual risk taking behaviors. Our research suggests that the co-occurrence of sexual victimization and marginality is a stronger predictor of HIV risk than each variable alone.

  10. Voices of the poor from the margins of Bengal: structural inequities and health.

    PubMed

    Dutta, Mohan J; Dutta, Uttaran

    2013-01-01

    In opposition to the traditional approaches to health communication that treat the subaltern sectors as passive recipients of messages of enlightenment configured in top-down interventions, the culture-centered approach foregrounds the importance of listening to subaltern communities at the margins through dialogue. We build on earlier culture-centered projects in rural communities of West Bengal, India, to develop participatory research strategies for understanding the local processes through which the structural marginalization of the poor plays out in rural Bengal. Study results point toward the marginalization of the poor both communicatively and economically, attending to the ways in which communicative marginalization lies at the heart of economic oppressions. Through locally articulated concepts of "health as shortage" and "communication as shortage," community members put forth alternative rationalities of health that highlight structural resources at the heart of health. These local articulations of shortage offer an alternative rationality for organizing health promotion efforts in the rural margins of Bengal through the foregrounding of discourses of shortage.

  11. The Future of Nontraditional/Interdisciplinary Programs: Margin or Mainstream? Selected Papers from the Annual Conference on Nontraditional and Interdisciplinary Programs (10th, Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 10-13, 1992).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reithlingshoefer, Sally J., Ed.

    This volume presents the proceedings of a conference on higher education non-traditional and interdisciplinary programs. The papers are grouped into 13 categories. The categories, together with some of the topics treated by the papers grouped within them, are as follows: (1) "Assessing Experiential Learning" (integration into a…

  12. Flight Test Results on the Stability and Control of the F-15 Quiet Spike(TradeMark) Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moua, Cheng M.; McWherter, Shaun C.; Cox, Timothy H.; Gera, Joe

    2012-01-01

    The Quiet Spike F-15B flight research program investigated supersonic shock reduction using a 24-ft sub-scale telescoping nose boom on an F-15B airplane. The program primary flight test objective was to collect flight data for aerodynamic and structural models validation up to 1.8 Mach. Other objectives were to validate the mechanical feasibility of a morphing fuselage at the operational conditions and determine the near-field shock wave characterization. The stability and controls objectives were to assess the effect of the spike on the stability, controllability, and handling qualities of the aircraft and to ensure adequate stability margins across the entire research flight envelop. The two main stability and controls issues were the effects of the telescoping nose boom influenced aerodynamics on the F-15B aircraft flight dynamics and air data and angle of attack sensors. This paper reports on the stability and controls flight envelope clearance methods and flight test analysis of the F-15B Quiet Spike. Brief pilot commentary on typical piloting tasks, approach and landing, refueling task, and air data sensitivity to the flight control system are also discussed in this report.

  13. 'Now we call it research': participatory health research involving marginalized women who use drugs.

    PubMed

    Salmon, Amy; Browne, Annette J; Pederson, Ann

    2010-12-01

    In this paper, we discuss and analyse the strategies employed and challenges encountered when conducting a recent feminist participatory action research study with highly marginalized women who were illicit drug users in an inner city area of Vancouver, Canada. Through an analysis of the political economy of participatory praxis within current neoliberal contexts, we focus on three main areas: (i) reconceptualizing the pragmatics of participation; (ii) the microeconomic implications of participatory research, including ethical issues in payment for research participation; and (iii) the value and limits of using research as a tool for activism and empowerment. We conclude with a brief discussion of what we see to be some of the most salient social justice implications arising from feminist and participatory approaches to health research within neoliberal political spaces. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  14. Feminist and community psychology ethics in research with homeless women.

    PubMed

    Paradis, E K

    2000-12-01

    This paper presents a feminist and community psychology analysis of ethical concerns that can arise throughout the process of doing research with women who are homeless. The unique contexts of the lives of women who are homeless demand that researchers redefine traditional ethical constructs such as consent, privacy, harm, and bias. Research that fails to do this may perpetuate the stereotyping, marginalization, stigmatization, and victimization homeless women face. Feminist and community research ethics must go beyond the avoidance of harm to an active investment in the well-being of marginalized individuals and communities. Using feminist and community psychology ethics, this paper addresses some common problems in research with women who are homeless, and argues for the transformation of research from a tool for the advancement of science into a strategy for the empowerment of homeless women and their communities.

  15. Principles of Protein Stability and Their Application in Computational Design.

    PubMed

    Goldenzweig, Adi; Fleishman, Sarel

    2018-01-26

    Proteins are increasingly used in basic and applied biomedical research.Many proteins, however, are only marginally stable and can be expressed in limited amounts, thus hampering research and applications. Research has revealed the thermodynamic, cellular, and evolutionary principles and mechanisms that underlie marginal stability. With this growing understanding, computational stability design methods have advanced over the past two decades starting from methods that selectively addressed only some aspects of marginal stability. Current methods are more general and, by combining phylogenetic analysis with atomistic design, have shown drastic improvements in solubility, thermal stability, and aggregation resistance while maintaining the protein's primary molecular activity. Stability design is opening the way to rational engineering of improved enzymes, therapeutics, and vaccines and to the application of protein design methodology to large proteins and molecular activities that have proven challenging in the past. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biochemistry Volume 87 is June 20, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

  16. Educator Exploration of Authentic Environmental Issues of the Coastal Margin Through Information Technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herbert, B. E.; Schielack, J. F.

    2004-12-01

    Teachers immersed in authentic science inquiry in professional development programs, with the goal of transferring the nature of scientific research to the classroom, face two enormous problems: (1) issues surrounding the required knowledgebase, skills set, and habits of mind of the teachers that control, to a large degree, the ability of teachers to immerse themselves in authentic scientific research in the available time, and (2) the difficulties in transferring this experience to the classroom. Most professional development programs utilize one of two design models, the first limits the authenticity of the scientific experience while placing more emphasis on pedagogical issues, and second where teachers are immersed in scientific research, often through mentoring programs with scientists, but with less explicit attention to problems of transfer to the classroom. The ITS Center for Teaching and Learning (its.tamu.edu), a five-year NSF-funded collaborative program that engages scientists, educational researchers, and educators in the use of information technology to improve science teaching and learning at all levels, has developed a model that supports teachers' learning about authentic scientific research, pedagogical training in inquiry-based learning, and educational research in their own classrooms on the impacts of using information technology to promote authentic science experiences for their students. This connection is achieved through scaffolding by information technology that supports the modeling, visualization and exploration of complex data sets to explore authentic scientific questions that can be integrated within the 7-16 curriculum. Our professional development model constitutes a Learning Research Cycle, which is characterized as a seamless continuum of inquiry activities and prolonged engagement in a learning community of educators, scientists, and mathematicians centered on the development of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge as it relates to the use of information technology in doing, learning, and teaching science. This talk will explore the design changes of the geoscience team of the ITS as it moved from Phase I (the planned program designed in-house) to Phase II (the experimental program being tested in-house) over two, two-year cohorts. We have assessed the impact of our Learning Research Cycle model on ITS participants using both a mixed model assessment of learning products, surveys, interviews, and teacher inquiry projects. Assessment results indicate that teachers involved in the second cohort improved their understanding of geoscience and inquiry-based learning, while improving their ability to establish authentic inquiry in their classrooms through the use of information technology and to assess student learning.

  17. Modern Process Studies in Kongsfjord, Svalbard: Arctic Geoscience Research Experience for U.S. Undergraduates (Svalbard REU)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Powell, R. D.; Brigham-Grette, J.

    2011-12-01

    The Svalbard REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program focuses on understanding how high latitude glaciers, meltwater streams, and sedimentation in lakes and fjords respond to changing climate. Since summer of 2004, six under-graduate students have been selected to participate in the summer field program. Students work on individual projects and in close conjunction with faculty advisors and other student researchers. They formulate their own research questions, develop their project, and complete their field research during a five-week program on Svalbard, Norway. Following the summer program, students complete their projects at their home institution during the following academic year as a senior thesis. A spring symposium brings all participants back together again with their final results. The most recent field season was completed in Kongsfjord (79N) showing that the contemporary studies of tidewater glacier margins provide an unparalleled opportunity for introducing motivated third year undergraduate students to the challenges and rewards of polar geoscientific field research. Rates of rapid change in this high-latitude Arctic environment emphasize the complexity of the Earth System at the interface of the ocean, atmosphere and cryosphere. Given background information in glacial and marine geology, glaciology, hydrology, climatology and fjord oceanography not routinely offered in undergraduate curricula, students develop the science questions to be addressed and establish a field plan for instrumentation and sampling. Working together in small boats in one of the most challenging natural environments, the students expand their leadership skills, learn the value of teamwork and collaborative data sharing while maintaining a strong sense of ownership over their individual science projects. The rigors of studying an actively calving tidewater glacier also builds on their outdoor skills, especially when it is necessary to improvise and become resourceful due to instrumentation failures or weather-related delays. Self-confidence and problem solving skills emerge from both field and laboratory research operations when students draw upon and expand their base of practical knowledge via trial and error. Logistical facilities in Ny Alesund offer an international experience with opportunities for dialog with scientists of a wide variety of disciplines working at research stations representing more than 12 different European and Asian countries. The program is funded by the NSF's Office of Polar Programs and has close ties and collaboration with the Norwegian University in Svalbard (UNIS) and Norsk Polar Institute scientists. NSF also funds a science teacher as a PolarTREC participant.

  18. The effectiveness of ethics education: a quasi-experimental field study.

    PubMed

    May, Douglas R; Luth, Matthew T

    2013-06-01

    Ethical conduct is the hallmark of excellence in engineering and scientific research, design, and practice. While undergraduate and graduate programs in these areas routinely emphasize ethical conduct, few receive formal ethics training as part of their curricula. The first purpose of this research study was to assess the relative effectiveness of ethics education in enhancing individuals' general knowledge of the responsible conduct of research practices and their level of moral reasoning. Secondly, we examined the effects of ethics education on the positive psychological outcomes of perspective-taking, moral efficacy, moral courage, and moral meaningfulness. To examine our research hypotheses, we utilized a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design consisting of three ethics education groups (control, embedded modules, and stand-alone courses). Findings revealed that both embedded and stand alone courses were effective in enhancing participants' perspective-taking, moral efficacy, and moral courage. Moral meaningfulness was marginally enhanced for the embedded module condition. Moral judgment and knowledge of responsible conduct of research practices were not influenced by either ethics education condition. Contrary to expectations, stand alone courses were not superior to embedded modules in influencing the positive psychological outcomes investigated. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.

  19. Resilient Propulsion Control Research for the NASA Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) Project

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Guo, Ten-Huei; Litt, Jonathan S.

    2007-01-01

    Gas turbine engines are designed to provide sufficient safety margins to guarantee robust operation with an exceptionally long life. However, engine performance requirements may be drastically altered during abnormal flight conditions or emergency maneuvers. In some situations, the conservative design of the engine control system may not be in the best interest of overall aircraft safety; it may be advantageous to "sacrifice" the engine to "save" the aircraft. Motivated by this opportunity, the NASA Aviation Safety Program is conducting resilient propulsion research aimed at developing adaptive engine control methodologies to operate the engine beyond the normal domain for emergency operations to maximize the possibility of safely landing the damaged aircraft. Previous research studies and field incident reports show that the propulsion system can be an effective tool to help control and eventually land a damaged aircraft. Building upon the flight-proven Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA) experience, this area of research will focus on how engine control systems can improve aircraft safe-landing probabilities under adverse conditions. This paper describes the proposed research topics in Engine System Requirements, Engine Modeling and Simulation, Engine Enhancement Research, Operational Risk Analysis and Modeling, and Integrated Flight and Propulsion Controller Designs that support the overall goal.

  20. BRITICE-CHRONO and GLANAM: new exciting developments in the study of circum-North Atlantic ice sheets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benetti, Sara; Clark, Chris D.; Petter Serjup, Hans

    2013-04-01

    This talk will present two newly funded projects on the reconstruction of former marine-based ice sheets bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and their effects on the surrounding continental margins. The NERC-funded BRITICE-CHRONO started in October 2012 and its consortium involves scientists from all over the UK with partners in Ireland, Canada and Norway. It aims to carry out a systematic campaign to collect and date material to constrain the timing and rates of change of the collapse of the former British-Irish Ice Sheet. This will be achieved by focussing on eight transects running from the shelf edge to a short distance onshore and acquiring marine and terrestrial samples for geochronometric dating. The sampling will be accomplished by two research cruises and eight fieldwork campaigns around UK and Ireland. The project will result in the world's best empirical reconstruction of a shrinking ice sheet, for use in improving ice sheet models, and to provide the long term context against which contemporary observations can be assessed. The FP7-funded Marie Curie Initial Training Networks GLANAM (Glaciated North Atlantic Margins) will start in April 2013 and aims at improving the career prospects and development of young researchers in both the public and private sector within the field of earth science, focusing specifically on North Atlantic glaciated margins. The training network comprises ten partner institutions, both academic and industrial, from Norway, UK and Denmark and will train eleven PhD and four postdoctoral researchers. The young scientists will perform multi-disciplinary research and receive training through three interconnected workpackages that collectively address knowledge gaps related to the glacial sedimentary depocentres on the North Atlantic margins. Filling these gaps will not only result in major new insights regarding glacial processes on continental margins in general, but critically will have particular impact on the exploitation of hydrocarbons in glacial sediments, notably the gas hydrate energy potential on the European continental margin, and will also provide paleoclimate information essential for understanding the role of marine-based ice sheets in the climate system.

  1. Capacitorless 1T-DRAM on crystallized poly-Si TFT.

    PubMed

    Kim, Min Soo; Cho, Won Ju

    2011-07-01

    The single-transistor dynamic random-access memory (1T-DRAM) using a polycrystalline-silicon thin-film transistor (poly-Si TFT) was investigated. A 100-nm amorphous silicon thin film was deposited onto a 200-nm oxidized silicon wafer via low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD), and the amorphous silicon layer was crystallized via eximer laser annealing (ELA) with a KrF source of 248 nm wavelength and 400 mJ/cm2 power. The fabricated capacitor less 1T-DRAM on the poly-Si TFT was evaluated via impact ionization and gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) current programming. The device showed a clear memory margin between the "1" and "0" states, and as the channel length decreased, a floating body effect which induces a kink effect increases with high mobility. Furthermore, the GIDL current programming showed improved memory properties compared to the impact ionization method. Although the sensing margins and retention times in both program methods are commercially insufficient, it was confirmed the feasibility of the application of 1T-DRAM operation to TFTs.

  2. The business of academic plastic surgery.

    PubMed

    Levin, L Scott

    2010-07-01

    Given the changes in health care economics and the changes in increasing rates of uninsured and undercovered patients in the United States, the revenue stream for all physicians, and particularly those in academic medical centers, is subject to fluctuations that make it difficult to fund the missions of education and research. Often, academic plastic surgeons are required to use clinical revenue to supplement efforts in research and education. A large margin on clinical revenue that was present perhaps 10 or 20 years ago has been eroded by many socioeconomic factors, making it difficult to provide optimal training in academic environments for our residents. In an attempt to ascertain "best in show," a survey was sent to 89 plastic surgery programs that requested information regarding faculty salaries, relative value units, National Institutes of Health support, ancillary revenue support for taking call, and the number of faculty within individual programs. Fifty-three programs responded with completed data. The following practices directly contribute to stable financial environments: external support for call coverage, recruitment support, and gain sharing associated with health system profitability. Coverage agreements with outside facilities can be lucrative if properly negotiated. Paid medical directorships for administrative/clinical oversight are helpful. Payor mixes with high percentages of commercial, managed care, and self-pay (aesthetic) and low percentages of Medicaid are beneficial. Practices with a healthy mix of aesthetic surgery add strength.

  3. Instrumentation, Control, and Intelligent Systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    2005-09-01

    Abundant and affordable energy is required for U.S. economic stability and national security. Advanced nuclear power plants offer the best near-term potential to generate abundant, affordable, and sustainable electricity and hydrogen without appreciable generation of greenhouse gases. To that end, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been charged with leading the revitalization of nuclear power in the U.S. The INL vision is to become the preeminent nuclear energy laboratory with synergistic, world-class, multi-program capabilities and partnerships by 2015. The vision focuses on four essential destinations: (1) Be the preeminent internationally-recognized nuclear energy research, development, and demonstration laboratory; (2) Be a majormore » center for national security technology development and demonstration; (3) Be a multi-program national laboratory with world-class capabilities; (4) Foster academic, industry, government, and international collaborations to produce the needed investment, programs, and expertise. Crucial to that effort is the inclusion of research in advanced instrumentation, control, and intelligent systems (ICIS) for use in current and advanced power and energy security systems to enable increased performance, reliability, security, and safety. For nuclear energy plants, ICIS will extend the lifetime of power plant systems, increase performance and power output, and ensure reliable operation within the system's safety margin; for national security applications, ICIS will enable increased protection of our nation's critical infrastructure. In general, ICIS will cost-effectively increase performance for all energy security systems.« less

  4. Marginal kidney donor

    PubMed Central

    Gopalakrishnan, Ganesh; Gourabathini, Siva Prasad

    2007-01-01

    Renal transplantation is the treatment of choice for a medically eligible patient with end stage renal disease. The number of renal transplants has increased rapidly over the last two decades. However, the demand for organs has increased even more. This disparity between the availability of organs and waitlisted patients for transplants has forced many transplant centers across the world to use marginal kidneys and donors. We performed a Medline search to establish the current status of marginal kidney donors in the world. Transplant programs using marginal deceased renal grafts is well established. The focus is now on efforts to improve their results. Utilization of non-heart-beating donors is still in a plateau phase and comprises a minor percentage of deceased donations. The main concern is primary non-function of the renal graft apart from legal and ethical issues. Transplants with living donors outnumbered cadaveric transplants at many centers in the last decade. There has been an increased use of marginal living kidney donors with some acceptable medical risks. Our primary concern is the safety of the living donor. There is not enough scientific data available to quantify the risks involved for such donation. The definition of marginal living donor is still not clear and there are no uniform recommendations. The decision must be tailored to each donor who in turn should be actively involved at all levels of the decision-making process. In the current circumstances, our responsibility is very crucial in making decisions for either accepting or rejecting a marginal living donor. PMID:19718332

  5. The deep Algerian margin structure revisited by the Algerian-French SPIRAL research program, stage 2 : Wide-ange seismic experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klingelhoefer, Frauke; Yellès, Abdelkarim; Bracène, Rabah; Graindorge, David; Ouabadi, Aziouz; Schnürle, Philippe; Scientific Party, Spiral

    2010-05-01

    During the second leg of the Algerien - French SPIRAL (Sismique Profonde et Investigation Regionale du Nord de l'ALgerie) cruise conducted on the R/V Atalante in October and November 2009 an extensive wide-angle seismic data-set was acquired on 5 regional transects off Algeria, from Arzew bay to the west, to Annaba to the east. The profiles are between 80 and 180 km in length and around 40 ocean-bottom seismometers were deployed on each profile. A 8350 cu. inch tuned airgun array consisting of 10 Bolt airguns was used to generate of deep frequency to allow for a good penetration. All profiles were extended on land up to 150 km by land-stations to better constrain the structure of the margin and the nature of the ocean-continent transition zone. Coincident reflection seismic, gravity and magnetic data were acquired on all profiles during the first leg of the cruise. The resulting data quality is very good with deep penetrating arrivals on most of the instruments. Only on very few instruments a deep salt layer inhibits deeper penetration of the seismic energy. Two instruments were lost and all other yielded useful information on geophone and hydrophone channels. Instruments located close to the coast show arrivals from thick sedimentary layers. Instruments located on oceanic crust indicate a relatively thin crust overlying a mantle layer characterised by seismic velocities of 8 km/s. Forward and inverse modelling of the wide-angle seismic data will help constrain the deep structure of the margin, the nature of the crust and might help to constrain possible existence of a detached slab in the upper mantle. Integration of the wide-angle seismic data with multichannel seismic, gravity and magnetic data will enable us to better understand the tectonic history and the structure of the Algerian margin.

  6. Southeast Offshore Storage Resource Assessment (SOSRA): Evaluation of CO2 Storage Potential on the Continental Shelf from North Carolina to Florida

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knapp, J. H.; Knapp, C. C.; Brantley, D.; Lakshmi, V.; Howard, S.

    2016-12-01

    The Southeast Offshore Storage Resource Assessment (SOSRA) project is part of a major new program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy for the next two and a half years, to evaluate the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico offshore margins of the United States for geologic storage capacity of CO2. Collaborating organizations include the Southern States Energy Board, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, University of South Carolina, Oklahoma State University, Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, South Carolina Geological Survey, and Geological Survey of Alabama. Team members from South Carolina are focused on the Atlantic offshore, from North Carolina to Florida. Geologic sequestration of CO2 is a major research focus globally, and requires robust knowledge of the porosity and permeability distribution in upper crustal sediments. Using legacy seismic reflection, refraction, and well data from a previous phase of offshore petroleum exploration on the Atlantic margin, we are analyzing the rock physics characteristics of the offshore Mesozoic and Cenozoic stratigraphy on a regional scale from North Carolina to Florida. Major features of the margin include the Carolina Trough, the Southeast Georgia Embayment, the Blake Plateau basin, and the Blake Outer Ridge. Previous studies indicate sediment accumulations on this margin may be as thick as 12-15 km. The study will apply a diverse suite of data analysis techniques designed to meet the goal of predicting storage capacity to within ±30%. Synthetic seismograms and checkshot surveys will be used to tie well and seismic data. Seismic interpretation and geophysical log analysis will employ leading-edge software technology and state-of-the art techniques for stratigraphic and structural interpretation and the definition of storage units and their physical and chemical properties. This approach will result in a robust characterization of offshore CO2 storage opportunities, as well as a volumetric analysis that is consistent with established procedures.

  7. Gaining Access to Economically Marginalized Rural Populations: Lessons Learned from Nonprobability Sampling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mammen, Sheila; Sano, Yoshie

    2012-01-01

    Poverty is a significant problem in rural America. Gaining access to economically marginalized rural populations in order to recruit individuals to participate in a research study, however, is often a challenge. This article compares three different nonprobability sampling techniques that have been used to recruit rural, low-income…

  8. Voices Unheard: Using Intersectionality to Understand Identity among Sexually Marginalized Undergraduate College Students of Color

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russell, Elizabeth Irene Ann Annie

    2012-01-01

    This study used intersectionality as a framework and methodology to understand identity among sexually marginalized undergraduate college students of color. The research questions were as follows: (1) What are the experiences of QLGBTSGL (Queer, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Same Gender Loving) undergraduate students of color on a college…

  9. Optimal Investment in HIV Prevention Programs: More Is Not Always Better

    PubMed Central

    Brandeau, Margaret L.; Zaric, Gregory S.

    2008-01-01

    This paper develops a mathematical/economic framework to address the following question: Given a particular population, a specific HIV prevention program, and a fixed amount of funds that could be invested in the program, how much money should be invested? We consider the impact of investment in a prevention program on the HIV sufficient contact rate (defined via production functions that describe the change in the sufficient contact rate as a function of expenditure on a prevention program), and the impact of changes in the sufficient contact rate on the spread of HIV (via an epidemic model). In general, the cost per HIV infection averted is not constant as the level of investment changes, so the fact that some investment in a program is cost effective does not mean that more investment in the program is cost effective. Our framework provides a formal means for determining how the cost per infection averted changes with the level of expenditure. We can use this information as follows: When the program has decreasing marginal cost per infection averted (which occurs, for example, with a growing epidemic and a prevention program with increasing returns to scale), it is optimal either to spend nothing on the program or to spend the entire budget. When the program has increasing marginal cost per infection averted (which occurs, for example, with a shrinking epidemic and a prevention program with decreasing returns to scale), it may be optimal to spend some but not all of the budget. The amount that should be spent depends on both the rate of disease spread and the production function for the prevention program. We illustrate our ideas with two examples: that of a needle exchange program, and that of a methadone maintenance program. PMID:19938440

  10. A Pareto analysis approach to assess relevant marginal CO{sub 2} footprint for petroleum products

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tehrani, Nejad M. Alireza, E-mail: alireza.tehraninejad@gmail.com

    2015-07-15

    Recently, linear programing (LP) models have been extended to track the marginal CO{sub 2} intensity of automotive fuels at the refinery gate. The obtained CO{sub 2} data are recommended for policy making because they capture the economic and environmental tensions as well as the processing effects related to oil products. However, they are proven to be extremely sensitive to small perturbations and therefore useless in practice. In this paper, we first investigate the theoretical reasons of this drawback. Then, we develop a multiple objective LP framework to assess relevant marginal CO{sub 2} footprints that preserve both defensibility and stability atmore » a satisfactory level of acceptance. A case study illustrates this new methodology. - Highlights: • Refining LP models have limitations to provide useful marginal CO{sub 2} footprints. • A multi objective optimization framework is developed to assess relevant CO{sub 2} data. • Within a European Refinig industry, diesel is more CO{sub 2} intensive than gasoline.« less

  11. Opal-CT in chert beneath the toe of the Tohoku margin and its influence on the seismic aseismic transition in subduction zones

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kameda, Jun; Okamoto, Atsushi; Sato, Kiminori; Fujimoto, Koichiro; Yamaguchi, Asuka; Kimura, Gaku

    2017-01-01

    Thick accumulation of chert is a ubiquitous feature of old oceanic plates at convergent margins. In this study, we investigate chert fragments recovered by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program expedition 343 at the Japan Trench where the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mw 9.0) occurred. This sample provides a unique opportunity to investigate in situ chert diagenesis at an active subduction margin and its influence on the kinematics of megathrust faulting. Our mineralogical analyses revealed that the chert is characterized by hydrous opal-CT and may therefore be highly deformable via pressure solution creep and readily accommodate shear strain between the converging plates at driving stresses of kilopascal order. As chert diagenesis advances, any further deformation requires stresses of >100 MPa, given the increasing transport distances for solutes as represented in cherts on land. The chert diagenesis is thus related to the mechanical transition from a weakly to strongly coupled plate interface at this margin.

  12. Active suppression of a leaf meristem orchestrates determinate leaf growth

    PubMed Central

    Alvarez, John Paul; Furumizu, Chihiro; Efroni, Idan; Eshed, Yuval; Bowman, John L

    2016-01-01

    Leaves are flat determinate organs derived from indeterminate shoot apical meristems. The presence of a specific leaf meristem is debated, as anatomical features typical of meristems are not present in leaves. Here we demonstrate that multiple NGATHA (NGA) and CINCINNATA-class-TCP (CIN-TCP) transcription factors act redundantly, shortly after leaf initiation, to gradually restrict the activity of a leaf meristem in Arabidopsis thaliana to marginal and basal domains, and that their absence confers persistent marginal growth to leaves, cotyledons and floral organs. Following primordia initiation, the restriction of the broadly acting leaf meristem to the margins is mediated by the juxtaposition of adaxial and abaxial domains and maintained by WOX homeobox transcription factors, whereas other marginal elaboration genes are dispensable for its maintenance. This genetic framework parallels the morphogenetic program of shoot apical meristems and may represent a relic of an ancestral shoot system from which seed plant leaves evolved. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15023.001 PMID:27710768

  13. Altimetry in Marginal, Semi-Enclosed and Coastal Seas. Part 1; Marginal and Semi-Enclosed Seas

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kantha, Lakshmi H.; Beitzell, Diane M.; Harper, Scott L.; Leben, Robert R.

    1994-01-01

    The objective of this research is to deduce subtidal sea level anomalies in marginal, semi enclosed and coastal seas around the world from altimetric observations so that this data resource can be used both by itself and in conjunction with numerical circulation models to better understand and predict the circulation in these seas. The regions of interest include bodies of water that form the periphery of the principal ocean basins, both here and abroad as shown in the world bathymetry map.

  14. Transfer of New Earth Science Understandings to Classroom Teaching: Lessons Learned From Teachers on the Leading Edge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Butler, R.; Ault, C.; Bishop, E.; Southworth-Neumeyer, T.; Magura, B.; Hedeen, C.; Groom, R.; Shay, K.; Wagner, R.

    2006-05-01

    Teachers on the Leading Edge (TOTLE) provided a field-based teacher professional development program that explored the active continental margin geology of the Pacific Northwest during a two-week field workshop that traversed Oregon from the Pacific Coast to the Snake River. The seventeen teachers on this journey of geological discovery experienced regional examples of subduction-margin geology and examined the critical role of geophysics in connecting geologic features with plate tectonic processes. Two examples of successful transfer of science content learning to classroom teaching are: (1) Great Earthquakes and Tsunamis. This topic was addressed through instruction on earthquake seismology; field observations of tsunami geology; examination of tsunami preparedness of a coastal community; and interactive learning activities for children at an Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) Science Camp. Teachers at Sunnyside Environmental School in Portland developed a story line for middle school students called "The Tsunami Hotline" in which inquiries from citizens serve as launch points for studies of tsunamis, earthquakes, and active continental margin geology. OMSI Science Camps is currently developing a new summer science camp program entitled "Tsunami Field Study" for students ages 12-14, based largely on TOTLE's Great Earthquakes and Tsunamis Day. (2) The Grand Cross Section. Connecting regional geologic features with plate tectonic processes was addressed many times during the field workshop. This culminated with teachers drawing cross sections from the Juan de Fuca Ridge across the active continental margin to the accreted terranes of northeast Oregon. Several TOTLE teachers have successfully transferred this activity to their classrooms by having student teams relate earthquakes and volcanoes to plate tectonics through artistic renderings of The Grand Cross Section. Analysis of program learning transfer to classroom teaching (or lack thereof) clearly indicates the importance of pedagogical content knowledge and having teachers share their wisdom in crafting new earth science content knowledge into learning activities. These lessons and adjustments to TOTLE program goals and strategies may be valuable to other Geoscience educators seeking to prepare K-12 teachers to convey the discoveries of EarthScope's USArray and Plate Boundary Observatory experiments to their students.

  15. Positive Margins by Oropharyngeal Subsite in Transoral Robotic Surgery for T1/T2 Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

    PubMed

    Persky, Michael J; Albergotti, William G; Rath, Tanya J; Kubik, Mark W; Abberbock, Shira; Geltzeiler, Mathew; Kim, Seungwon; Duvvuri, Umamaheswar; Ferris, Robert L

    2018-04-01

    Objective To compare positive margin rates between the 2 most common subsites of oropharyngeal transoral robotic surgery (TORS), the base of tongue (BOT) and the tonsil, as well as identify preoperative imaging characteristics that predispose toward positive margins. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Tertiary care referral center. Subjects and Methods We compared the final and intraoperative positive margin rate between TORS resections for tonsil and BOT oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), as well as the effect of margins on treatment. A blinded neuroradiologist examined the preoperative imaging of BOT tumors to measure their dimensions and patterns of spread and provided a prediction of final margin results. Results Between January 2010 and May 2016, a total of 254 patients underwent TORS for OPSCC. A total of 140 patients who underwent TORS for T1/T2 OPSCC met inclusion criteria. A final positive margin is significantly more likely for BOT tumors than tonsil tumors (19.6% vs 4.5%, respectively, P = .004) and likewise for intraoperative margins of BOT and tonsil tumors (35.3% vs 12.4%, respectively; P = .002). A positive final margin is 10 times more likely to receive chemoradiation compared to a negative margin, controlling for extracapsular spread and nodal status (odds ratio, 9.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-59.6; P = .02). Preoperative imaging characteristics and subjective radiologic examination of BOT tumors did not correlate with final margin status. Conclusion Positive margins are significantly more likely during TORS BOT resections compared to tonsil resections. More research is needed to help surgeons predict which T1/T2 tumors will be difficult to completely extirpate.

  16. The Promise of Hope: A Study of Educational Opportunities for Marginalized Students of Color

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pitts, Jamilla; Sanders-Funnye, Sharon; Lukenchuk, Antonina

    2014-01-01

    This study examines innovative practices that have been implemented in a summer session for an elementary school district in the Chicago area, and how program practices of a community college program work to provide academic support for first-generation, college-bound students from low-income households to encourage postsecondary educational…

  17. Moving from the Margins: Culturally Safe Teacher Education in Remote Northwestern British Columbia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harrison, Edward B.; Lautensach, Alexander K.; McDonald, Verna Lynn

    2012-01-01

    In 2007 the University of Northern British Columbia initiated a two-year elementary teacher education program at the Northwest Campus in Terrace, British Columbia. The program was designed to meet specific community needs in the North that arise from inequities in the cultural safety of Indigenous teachers and students. The authors share three…

  18. Different for Girls? An Exploration of the Impact of "Playing for Success."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharp, Caroline; Kendall, Lesley; Schagen, Ian

    2003-01-01

    A program providing study support to underachieving youth using British football as a motivator was evaluated by comparing 1,247 participants and 244 controls. The program helped raise achievement and seemed equally effective for males and females. There was no evidence that the sports emphasis marginalized girls or ethnic minorities. (Contains 25…

  19. Whose Banner Are We Waving? Exploring STEM Partnerships for Marginalized Urban Youth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ridgeway, Monica L.; Yerrick, Randy K.

    2018-01-01

    This case study examines after school programming in citizen science from the perspective of Critical Race Theory. During the course of enacting community outreach projects this data was used to examine the positioning of experts, student, and teachers within the program. This study explores the role of race and ethnicity, and the ways in which…

  20. The Contribution of Urban 4-H to Social Capital and the Implications for Social Justice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fields, Nia Imani

    2017-01-01

    The idea that equal education exists in the United States is a misconception, and positive youth development programs are a proposed response to inequitable education. Youth development programs have the potential to increase one's social capital, particularly for youths who are marginalized by inequitable access to quality education. The study…

  1. Priority setting in healthcare: towards guidelines for the program budgeting and marginal analysis framework.

    PubMed

    Peacock, Stuart J; Mitton, Craig; Ruta, Danny; Donaldson, Cam; Bate, Angela; Hedden, Lindsay

    2010-10-01

    Economists' approaches to priority setting focus on the principles of opportunity cost, marginal analysis and choice under scarcity. These approaches are based on the premise that it is possible to design a rational priority setting system that will produce legitimate changes in resource allocation. However, beyond issuing guidance at the national level, economic approaches to priority setting have had only a moderate impact in practice. In particular, local health service organizations - such as health authorities, health maintenance organizations, hospitals and healthcare trusts - have had difficulty implementing evidence from economic appraisals. Yet, in the context of making decisions between competing claims on scarce health service resources, economic tools and thinking have much to offer. The purpose of this article is to describe and discuss ten evidence-based guidelines for the successful design and implementation of a program budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) priority setting exercise. PBMA is a framework that explicitly recognizes the need to balance pragmatic and ethical considerations with economic rationality when making resource allocation decisions. While the ten guidelines are drawn from the PBMA framework, they may be generalized across a range of economic approaches to priority setting.

  2. Marginal Consistency: Upper-Bounding Partition Functions over Commutative Semirings.

    PubMed

    Werner, Tomás

    2015-07-01

    Many inference tasks in pattern recognition and artificial intelligence lead to partition functions in which addition and multiplication are abstract binary operations forming a commutative semiring. By generalizing max-sum diffusion (one of convergent message passing algorithms for approximate MAP inference in graphical models), we propose an iterative algorithm to upper bound such partition functions over commutative semirings. The iteration of the algorithm is remarkably simple: change any two factors of the partition function such that their product remains the same and their overlapping marginals become equal. In many commutative semirings, repeating this iteration for different pairs of factors converges to a fixed point when the overlapping marginals of every pair of factors coincide. We call this state marginal consistency. During that, an upper bound on the partition function monotonically decreases. This abstract algorithm unifies several existing algorithms, including max-sum diffusion and basic constraint propagation (or local consistency) algorithms in constraint programming. We further construct a hierarchy of marginal consistencies of increasingly higher levels and show than any such level can be enforced by adding identity factors of higher arity (order). Finally, we discuss instances of the framework for several semirings, including the distributive lattice and the max-sum and sum-product semirings.

  3. Advanced Simulation & Computing FY15 Implementation Plan Volume 2, Rev. 0.5

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McCoy, Michel; Archer, Bill; Matzen, M. Keith

    2014-09-16

    The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is a single, highly integrated technical program for maintaining the surety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses nuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program requires the continued use of experimental facilities and programs, and the computational enhancements to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities andmore » computational resources that support annual stockpile assessment and certification, study advanced nuclear weapons design and manufacturing processes, analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and provide the tools to enable stockpile Life Extension Programs (LEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balance of resource, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. As the program approaches the end of its second decade, ASC is intently focused on increasing predictive capabilities in a three-dimensional (3D) simulation environment while maintaining support to the SSP. The program continues to improve its unique tools for solving progressively more difficult stockpile problems (sufficient resolution, dimensionality, and scientific details), quantify critical margins and uncertainties, and resolve increasingly difficult analyses needed for the SSP. Where possible, the program also enables the use of high-performance simulation and computing tools to address broader national security needs, such as foreign nuclear weapon assessments and counternuclear terrorism.« less

  4. Evaluating the need for alternative didactic learning options in pediatric dental residency training.

    PubMed

    Keck, Douglas B; Rutkauskas, John S; Clothey, Rebecca A

    2009-06-01

    The need for an alternative means of delivery of a didactic curriculum to pediatric dental residents is described. It is our hope with this project to encourage a much-needed didactic curriculum for programs lacking faculty and to endorse other programs in which academicians exist but cannot cover all the material with which a resident needs to become familiar in the two years of postgraduate residency training. A decrease in faculty number due to retirement, debt burden, or marginal recruitment techniques along with an increase in positions in pediatric dentistry residency programs poses a unique educational dilemma. Using a mixed-method research methodology, we sent a twelve-question survey to 105 pediatric dentistry residency program directors and department chairs, followed by eight telephone interviews. Results from a 55 percent return rate show that the debt burden of most pediatric dental residents is well over $100,000 and that this affects a resident's decision to enter academia, as does the relative lack of positive recruitment techniques and poor faculty remuneration. The survey results affirm the need for improvement in the didactic curriculum of pediatric dentistry residents and show that program directors and department chairs also feel that an alternative delivery method using DVD or online/web-based programs would be welcomed. Despite their extremely heavy workloads, educators are willing to contribute by providing lectures or reading lists in their area of expertise.

  5. Positive surgical margins in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy: a multi-institutional analysis of oncologic outcomes (leave no tumor behind).

    PubMed

    Khalifeh, Ali; Kaouk, Jihad H; Bhayani, Sam; Rogers, Craig; Stifelman, Michael; Tanagho, Youssef S; Kumar, Ramesh; Gorin, Michael A; Sivarajan, Ganesh; Samarasekera, Dinesh; Allaf, Mohamad E

    2013-11-01

    Expanding indications for robot-assisted partial nephrectomy raise major oncologic concerns for positive surgical margins. Previous reports showed no correlation between positive surgical margins and oncologic outcomes. We report a multi-institutional experience with the oncologic outcomes of positive surgical margins on robot-assisted partial nephrectomy. Pathological and clinical followup data were reviewed from an institutional review board approved, prospectively maintained joint database from 5 institutions. Tumors with malignant pathology were isolated and statistically analyzed for demographics and oncologic followup. The log rank test was used to compare recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival between patients with positive and negative surgical margins. The proportional hazards method was used to assess the influence of multiple factors, including positive surgical margins, on recurrence and metastasis. A total of 943 robot-assisted partial nephrectomies for malignant tumors were successfully completed. Of the patients 21 (2.2%) had positive surgical margins on final pathological assessment, resulting in 2 groups, including the 21 with positive surgical margins and 922 with negative surgical margins. Positive surgical margin cases had higher recurrence and metastasis rates (p<0.001). As projected by the Kaplan-Meier method in the population as a whole at followup out to 63.6 months, 5-year recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival was 94.8% and 97.5%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival between patients with positive and negative surgical margins (log rank test<0.001), which favored negative surgical margins. Positive surgical margins showed an 18.4-fold higher HR for recurrence when adjusted for multiple tumors, tumor size, tumor growth pattern and pathological stage. Positive surgical margins on final pathological evaluation increase the HR of recurrence and metastasis. In addition to pathological and molecular tumor characteristics, this should be considered to plan appropriate management. Copyright © 2013 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. MOLECULAR APPROACHES FOR IN SITU IDENTIFCIATION OF NITRATE UTILIZATION BY MARINE BACTERIA AND PHYTOPLANKTON

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Frischer, Marc E.; Verity, Peter G.; Gilligan, Mathew R.

    Traditionally, the importance of inorganic nitrogen (N) for the nutrition and growth of marine phytoplankton has been recognized, while inorganic N utilization by bacteria has received less attention. Likewise, organic N has been thought to be important for heterotrophic organisms but not for phytoplankton. However, accumulating evidence suggests that bacteria compete with phytoplankton for nitrate (NO3-) and other N species. The consequences of this competition may have a profound effect on the flux of N, and therefore carbon (C), in ocean margins. Because it has been difficult to differentiate between N uptake by heterotrophic bacterioplankton versus autotrophic phytoplankton, the processesmore » that control N utilization, and the consequences of these competitive interactions, have traditionally been difficult to study. Significant bacterial utilization of DIN may have a profound effect on the flux of N and C in the water column because sinks for dissolved N that do not incorporate inorganic C represent mechanisms that reduce the atmospheric CO2 drawdown via the ?biological pump? and limit the flux of POC from the euphotic zone. This project was active over the period of 1998-2007 with support from the DOE Biotechnology Investigations ? Ocean Margins Program (BI-OMP). Over this period we developed a tool kit of molecular methods (PCR, RT-PCR, Q-PCR, QRT-PCR, and TRFLP) and combined isotope mass spectrometry and flow-cytometric approaches that allow selective isolation, characterization, and study of the diversity and genetic expression (mRNA) of the structural gene responsible for the assimilation of NO3- by heterotrophic bacteria (nasA). As a result of these studies we discovered that bacteria capable of assimilating NO3- are ubiquitous in marine waters, that the nasA gene is expressed in these environments, that heterotrophic bacteria can account for a significant fraction of total DIN uptake in different ocean margin systems, that the expression of nasA is differentially regulated in genetically distinct NO3- assimilating bacteria, and that the best predictors of nasA gene expression are either NO3- concentration or NO3- uptake rates. These studies provide convincing evidence of the importance of bacterial utilization of NO3-, insight into controlling processes, and provide a rich dataset that are being used to develop linked C and N modeling components necessary to evaluate the significance of bacterial DIN utilization to global C cycling. Furthermore, as a result of BI-OMP funding we made exciting strides towards institutionalizing a research and education based collaboration between the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) and Savannah State University (SSU), an historically black university within the University System of Georgia with undergraduate and now graduate programs in marine science. The BI-OMP program, in addition to supporting undergraduate (24) graduate (10) and postdoctoral (2) students, contributed to the development of a new graduate program in Marine Sciences at SSU that remains an important legacy of this project. The long-term goals of these collaborations are to increase the capacity for marine biotechnology research and to increase representation of minorities in marine, environmental and biotechnological sciences.« less

  7. Indian National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 01 report

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Collett, Timothy S.; Riedel, M.; Boswell, R.; Presley, J.; Kumar, P.; Sathe, A.; Sethi, A.; Lall, M.V.; ,

    2015-01-01

    The Indian National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 01 was designed to study the gas-hydrate occurrences off the Indian Peninsula and along the Andaman convergent margin with special emphasis on understanding the geologic and geochemical controls on the occurrence of gas hydrate in these two diverse settings. During Indian National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 01, dedicated gas-hydrate coring, drilling, and downhole logging operations were conducted from 28 April 2006 to 19 August 2006.

  8. Test and evaluation of the HIDEC engine uptrim algorithm. [Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control for aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ray, R. J.; Myers, L. P.

    1986-01-01

    The highly integrated digital electronic control (HIDEC) program will demonstrate and evaluate the improvements in performance and mission effectiveness that result from integrated engine-airframe control systems. Performance improvements will result from an adaptive engine stall margin mode, a highly integrated mode that uses the airplane flight conditions and the resulting inlet distortion to continuously compute engine stall margin. When there is excessive stall margin, the engine is uptrimmed for more thrust by increasing engine pressure ratio (EPR). The EPR uptrim logic has been evaluated and implemente into computer simulations. Thrust improvements over 10 percent are predicted for subsonic flight conditions. The EPR uptrim was successfully demonstrated during engine ground tests. Test results verify model predictions at the conditions tested.

  9. Publications - GMC 252 | Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical

    Science.gov Websites

    DGGS GMC 252 Publication Details Title: Kemik sandstone - petrology, physical properties, and facies of Continental Margins Program, 1995, Kemik sandstone - petrology, physical properties, and facies of outcrop

  10. A critical exploration of science doctoral programs: Counterstories from underrepresented women of color

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bancroft, Senetta F.

    Most studies exploring the experiences of underrepresented doctoral students of color in science fields focus on their socialization into predominantly white institutions. While the socialization process is fundamental to doctoral success and consequently deserves attention, it is critical to inquire into how the widespread and lasting perception of people of color as socioculturally deficient shapes underrepresented students` socialization into science doctoral programs. Further, the existing research literature and educational policies addressing the persistent underrepresentation of students of color in science doctorates remain fixated on increasing racial diversity for U.S. economic security rather than racial equity. In view of the limitation of existing research literature, in this study, drawing from critical race theories, fictive-kinship, and forms of capital, I use counterstorytelling to recast racial inequities in the education of science doctorates as a problem of social justice, not as an issue of the students' sociocultural deficits or as a matter of economic security. Through interviews I examined the experiences, from elementary school to current careers, of three women of color who were science doctoral students. Participants' counterstories revealed institutionalized racism embedded in doctoral programs exploited their identities and dismissed their lived experiences, thereby, relegating them to outsiders-within academe. This marginalization precluded the inclusive socialization of participants into their doctoral programs and ultimately set up barriers to their pursuit of scientific careers. This study divulges the academic and career consequences of the sustained privilege disparities between underrepresented students of color's experience and the experiences of their white and Asian counterparts. In light of the participants' experiences, I recommend that, in order to change the existing policy of socially integrating students into oppressive cultures, researchers and policymakers must forefront the humanity of underrepresented students of color when forming research questions, determining data collection instruments, and selecting analytical tools, thus changing the sociocultural structure of the science doctoral process.

  11. Marginalization and symbolic violence in a world of differences: war and parallels to nursing practice.

    PubMed

    Hall, Joanne M

    2004-04-01

    Marginalization has been used as a guiding concept for nursing research, theory and practice. Its properties have been identified and updated in 1994 and 1999, respectively. This article re-examines marginalization, considering it to be a concept that changes with pivotal historical events. The events of September 11, 2001, and the war between the US/UK and Iraq are such pivotal events. The notion of the linguistic habitus and symbolic violence as outlined by Bourdieu provide new insights about the dynamics of marginalization. Specifically noted is the marginalization of persons and cultures based on their designation by the current US administration, and as interpreted through mainstream media, as actual or potential 'terrorists'. A parallel situation in nursing is discussed, beginning with nursing's own marginality, related to the dynamics of symbolic violence. Nursing is argued to be vulnerable to having essential words and practices co-opted by dominant institutions and altered in meaning, that is, made incongruent with the discipline's emphasis on core values of confidentiality, equity and care. In response to marginalization and exteriorization those affected can use voice and testimony to 'recreate the centre'. Suggestions for protecting our practices and philosophy are included.

  12. Flight Test Results on the Stability and Control of the F-15B Quiet Spike Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moua, Cheng; McWherter, Shaun H.; Cox, Timothy H.; Gera, Joseph

    2007-01-01

    The Quiet Spike (QS) flight research program was an aerodynamic and structural proof-of-concept of a telescoping sonic-boom suppressing nose boom on an F-15 B aircraft. The program goal was to collect flight data for model validation up to 1.8 Mach. The primary test philosophy was maintaining safety of flight. In the area of stability and controls the primary concerns were to assess the potential destabilizing effect of the spike on the stability, controllability, and handling qualities of the aircraft and to ensure adequate stability margins across the entire QS flight envelop. This paper reports on the stability and control methods used for flight envelope clearance and flight test results of the F-15B Quiet Spike. Also discussed are the flight test approach, the criteria to proceed to the next flight condition, brief pilot commentary on typical piloting tasks, approach and landing, and refueling task, and air data sensitivity to the flight control system.

  13. Marine ARM GPCI Investigation of Clouds Bridge Display Field Campaign Report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Reynolds, R. Michael; Lewis, Ernie

    2016-09-01

    At the beginning of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Marine Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX) Cloud System Study (GCSS) Pacific Cross-Section Intercomparison (GPCI) Investigation of Clouds (MAGIC) experiment, we recognized that the crew on the ship’s bridge would like to see a display of the meteorological data that was being collected. While a display on the bridge would be marginally useful to the science, it was decided to make a display for the bridge. A display was programmed in Lab View and a personal computer (PC) was set up in themore » bridge. This remained in operation until the ship went to dry dock for upgrades and service. Part of the upgrade was a new meteorological system for the ship. After this time there was no need for the ARM display and so it was not re-installed for the remainder of the program.« less

  14. The impact of victim-focused outreach on criminal legal system outcomes following police-reported intimate partner abuse.

    PubMed

    DePrince, Anne P; Belknap, Joanne; Labus, Jennifer S; Buckingham, Susan E; Gover, Angela R

    2012-08-01

    Randomized control designs have been used in the public health and psychological literatures to examine the relationship between victim outreach following intimate partner abuse (IPA) and various outcomes. These studies have largely relied on samples drawn from health providers and shelters to examine outcomes outside the criminal legal system. Based on the positive findings from this body of research, we expected that a victim-focused, community-coordinated outreach intervention would improve criminal legal system outcomes. The current study used a randomized, longitudinal design to recruit 236 ethnically diverse women with police-reported IPA to compare treatment-as-usual with an innovative community-coordinated, victim-focused outreach program. Findings indicated that the outreach program was effective in increasing women's engagement with prosecution tasks as well as likelihood of taking part in prosecution of their abusers. Results were particularly robust among women marginalized by ethnicity and class, and those still living with their abusers after the target incident.

  15. Analytic study of orbiter landing profiles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Walker, H. J.

    1981-01-01

    A broad survey of possible orbiter landing configurations was made with specific goals of defining boundaries for the landing task. The results suggest that the center of the corridors between marginal and routine represents a more or less optimal preflare condition for regular operations. Various constraints used to define the boundaries are based largely on qualitative judgements from earlier flight experience with the X-15 and lifting body research aircraft. The results should serve as useful background for expanding and validating landing simulation programs. The analytic approach offers a particular advantage in identifying trends due to the systematic variation of factors such as vehicle weight, load factor, approach speed, and aim point. Limitations such as a constant load factor during the flare and using a fixed gear deployment time interval, can be removed by increasing the flexibility of the computer program. This analytic definition of landing profiles of the orbiter may suggest additional studies, includin more configurations or more comparisons of landing profiles within and beyond the corridor boundaries.

  16. Data file, Continental Margin Program, Atlantic Coast of the United States: vol. 2 sample collection and analytical data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hathaway, John C.

    1971-01-01

    The purpose of the data file presented below is twofold: the first purpose is to make available in printed form the basic data relating to the samples collected as part of the joint U.S. Geological Survey - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution program of study of the Atlantic continental margin of the United States; the second purpose is to maintain these data in a form that is easily retrievable by modern computer methods. With the data in such form, repeate manual transcription for statistical or similar mathematical treatment becomes unnecessary. Manual plotting of information or derivatives from the information may also be eliminated. Not only is handling of data by the computer considerably faster than manual techniques, but a fruitful source of errors, transcription mistakes, is eliminated.

  17. Improving ethical and participatory practice for marginalized populations in biomedical HIV prevention trials: lessons from Thailand.

    PubMed

    Allman, Dan; Ditmore, Melissa Hope; Kaplan, Karyn

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents findings from a qualitative investigation of ethical and participatory issues related to the conduct of biomedical HIV prevention trials among marginalized populations in Thailand. This research was deemed important to conduct, as several large-scale biomedical HIV prevention trials among marginalized populations had closed prematurely in other countries, and a better understanding of how to prevent similar trial closures from occurring in the future was desired. In-depth key informant interviews were held in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, translated and thematically analyzed. The Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials (GPP) guided this work. Fourteen interviews were conducted: 10 with policymakers, academic and community-based researchers and trial staff and four with representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Suggested ways to improve ethical and participatory practice centered on standards of HIV prevention, informed consent, communication and human rights. In particular, the need to overcome language and literacy differences was identified. Key informants felt communication was the basis of ethical understanding and trust within biomedical HIV prevention trial contexts, and thus fundamental to trial participants' ability to exercise free will. Biomedical HIV prevention trials present opportunities for inclusive and productive ethical and participatory practice. Key informants suggested that efforts to improve practice could result in better relationships between research stakeholders and research investigative teams and by extension, better, more ethical participatory trials. This research took place in Thailand and its findings apply primarily to Thailand. However, given the universality of many ethical considerations, the results of this study can inform the improvement of ethical and participatory practice in other parts of the world where biomedical HIV prevention trials occur, and where clinical trials in marginalized populations continue.

  18. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McCoy, Michel; Archer, Bill; Hendrickson, Bruce

    The Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is an integrated technical program for maintaining the safety, surety, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP uses nuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. It includes stockpile surveillance, experimental research, development and engineering programs, and an appropriately scaled production capability to support stockpile requirements. This integrated national program requires the continued use of experimental facilities and programs, and the computational capabilities to support these programs. The Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computationalmore » resources that support annual stockpile assessment and certification, study advanced nuclear weapons design and manufacturing processes, analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and provide the tools to enable stockpile Life Extension Programs (LEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This requires a balance of resource, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. ASC is now focused on increasing predictive capabilities in a three-dimensional (3D) simulation environment while maintaining support to the SSP. The program continues to improve its unique tools for solving progressively more difficult stockpile problems (sufficient resolution, dimensionality, and scientific details), and quantifying critical margins and uncertainties. Resolving each issue requires increasingly difficult analyses because the aging process has progressively moved the stockpile further away from the original test base. Where possible, the program also enables the use of high performance computing (HPC) and simulation tools to address broader national security needs, such as foreign nuclear weapon assessments and counter nuclear terrorism.« less

  19. Financing Residency Training Redesign.

    PubMed

    Carney, Patricia A; Waller, Elaine; Green, Larry A; Crane, Steven; Garvin, Roger D; Pugno, Perry A; Kozakowski, Stanley M; Douglass, Alan B; Jones, Samuel; Eiff, M Patrice

    2014-12-01

    Redesign in the health care delivery system creates a need to reorganize resident education. How residency programs fund these redesign efforts is not known. Family medicine residency program directors participating in the Preparing Personal Physicians for Practice (P(4)) project were surveyed between 2006 and 2011 on revenues and expenses associated with training redesign. A total of 6 university-based programs in the study collectively received $5,240,516 over the entire study period, compared with $4,718,943 received by 8 community-based programs. Most of the funding for both settings came from grants, which accounted for 57.8% and 86.9% of funding for each setting, respectively. Department revenue represented 3.4% of university-based support and 13.1% of community-based support. The total average revenue (all years combined) per program for university-based programs was just under $875,000, and the average was nearly $590,000 for community programs. The vast majority of funds were dedicated to salary support (64.8% in university settings versus 79.3% in community-based settings). Based on the estimated ratio of new funding relative to the annual costs of training using national data for a 3-year program with 7 residents per year, training redesign added 3% to budgets for university-based programs and about 2% to budgets for community-based programs. Residencies undergoing training redesign used a variety of approaches to fund these changes. The costs of innovations marginally increased the estimated costs of training. Federal and local funding sources were most common, and costs were primarily salary related. More research is needed on the costs of transforming residency training.

  20. The Spirit Bears Witness: Reflections of Two Black Women's Journey in the Academy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Generett, Gretchen Givens; Cozart, Sheryl

    2012-01-01

    This article describes our evolution as two Black American women academics who, after years of dealing with our community's marginalization and our own marginalization in the academy, began to employ research as a way of surviving. To share the significance of this experience, we first reflect on our understandings of our positionality within the…

  1. Unraveling the Complexity of Critical Consciousness, Political Efficacy, and Political Action among Marginalized Adolescents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diemer, Matthew A.; Rapa, Luke J.

    2016-01-01

    This research examines the complex patterns by which distinct dimensions of critical consciousness may lead marginalized adolescents toward distinct forms of political action. Structural equation modeling was applied to nationally representative data from the Civic Education Study (2,811 ninth graders; M[subscript age] = 14.6), first establishing…

  2. "Latino Spaces Have Always Been the Most Violent": Afro-Latino Collegians' Perceptions of Colorism and Latino Intragroup Marginalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haywood, Jasmine M.

    2017-01-01

    This study centers on the racialized experiences of Afro-Latino undergraduates at historically White institutions. Of particular interest, I examine how six Afro-Latino collegains experience intragroup marginalization due to colorism. The research design is undergirded by critical race theory and a critical race methodology. Participants'…

  3. The Stories We Tell: The Lives and Friendship of Two Older Black Lesbians

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hall, Ruth L.; Fine, Michelle

    2005-01-01

    Research addressing the lives and friendships of older Black lesbians is virtually nonexistent. Using narrative analysis, we chronicle the lives of two older Black lesbians (73 and 85 years of age) through the lens of positive marginality. The concept of positive marginality asserts that living both inside and outside of the mainstream produces…

  4. Why do stumpage prices increase more than lumber prices?

    Treesearch

    William G. Luppold; John E. Baumgras; John E. Baumgras

    1998-01-01

    Every sawmiller who has been in business more than 5 years realizes that hardwood stumpage prices tend to increase faster than lumber prices, decreasing the margin between these two prices. Although increases in stumpage versus lumber prices are readily apparent, the reason for the decrease in the margin is not. Recent research findings indicate that the stumpage/...

  5. Declining Use of Radiotherapy for Adverse Features After Radical Prostatectomy: Results From the National Cancer Data Base.

    PubMed

    Sineshaw, Helmneh M; Gray, Phillip J; Efstathiou, Jason A; Jemal, Ahmedin

    2015-11-01

    Patterns of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) use in prostate cancer (PCa) after the publication of major randomized trials have not been well characterized. To describe patterns of postoperative RT use after radical prostatectomy (RP) in patients with adverse pathologic features in the United States. Retrospective analysis of 97 270 patients with PCa diagnosed between 2005 and 2011 whose presentation and outcomes were recorded in the National Cancer Data Base. Temporal changes in receipt of postoperative RT and factors associated with receipt of this treatment using the Cochran-Armitage trend test and multiple logistic regression, respectively. Between 2005 and 2011, receipt of postoperative RT decreased steadily from 9.1% to 7.3% (ptrend<0.001). Use of RT with or without androgen deprivation therapy monotonically decreased with advancing age from 8.5% in patients aged 18-59 yr to 6.8% in patients aged 70-79 yr (ptrend<0.001). Receipt of RT was higher at community cancer programs compared with teaching/research centers (14% vs 7.3%; odds ratio [OR]: 2.16; p<0.001), in those with pT3-4 disease and positive margins compared with those with pT3-4 and negative margins (17% vs 5.9%; OR: 2.89; p<0.001), and in patients with a Gleason score of 8-10 compared with those with a Gleason score of 2-6 (17% vs 4.2%; OR: 3.50; p<0.001). Limitations include lack of postprostatectomy prostate-specific antigen level. Postoperative RT use for localized PCa in patients with adverse pathologic features is declining in the United States. In this report, we show that use of postoperative radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer with adverse pathologic features is declining. Patients treated at community cancer programs, those with locally advanced disease and positive margins, and those with a high Gleason score were more likely to receive postoperative radiotherapy. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Continental Margins and the Law of the Sea - an `Arranged Marriage' with Huge Research Potential

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parson, L.

    2005-12-01

    The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires coastal states intending to secure sovereignty over continental shelf territory extending beyond 200 nautical miles to submit geological/geophysical data, along with their analysis and synthesis of the relevant continental margin in support of their claim. These submissions are scrutinised and assessed by a UN Commission of experts who decide if the claim is justified, and thereby ultimately allowing the exploitation of non-living resources into this extended maritime space. The amount of data required to support the case will vary from margin to margin, depending on the local geological evolution, but typically will involve the running of new, dedicated marine surveys, mostly bathymetric and seismic. Key geological/geophysical issues revolve around proof of `naturalness' of the prolongation of land mass (cue - wide-angle seismics, deep drilling and sampling programmes) and shelf and slope morphology and sediment section thickness (cue - swath bathymetry and multichannel seismics programmes). These surveys, probably primarily funded by government agencies anxious not to lose out on the `land grab', will generate datasets which will inevitably boost not only the research effort leading to increased understanding of margin evolution in academic terms, but also contribute to wider applied aspects of the work such as those leading to refinement of deepwater hydrocarbon resource potential. It is conservatively estimated that in the region of fifty coastal states world-wide have a significant potential for claiming continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, and that the total area available as extended shelf could easily exceed 7 million square kilometres. However, while for the vast majority of these states a UNCLOS deadline of 2009 exists for submitting a claim - to date only four have done so (Russia, Brazil, Australia and Ireland). It is therefore predictable, if not inevitable, that within the next four years an unprecedented phase of surveying and analysis on margins will take place in order to prepare for the deadline. The international scientific community as a whole must recognise the potential for research in this work and ensure the data is made available as soon as practically possible for the scientific community. In conclusion, by way of a reality check, this presentation highlights the likely areas of most intense UNCLOS-driven research activity up to 2009, the type of data acquisition anticipated and their likely location, and speculates on the areas of understanding of margin evolution which will be most advanced by this process.

  7. The marginal fit of lithium disilicate crowns: Press vs. CAD/CAM.

    PubMed

    Azar, Basel; Eckert, Steve; Kunkela, Josef; Ingr, Tomaš; Mounajjed, Radek

    2018-01-01

    This study aimed to compare the vertical marginal gap of teeth restored with lithium disilicate crowns fabricated using CAD/CAM or by pressed ceramic approach. Twenty mandibular third molar teeth were collected after surgical extractions and prepared to receive full veneer crowns. Teeth were optically scanned and lithium disilicate blocks were used to fabricate crowns using CAD/CAM technique. Polyvinyl siloxane impressions of the prepared teeth were made and monolithic pressed lithium disilicate crowns were fabricated. The marginal gap was measured using optical microscope at 200× magnification (Keyence VHX-5000, Japan). Statistical analysis was performed using Wilcoxon test. The lithium disilicate pressed crowns had significantly smaller (p = 0.006) marginal gaps (38 ± 12 μm) than the lithium disilicate CAD/CAM crowns (45 ± 12 μm). This research indicates that lithium disilicate crowns fabricated with the press technique have measurably smaller marginal gaps compared with those fabricated with CAD/CAM technique within in vitro environments. The marginal gaps achieved by the crowns across all groups were within a clinically acceptable range.

  8. Natural resources and their prospects in the closed basins of rift valley marginal grabens in northern Ethiopia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meaza, Hailemariam; Frankl, Amaury; Poesen, Jean; Zenebe, Amanuel; Deckers, Jozef; Vaneetvelde, Veerle; Lanckriet, Sil; Nyssen, Jan

    2016-04-01

    With increasing population, producing more food and fibers has led to an expansion of the area under cultivation. For this, much attention is given to low-lying flat areas in search of suitable agricultural lands. The objectives of this paper are therefore: (1) to review the opportunities and challenges of natural resources in the marginal grabens for rural development; (2) to highlight the knowledge gaps and priorities in research and development in the marginal grabens, and (3) to supplement the literature review through repeat transect walks, focus group discussions and interviews across the western rift valley of northern Ethiopia. The paper shows that marginal grabens along the rift valleys are rich both in blue and green water resources due to their topographical and geological characteristics. Spate irrigation has been a growing water management practice to respond to soil moisture deficit. Besides, marginal grabens are fertile plains as a result of alluvial deposition that could be suitable for agricultural development. However, rainfall variability and groundwater withdrawal lead to graben basin closure and salinization. Notably, riverbed incisions and sediment deposition affects drainage systems and water supply in the marginal grabens. As a result, socioeconomic and natural capital of the marginal graben farmers are continuously threatened. Thus, the benefits of natural resources for rural development in the marginal grabens along the rift valley can be optimized if the current bottlenecks are converted into opportunities. A better understanding of the complex marginal graben system via a robust land evaluation framework will improve livelihoods of the communities that live in the (closed) marginal grabens. Keywords: population pressure, marginal grabens, endorheic lakes, salinization, Ethiopia

  9. Lexical Input to Young Children from Extremely Poor Communities in Argentina: Effects of a Home Literacy Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosemberg, Celia Renata; Stein, Alejandra; Borzone, Ana Maria

    2011-01-01

    The study analyzes the lexical properties of the linguistic context that children from marginalized urban neighborhoods from Buenos Aires, Argentina, are exposed to in the literacy situations generated by an at-home early literacy program. The analysis is focused on the comparison of the vocabulary that these children are exposed to daily with the…

  10. Information and College Decisions: Evidence from the Texas GO Center Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cunha, Jesse M.; Miller, Trey; Weisburst, Emily

    2018-01-01

    We study GO Centers, a college information program that is run by student peers and provides information about all aspects of the college-going process to academically prepared students on the margin of attending college. We use the semi-random rollout of the program along with detailed panel data on the universe of Texas public school students to…

  11. Airworthiness criteria development for powered-lift aircraft: A program summary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heffley, R. K.; Stapleford, R. L.; Rumold, R. C.

    1977-01-01

    A four-year simulation program to develop airworthiness criteria for powered-lift aircraft is summarized. All flight phases affected by use of powered lift (approach, landing, takeoff) are treated with regard to airworthiness problem areas (limiting flight conditions and safety margins: stability, control, and performance; and systems failure). The general features of powered-lift aircraft are compared to conventional aircraft.

  12. Community College Mentors: The Development and Uses of Cultural and Social Capital to Interrupt Marginalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Debro, Karl G.

    2012-01-01

    The topic of this study is a community college mentoring program, connecting small groups of students with a campus employee. The mentoring program was a feature in a pilot AVID student success class. Specifically, this study attempts to answer the following questions: How do AVID College Mentors develop genuine relationships with their Mentees?…

  13. Model for refining operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dunbar, D. N.; Tunnah, B. G.

    1979-01-01

    Program predicts production volumes of petroleum refinery products, with particular emphasis on aircraft-turbine fuel blends and their key properties. It calculates capital and operating costs for refinery and its margin of profitability. Program also includes provisions for processing of synthetic crude oils from oil shale and coal liquefaction processes and contains highly-detailed blending computations for alternative jet-fuel blends of varying endpoint specifications.

  14. Final Scientific/Technical Report: Characterizing the Response of the Cascadia Margin Gas Hydrate Reservoir to Bottom Water Warming Along the Upper Continental Slope

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Solomon, Evan A.; Johnson, H. Paul; Salmi, Marie

    The objective of this project is to understand the response of the WA margin gas hydrate system to contemporary warming of bottom water along the upper continental slope. Through pre-cruise analysis and modeling of archive and recent geophysical and oceanographic data, we (1) inventoried bottom simulating reflectors along the WA margin and defined the upper limit of gas hydrate stability, (2) refined margin-wide estimates of heat flow and geothermal gradients, (3) characterized decadal scale temporal variations of bottom water temperatures at the upper continental slope of the Washington margin, and (4) used numerical simulations to provide quantitative estimates of howmore » the shallow boundary of methane hydrate stability responds to modern environmental change. These pre-cruise results provided the context for a systematic geophysical and geochemical survey of methane seepage along the upper continental slope from 48° to 46°N during a 10-day field program on the R/V Thompson from October 10-19, 2014. This systematic inventory of methane emissions along this climate-sensitive margin corridor and comprehensive sediment and water column sampling program provided data and samples for Phase 3 of this project that focused on determining fluid and methane sources (deep-source vs. shallow; microbial, thermogenic, gas hydrate dissociation) within the sediment, and how they relate to contemporary intermediate water warming. During the 2014 research expedition, we sampled nine seep sites between ~470 and 520 m water depth, within the zone of predicted methane hydrate retreat over the past 40 years. We imaged 22 bubble plumes with heights commonly rising to ~300 meters below sea level with one reaching near the sea surface. We collected 22 gravity cores and 20 CTD/hydrocasts from the 9 seeps and at background locations (no acoustic evidence of seepage) within the depth interval of predicted downslope retreat of the methane hydrate stability zone. Approximately 300 pore water samples were extracted from the gravity cores, and the pore water was analyzed for a comprehensive suite of solutes, gases, and stable isotope ratios. This comprehensive geochemical dataset was used to characterize the fluid and gas source(s) at each of the seep sites surveyed. The primary results of this project are: 1) Bottom simulating reflector-derived heat flow values decrease from 95 mW/m2 10 km east of the deformation front to ~60 mW/m2 60 km landward of the deformation front, with anomalously low values of ~25 mW/m2 on a prominent mid-margin terrace off central Washington. 2) The temperature of the incoming sediment/ocean crust interface at the deformation front ranges between 164-179 oC off central Washington, and the 350 oC isotherm at the top of the subducting ocean crust occurs 95 km landward of the deformation front. Differences between BSR-derived heat flow and modeled conductive heat flow suggest mean upward fluid flow rates of 0.4 cm/yr across the margin, with local regions (e.g. fault zones) exhibiting fluid flow rates up to 3.5 cm/yr. 3) A compilation of 2122 high-resolution CTD, glider, and Argo float temperature profiles spanning the upper continental slope of the Washington margin from the years 1968 to 2013 show a long-term warming trend that ranges from 0.006-0.008 oC/yr. Based on this long-term bottom water warming, we developed a 2-D thermal model to simulate the change in sediment temperature distribution over this period, along with the downslope retreat of the methane hydrate stability field. Over the 43 years of the simulation, the thermal disturbance propagated 30 m into the sediment column, causing the base of the methane hydrate stability field to shoal ~13 m and to move ~1 km downslope. 4) A preliminary analysis of seafloor observations and mid-water column acoustic data to detect bubble plumes was used to characterize the depth distribution of seeps along the Cascadia margin. These results indicate high bubble plume densities along the continental shelf at water depths <180 m and at the upper limit of methane hydrate stability along the Washington margin. 5) The majority of the seeps cored during the 2014 research expedition on the R/V Thompson contained abundant authigenic carbonate indicating that they are locations of long-lived seepage rather than emergent seep systems related to methane hydrate dissociation. Despite the evidence for enhanced methane seepage at the upper limit of methane hydrate stability along the Washington margin, we found no unequivocal evidence for active methane hydrate dissociation as a source of fluid and gas at the seeps surveyed. The pore fluid and bottom water chemistry shows that the seeps are fed by a variety of fluid and methane sources, but that methane hydrate dissociation, if occurring, is not widespread and is only a minor source (below the detection limit of our methods). Collectively, these results provide a significant advance in our understanding of the thermal structure of the Cascadia subduction zone and the fluid and methane sources feeding seeps along the upper continental slope of the Washington-sector of the Cascadia margin. Though we did not find unequivocal evidence for methane hydrate dissociation as a source of water and methane at the upper pressure-temperature limit of methane hydrate stability at present, continued warming of North Pacific Intermediate Water in the future has the potential to impact the methane hydrate reservoir in sediments at greater depths along the slope. Thus, this study provides a strong foundation and the necessary characterization of the background state of seepage at the upper limit of methane hydrate stability for future investigations of this important process.« less

  15. Geophysical evidence for a transform margin in Northwestern Algeria: possible vestige of a Subduction-Transform Edge Propagator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Badji, R.; Charvis, P.; Bracene, R.; Galve, A.; Badsi, M.; Ribodetti, A.; Benaissa, Z.; Klingelhoefer, F.; Medaouri, M.; Beslier, M.

    2013-12-01

    This work is part of the Algerian-French SPIRAL program (Sismique Profonde et Investigation Régionale du Nord de l'Algérie) which provides unprecedented images of the deep structure of the western Algerian Margin based on several wide-angle and multichannel seismic data shot across the Algerian Margin. One of the different hypotheses for the opening of the western Mediterranean Sea, we are testing is that the western part of the Algerian margin was possibly part of the southern edge of the Alboran continental block during its westward migration related to the rollback of the Betic-Rif-Alboran subduction zone. A tomographic inversion of the first arrival traveltimes along a 100-km long wide-angle seismic profile shot over 40 Ocean Bottom Seismometers, across the Margin offshore Mostaganem (Northwestern Algerian Margin) was conducted. The final model reveals striking feature in the deep structure of the margin from north to south: 1- the oceanic crust is as thin as 4-km, with velocities ranging from 5.0 to 7.1 km/s, covered by a 3.3 km thick sedimentary pile (seismic velocities from 1.5 to 5.0 km/s) characterized by an intense diapiric activity of the Messinian salt layer. 2- a sharp transition zone, less than 10 km wide, with seismic velocities intermediate between oceanic seismic velocities (observed northward) and continental seismic velocities (observed southward). This zone coincides with narrow and elongated pull apart basins imaged by multichannel seismic data. No evidence of volcanism nor of exhumed serpentinized upper mantle as described along many extensional continental margins are observed along this segment of the margin. 3- a thinned continental crust coincident with a rapid variation of the Moho depth imaged from 12 to ~20 km with a dip up to 50%. The seafloor bathymetry is showing a steep continental slope (>20%). Either normal or inverse faults are observed along MCS lines shot in the dip direction but they do not present large vertical displacement and could be related primarily to strike slip motion. These results support the hypothesis, that the margin offshore Mostaganem is not an extensional margin but rather a transform margin. There is little evidence of tectonic inversion as described eastward along the Kabylian Margin. Possibly strike slip motion affected the thinned continental crust and the transition zone suggesting that this margin is a vestige of the Subduction-Transform Edge Propagator (STEP) related to the westward migration of the Alboran block.

  16. Harmonizing disease prevention and police practice in the implementation of HIV prevention programs: Up-stream strategies from Wilmington, Delaware

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Introduction Improving access to sterile injection equipment is a key component in community-based infectious disease prevention. Implementation of syringe access programs has sometimes been complicated by community opposition and police interference. Case description In 2006, the Delaware legislature authorized a pilot syringe exchange program (SEP). A program designed to prevent, monitor, and respond to possible policing and community barriers before they had a chance to effect program implementation and operation. A program designed to prevent, monitor, and respond to these barriers was planned and implemented by a multidisciplinary team of legal practitioners and public health professionals. Discussion We report on an integrated intervention to address structural barriers to syringe exchange program utilization. This intervention employs community, police and client education combined with systematic surveillance of and rapid response to police interference to preempt the kinds of structural barriers to implementation observed elsewhere. The intervention addresses community concerns and stresses the benefits of syringe exchange programs to officer occupational safety. Conclusions A cohesive effort combining collaboration with and educational outreach to police and community members based on the needs and concerns of these groups as well as SEP clients and potential clients helped establish a supportive street environment for the SEP. Police-driven structural barriers to implementation of public health programs targeting populations engaged in drug use and other illicit behavior can be addressed by up-stream planning, prevention, monitoring and intervention strategies. More research is needed to inform the tailoring of interventions to address police-driven barriers to HIV prevention services, especially among marginalized populations. PMID:22591836

  17. The response of an assertive community treatment program following a natural disaster.

    PubMed

    Lachance, K R; Santos, A B; Burns, B J

    1994-10-01

    A newly forming model treatment program for seriously mentally ill adults was dramatically affected by a natural disaster in September 1989. Hurricane Hugo rendered the offices of the Assertive Community Treatment Program uninhabitable, its vehicles marginally driveable, and its resources virtually nonexistent. In the three months following the storm, however, not a single psychiatric rehospitalization took place. Although the authors cannot claim that the program model was solely responsible for this outcome, this paper illustrates the service system elements that contributed to the program's effectiveness in the wake of one of the nation's most severe natural disasters.

  18. Titrating versus targeting home care services to frail elderly clients: an application of agency theory and cost-benefit analysis to home care policy.

    PubMed

    Weissert, William; Chernew, Michael; Hirth, Richard

    2003-02-01

    The article summarizes the shortcomings of current home care targeting policy, provides a conceptual framework for understanding the sources of its problems, and proposes an alternative resource allocation method. Methods required for different aspects of the study included synthesis of the published literature, regression analysis of risk predictors, and comparison of actual resource allocations with simulated budgets. Problems of imperfect agency ranging from unclear goals and inappropriate incentives to lack of information about the marginal effectiveness of home care could be mitigated with an improved budgeting method that combines client selection and resource allocation. No program can produce its best outcome performance when its goals are unclear and its technology is unstandardized. Titration of care would reallocate resources to maximize marginal benefit for marginal cost.

  19. Item Information in the Rasch Model. Project Psychometric Aspects of Item Banking No. 34. Research Report 88-7.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Engelen, Ron J. H.; And Others

    Fisher's information measure for the item difficulty parameter in the Rasch model and its marginal and conditional formulations are investigated. It is shown that expected item information in the unconditional model equals information in the marginal model, provided the assumption of sampling examinees from an ability distribution is made. For the…

  20. From Bayes through Marginal Utility to Effect Sizes: A Guide to Understanding the Clinical and Statistical Significance of the Results of Autism Research Findings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cicchetti, Domenic V.; Koenig, Kathy; Klin, Ami; Volkmar, Fred R.; Paul, Rhea; Sparrow, Sara

    2011-01-01

    The objectives of this report are: (a) to trace the theoretical roots of the concept clinical significance that derives from Bayesian thinking, Marginal Utility/Diminishing Returns in Economics, and the "just noticeable difference", in Psychophysics. These concepts then translated into: Effect Size (ES), strength of agreement, clinical…

  1. From Learning to Labour to Learning for Marginality: School Segregation and Marginalization in Swedish Suburbs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beach, Dennis; Sernhede, Ove

    2011-01-01

    In this article, using data from ethnographic research, we try to present some glimpses of the way education is described as an experience and possibility "from below", by pupils who grow up and study in schools in the most segregated and territorially stigmatized suburbs on the outskirts of our major cities. What we feel they describe…

  2. Wildland recreation in the rural South: an examination of marginality and ethnicity theory

    Treesearch

    Cassandra Y. Johnson; J. Michael Bowker; Donald B.K. English; Dreamal Worthen

    1998-01-01

    The ethnicity and marginality explanations of minority recreation participation provide the conceptual basis for the authors’ inquiry. These theories are examined for a sample of rural African-Americans and whites. Using logistic regression, the researchers test for black and while differences in: 1) visitation to wildland areas in general; 2) visitation to national...

  3. Two ;pillars; of cold-water coral reefs along Atlantic European margins: Prevalent association of Madrepora oculata with Lophelia pertusa, from reef to colony scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arnaud-Haond, S.; Van den Beld, I. M. J.; Becheler, R.; Orejas, C.; Menot, L.; Frank, N.; Grehan, A.; Bourillet, J. F.

    2017-11-01

    The scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa has been the focus of deep-sea research since the recognition of the vast extent of coral reefs in North Atlantic waters two decades ago, long after their existence was mentioned by fishermen. These reefs where shown to provide habitat, concentrate biomass and act as feeding or nursery grounds for many species, including those targeted by commercial fisheries. Thus, the attention given to this cold-water coral (CWC) species from researchers and the wider public has increased. Consequently, new research programs triggered research to determine the full extent of the corals geographic distribution and ecological dynamics of ;Lophelia reefs;. The present study is based on a systematic standardised sampling design to analyze the distribution and coverage of CWC reefs along European margins from the Bay of Biscay to Iceland. Based on Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) image analysis, we report an almost systematic occurrence of Madrepora oculata in association with L. pertusa with similar abundances of both species within explored reefs, despite a tendency of increased abundance of L. pertusa compared to M. oculata toward higher latitudes. This systematic association occasionally reached the colony scale, with ;twin; colonies of both species often observed growing next to each other when isolated structures were occurring off-reefs. Finally, several ;false chimaera; were observed within reefs, confirming that colonial structures can be ;coral bushes; formed by an accumulation of multiple colonies even at the inter-specific scale, with no need for self-recognition mechanisms. Thus, we underline the importance of the hitherto underexplored M. oculata in the Eastern Atlantic, re-establishing a more balanced view that both species and their yet unknown interactions are required to better elucidate the ecology, dynamics and fate of European CWC reefs in a changing environment.

  4. The impact of mindfulness education on elementary school students: Evaluation of the Master Mind Program

    PubMed Central

    Parker, Alison E.; Kupersmidt, Janis B.; Mathis, Erin T.; Scull, Tracy M.; Sims, Calvin

    2016-01-01

    Children need to be equipped with the skills to respond effectively to stress and prevent poor decision-making surrounding alcohol and tobacco use. Training and practice in mindfulness is one possible avenue for building children's skills. Recent research has revealed that mindfulness education in the classroom may play a role in enhancing children's self-regulatory abilities. Thus, the goal of the current study was to extend existing research in mindfulness education in classrooms and conduct an assessment of the feasibility and effectiveness of a new mindfulness education, substance abuse prevention program for 4th and 5th grade children (Master Mind). Two elementary schools were randomly assigned to be an intervention group (N = 71) or waitlist control group (N = 40). Students in the intervention group were taught the four-week Master Mind program by their regular classroom teachers. At pre- and post-intervention time points, students completed self-reports of their intentions to use substances and an executive functioning performance task. Teachers rated students on their behavior in the classroom. Findings revealed that students who participated in the Master Mind program, as compared to those in the wait-list control condition, showed significant improvements in executive functioning skills (girls and boys), as well as a marginally significant increase in self-control abilities (boys only). In addition, significant reductions were found in aggression and social problems (girls and boys), as well as anxiety (girls only). No significant differences across groups were found for intentions to use alcohol or tobacco. Teachers implemented the program with fidelity; both teachers and students positively rated the structure and content of the Master Mind program, providing evidence of program satisfaction and feasibility. Although generalization may be limited by the small sample size, the findings suggest that mindfulness education may be beneficial in increasing self-regulatory abilities, which is important for substance abuse prevention. PMID:27057208

  5. The impact of mindfulness education on elementary school students: Evaluation of the Master Mind Program.

    PubMed

    Parker, Alison E; Kupersmidt, Janis B; Mathis, Erin T; Scull, Tracy M; Sims, Calvin

    Children need to be equipped with the skills to respond effectively to stress and prevent poor decision-making surrounding alcohol and tobacco use. Training and practice in mindfulness is one possible avenue for building children's skills. Recent research has revealed that mindfulness education in the classroom may play a role in enhancing children's self-regulatory abilities. Thus, the goal of the current study was to extend existing research in mindfulness education in classrooms and conduct an assessment of the feasibility and effectiveness of a new mindfulness education, substance abuse prevention program for 4 th and 5 th grade children ( Master Mind ). Two elementary schools were randomly assigned to be an intervention group (N = 71) or waitlist control group (N = 40). Students in the intervention group were taught the four-week Master Mind program by their regular classroom teachers. At pre- and post-intervention time points, students completed self-reports of their intentions to use substances and an executive functioning performance task. Teachers rated students on their behavior in the classroom. Findings revealed that students who participated in the Master Mind program, as compared to those in the wait-list control condition, showed significant improvements in executive functioning skills (girls and boys), as well as a marginally significant increase in self-control abilities (boys only). In addition, significant reductions were found in aggression and social problems (girls and boys), as well as anxiety (girls only). No significant differences across groups were found for intentions to use alcohol or tobacco. Teachers implemented the program with fidelity; both teachers and students positively rated the structure and content of the Master Mind program, providing evidence of program satisfaction and feasibility. Although generalization may be limited by the small sample size, the findings suggest that mindfulness education may be beneficial in increasing self-regulatory abilities, which is important for substance abuse prevention.

  6. The Research of Tectonic Framework and the Fault Activity in Large Detachment Basin System on Northern Margin of South China Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pan, L., Sr.; Ren, J.

    2017-12-01

    The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the largest marginal sea on southeast Asia continental margin, developed Paleogene extension-rifting continental margin system which is rare in the world and preserving many deformed characterizes of this kind system. With the investigation of the SCS, guiding by the development of tectonics and geo-physics, especially the development of tectonics and the high quality seismic data based on the development of geo-physics, people gradually accept that the northern margin of the SCS has some detachment basin characterizes. After researching the northern margin of the SCS, we come up with lithosphere profiles across the shelf, slope and deep sea basin in the northeast of the SCS to confirm the tectonic style of ocean-continental transition and the property of the detachment fault. Furthermore, we describe the outline of large detachment basins at northern SCS. Based on the large number of high-quality 2D and 3D deep seismic profile(TWT,10s), drilling and logging data, combined with domestic and international relevant researches, using basin dynamics and tectono-stratigraphy theory, techniques and methods of geology and geophysics, qualitative and quantitative, we describe the formation of the detachment basin and calculate the fault activity rate, stretching factor and settlement. According to the research, we propose that there is a giant and complete detachment basin system in the northern SCS and suggest three conclusions. First of all, the detachment basin system can be divided into three domains: proximal domain covering the Yangjiang Sag, Shenhu uplift and part of Shunde Sag, necking zone covering part of the Shunde Sag and Heshan Sag, distal domain covering most part of Heshan Sag. Second, the difference of the stretching factor is observed along the three domains of the detachment basin system. The factor of the proximal domain is the minimum among them. On the other side, the distal domain is the maximum among them. This phenomenon can be concluded as the factor is gradually increasing from the continent to the ocean. Third, the development of detachment basin is episodic which can be divided into two stages approximately: the rifting and thermal subsidence.

  7. Research with Children: The Same or Different from Research with Adults?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Punch, Samantha

    2002-01-01

    Explores seven methodological issues illustrating aspects of the research process posing dilemmas for adult researchers working with children. Argues that research with children differs from that with adults primarily because of adult perceptions of children and children's marginalized position in adult society. Details advantages and…

  8. De-Academizing Early Childhood Research: Wanderings of a Chicana/Latina Feminist Researcher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saavedra, Cinthya M.

    2011-01-01

    In this article, I frame critical questions about discourse and power when centering marginalized populations in research. This critical Chicana feminist analysis of early childhood research illuminates (a) the bifurcation of the academy and the "comunidad," (b) voice as "ilusion," (c) research as colonization, and (d) the…

  9. The Emerging HIV Epidemic on the Mexico-US Border: An International Case Study Characterizing the Role of Epidemiology in Surveillance and Response

    PubMed Central

    Strathdee, Steffanie A.; Magis-Rodriguez, Carlos; Mays, Vickie M.; Jimenez, Richard; Patterson, Thomas L.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose HIV/AIDS surveillance data are critical for monitoring epidemic trends, but can mask dynamic sub-epidemics, especially in vulnerable populations that under-utilize HIV testing. In this case study, we describe community-based epidemiologic data among injection drug users (IDU) and female sex workers (FSWs) in two northern Mexico-US Border States that identified an emerging HIV epidemic and generated a policy response. Methods We draw from quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional and prospective epidemiologic studies and behavioral intervention studies among IDUs and FSWs in Tijuana, Baja California and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Results Recognition that the HIV epidemic on Mexico’s northern border was already well established in subgroups where it had been presumed to be insignificant was met with calls for action and enhanced prevention efforts from researchers, NGOs and policy makers. Conclusions Successful policies and program outcomes included expansion of needle exchange programs, a nation-wide mobile HIV prevention program targeting marginalized populations, a successful funding bid from the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria to scale up targeted HIV prevention programs and the establishment of binational training programs on prevention of HIV and substance use. We discuss how epidemiologic data informed HIV prevention policies and suggest how other countries may learn from Mexico’s experience. PMID:22626001

  10. Promotion of Civic Engagement with the Family Leadership Training Institute.

    PubMed

    MacPhee, David; Forlenza, Eileen; Christensen, Kyle; Prendergast, Sarah

    2017-12-01

    In this efficacy study, both quantitative and qualitative data were used to gauge the effects of the Family Leadership Training Institute (FLTI) on civic knowledge and empowerment, civic engagement, and community health. The sample of 847 FLTI participants and 166 comparison adults completed pretest and posttest surveys. Medium to very large short-term effects were observed in civic literacy, empowerment, and engagement. Results mapping interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of FLTI graduates (n = 52) to assess long-term (M = 2.73 years) program impact. Most FLTI graduates (86%) sustained meaningful, sometimes transformative, levels of civic engagement after program completion. This engagement involved multiple forms of leadership, most often advocacy, program implementation, and media campaigns; 63% of graduates directed at least some of their activities to marginalized populations. Content analyses of graduates' civic (capstone) projects and results mapping story maps indicated that 81-90% of community activities aligned with public health priorities. Thus, one promising means to promote community health is to empower families to develop leadership skills, become engaged in civic life, and forge connections with diverse constituents. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  11. Preliminary study on new configuration with LEU fuel assemblies for the Dalat nuclear research reactor

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Van Lam Pham; Vinh Vinh Le; Ton Nghiem Huynh

    2008-07-15

    The fuel conversion of the Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor (DNRR) is being realized. The DNRR is a pool type research reactor which was reconstructed from the 250 kW TRIGA- MARK II reactor. The reconstructed reactor attained its nominal power of 500 kW in February 1984. According to the results of design and safety analyses performed by the joint study between RERTR Program at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission (VAEC) the mixed core of irradiated HEU and new LEU WWR-M2 fuel assemblies will be created soon. This paper presents the results of preliminary study on new configurationmore » with only LEU fuel assemblies for the DNRR. The codes MCNP, REBUS and VARI3D are used to calculate neutron flux performance in irradiation positions and kinetics parameters. The idea of change of Beryllium rod reloading enables to get working configuration assured shutdown margin, thermal-hydraulic safety and increase in thermal neutron flux in neutron trap at the center of DNRR active core. (author)« less

  12. Forget me not: dementia in prison.

    PubMed

    Maschi, Tina; Kwak, Jung; Ko, Eunjeong; Morrissey, Mary B

    2012-08-01

    The number of older adults with dementia in U.S. prisons is rapidly rising. Yet, the vast majority of this marginalized subgroup of the aging population is left neglected behind bars without access to adequate medical and mental health care services. We assert that proactive, interdisciplinary collaborative efforts to improve practice, policy, and research and to develop a high-quality evidence-based continuum of care for this aging population are urgently needed. The overarching goals of this paper are to raise awareness of the life and experiences of persons with dementia in prison and to stimulate discussion, research, and advocacy efforts for this forgotten subgroup of older Americans. We describe the growing number of older adults with dementia in U.S. prisons, high-risk factors for dementia present in the prison population, and the life and experience of persons with dementia in the culture and environment of prison that is primarily not designed for them. We review the current state of services and programs for dementia in prison. We conclude by proposing practice, policy, and research-related priority areas and strategies for interdisciplinary gerontological responses.

  13. Enhancing the diversity of breeding invertebrates within field margins of intensively managed grassland: Effects of alternative management practices.

    PubMed

    Fritch, Rochelle A; Sheridan, Helen; Finn, John A; McCormack, Stephen; Ó hUallacháin, Daire

    2017-11-01

    Severe declines in biodiversity have been well documented for many taxonomic groups due to intensification of agricultural practices. Establishment and appropriate management of arable field margins can improve the diversity and abundance of invertebrate groups; however, there is much less research on field margins within grassland systems. Three grassland field margin treatments (fencing off the existing vegetation "fenced"; fencing with rotavation and natural regeneration "rotavated" and; fencing with rotavation and seeding "seeded") were compared to a grazed control in the adjacent intensively managed pasture. Invertebrates were sampled using emergence traps to investigate species breeding and overwintering within the margins. Using a manipulation experiment, we tested whether the removal of grazing pressure and nutrient inputs would increase the abundance and richness of breeding invertebrates within grassland field margins. We also tested whether field margin establishment treatments, with their different vegetation communities, would change the abundance and richness of breeding invertebrates in the field margins. Exclusion of grazing and nutrient inputs led to increased abundance and richness in nearly all invertebrate groups that we sampled. However, there were more complex effects of field margin establishment treatment on the abundance and richness of invertebrate taxa. Each of the three establishment treatments supported a distinct invertebrate community. The removal of grazing from grassland field margins provided a greater range of overwintering/breeding habitat for invertebrates. We demonstrate the capacity of field margin establishment to increase the abundance and richness in nearly all invertebrate groups in study plots that were located on previously more depauperate areas of intensively managed grassland. These results from grassland field margins provide evidence to support practical actions that can inform Greening (Pillar 1) and agri-environment measures (Pillar 2) of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Before implementing specific management regimes, the conservation aims of agri-environment measures should be clarified by defining the target species or taxonomic groups.

  14. Iron and Sulfur Species and Sulfur Isotopic Compositions of Authigenic Pyrite in Gas Hydrate-Bearing Sediments from Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Margin (ODP Leg 204): A Proposal of Conceptual Models to Indicate the Non-Steady State Depositional and Diagenetic Processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, C.; Jiang, S. Y.; Su, X.

    2017-12-01

    Two accretionary sediment sequences from Sites 1245 and 1252 recovered during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 204 at Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Margin were investigated to explore the non-steady state depositional and diagenetic history. Five iron species and three sulfur species were chemically extracted, and their concentrations and the sulfur isotopic compositions of pyrite were determined. After the mineral recognitions of these species and detailed comparative analyses, the aerobic history of bottom seawater has been determined. The formation of pyrite is thought to be controlled by the limited production of hydrogen sulfide relative to the supply of reactive iron. Also, the intrusion of oxygen by bioturbation would oxidize the reduced sulfur species and further suppress pyritization. To explain the geochemical relationship between pyrite and siderite and the sulfur isotope characteristics of pyrite, we propose seven conceptual models based on the variations in depositional rate and methane flux, and the models succeed in explaining the geochemical results and are validated by the observed non-steady state events. These models may contribute to the reconstruction of the non-steady state processes in other research areas in the future.

  15. Targeting women or transforming institutions? Policy lessons from NGO anti-poverty efforts.

    PubMed

    Kabeer, N

    1995-05-01

    Some research has found that the extent of gender-based discrimination in market-based institutions and unfair advantages within domestic and market institutions meant women were less successful in translating education and work into income and purchasing power. Anti-poverty programs functioned without specifically addressing the implications for women and children. Women-in-development efforts attempted to compensate for prior deficiencies by promotion of income generation schemes for women. In this article, the suggestion is made for policy makers to design projects with goals, objectives, and strategies that are clear, consistent, and well-informed about gender. Efforts should be made to avoid debates about women-only versus integrated projects. The experiences of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the South Asian context offer lessons in good policy efforts to address all forms of marginalization. The definition of women's needs must be provided by women themselves; openness and flexibility are recommended. Participatory approaches serve the aims of needs identification, involvement in democratic processes, and awareness of constraints on women's use of resources. In credit lending, constraints were overcome by compensating for the absence of material collateral, guaranteeing physical access, simplifying procedures, and subsidizing access rather than interest rates. Underlying structural conditions that reinforce inequalities by gender are in need of change. Empowerment of women would assure that marginalization would not occur.

  16. Marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial regression with application to dental caries

    PubMed Central

    Preisser, John S.; Das, Kalyan; Long, D. Leann; Divaris, Kimon

    2015-01-01

    The zero-inflated negative binomial regression model (ZINB) is often employed in diverse fields such as dentistry, health care utilization, highway safety, and medicine to examine relationships between exposures of interest and overdispersed count outcomes exhibiting many zeros. The regression coefficients of ZINB have latent class interpretations for a susceptible subpopulation at risk for the disease/condition under study with counts generated from a negative binomial distribution and for a non-susceptible subpopulation that provides only zero counts. The ZINB parameters, however, are not well-suited for estimating overall exposure effects, specifically, in quantifying the effect of an explanatory variable in the overall mixture population. In this paper, a marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial regression (MZINB) model for independent responses is proposed to model the population marginal mean count directly, providing straightforward inference for overall exposure effects based on maximum likelihood estimation. Through simulation studies, the finite sample performance of MZINB is compared to marginalized zero-inflated Poisson, Poisson, and negative binomial regression. The MZINB model is applied in the evaluation of a school-based fluoride mouthrinse program on dental caries in 677 children. PMID:26568034

  17. Development of an advanced pitch active control system for a wide body jet aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Guinn, Wiley A.; Rising, Jerry J.; Davis, Walt J.

    1984-01-01

    An advanced PACS control law was developed for a commercial wide-body transport (Lockheed L-1011) by using modern control theory. Validity of the control law was demonstrated by piloted flight simulation tests on the NASA Langley visual motion simulator. The PACS design objective was to develop a PACS that would provide good flying qualities to negative 10 percent static stability margins that were equivalent to those of the baseline aircraft at a 15 percent static stability margin which is normal for the L-1011. Also, the PACS was to compensate for high-Mach/high-g instabilities that degrade flying qualities during upset recoveries and maneuvers. The piloted flight simulation tests showed that the PACS met the design objectives. The simulation demonstrated good flying qualities to negative 20 percent static stability margins for hold, cruise and high-speed flight conditions. Analysis and wind tunnel tests performed on other Lockheed programs indicate that the PACS could be used on an advanced transport configuration to provide a 4 percent fuel savings which results from reduced trim drag by flying at negative static stability margins.

  18. Ichthyofauna of two streams (silted and reference) in the Upper Paraná river basin, Southeastern Brazil.

    PubMed

    Casatti, L

    2004-11-01

    In this study the fish assemblages of the silted Aguas Claras stream (AC) was compared with that of a reference, the São Carlos stream (SC), so as to identify potential fish indicators of integrity or degradation. Both streams, located about 5 km from one another, are part of the Upper Paraná river basin, Brazil, and present similar physiographical features. Twenty-one species were collected in AC (1,271 specimens) and 18 in SC (940 specimens). In AC, dominant species e.g., Corydoras aeneus (sandy pools), Serrapinnus notomelas, and Pyrrhulina australis (warm marginal shallow pools) were those favored by new microhabitats linked to siltation and removal of the riparian vegetation. Changes in the composition of the marginal vegetation resulted in dominance of species such as Hisonotus francirochai (marginal grasses). In SC the dominant species was Phalloceros caudimacultus, abundant in marginal shallow pools, and Trichomycterus diabolus. and Hypostomus nigromaculatus, exclusively riffle-dwelling species, which were absent in AC. Fish assemblage monitoring is recommended for use in riparian management programs in order to evaluate negative instream sedimentation effects.

  19. Donor Lung Procurement by Surgical Fellow with an Expectation of High Rate of Lung Utilisation.

    PubMed

    Smail, Hassiba; Saxena, Pankaj; Wallinder, Andreas; Lin, Enjarn; Snell, Gregory I; Hobson, Jamie; Zimmet, Adam D; Marasco, Silvana F; McGiffin, David C

    2017-12-22

    There is an ever increasing demand for donor lungs in patients waiting for transplantation. Lungs of many potential donors will be rejected if the standard criteria for donor assessment are followed. We have expanded our donor lung pool by accepting marginal donors and establishing a donation after circulatory death program. We have achieved comparable results using marginal donors and accepting donor lungs following donation after circulatory death. We present our assessment and technical guidelines on lung procurement taking into consideration an increasingly complex cohort of lung donors. These guidelines form the basis of the lung procurement training program involving surgical Fellows at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Copyright © 2017 Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. What makes up marginal lands and how can it be defined and classified?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ivanina, Vadym

    2017-04-01

    Definitions of marginal lands are often not explicit. The term "marginal" is not supported by either a precise definition or research to determine which lands fall into this category. To identify marginal lands terminology/methodology is used which varies between physical characteristics and the current land use of a site as basic perspective. The term 'Marginal' is most commonly followed by 'degraded' lands, and other widely used terms such as 'abandoned', 'idle', 'pasture', 'surplus agricultural land', 'Conservation Reserve Programme' (CRP)', 'barren and carbon-poor land', etc. Some terms are used synonymously. To the category of "marginal" lands are predominantly included lands which are excluded from cultivation due to economic infeasibility or physical restriction for growing conventional crops. Such sites may still have potential to be used for alternative agricultural practice, e.g. bioenergy feedstock production. The existing categorizing of marginal lands does not allow evaluating soil fertility potential or to define type and level of constrains for growing crops as the reason of a low practical value with regards to land use planning. A new marginal land classification has to be established and developed. This classification should be built on criteria of soil biophysical properties, ecologic, environment and climate handicaps for growing crops, be easy in use and of high practical value. The SEEMLA consortium made steps to build such a marginal land classification which is based on direct criteria depicting soil properties and constrains, and defining their productivity potential. By this classification marginal lands are divided into eleven categories: shallow rooting, low fertility, stony texture, sandy texture, clay texture, salinic, sodicic, acidic, overwet, eroded, and contaminated. The basis of this classification was taken criteria modified after and adapted from Regulation EU (1305)2013. To define an area of marginal lands with climate and economic limitations, SEEMLA established and implemented the term "area of land marginality" with a broader on marginal lands. This term includes marginal lands themselves, evaluation of climate constrains and economic efficiency to grow crops. This approach allows to define, categorize and classify marginal land by direct indicators of soil biophysical properties, ecologic and environment constrains, and provides additional evaluation of lands marginality with regards to suitability for growing crops based on climate criteria.

  1. Discrete Time McKean–Vlasov Control Problem: A Dynamic Programming Approach

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pham, Huyên, E-mail: pham@math.univ-paris-diderot.fr; Wei, Xiaoli, E-mail: tyswxl@gmail.com

    We consider the stochastic optimal control problem of nonlinear mean-field systems in discrete time. We reformulate the problem into a deterministic control problem with marginal distribution as controlled state variable, and prove that dynamic programming principle holds in its general form. We apply our method for solving explicitly the mean-variance portfolio selection and the multivariate linear-quadratic McKean–Vlasov control problem.

  2. Relationship between Cariogenic Bacteria and pH of Dental Plaque at Margin of Fixed Prostheses

    PubMed Central

    Tanaka, Junko; Mukai, Norio; Tanaka, Muto; Tanaka, Masahiro

    2012-01-01

    Objective. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether teeth that have undergone prosthetic restoration are under conditions that promote caries recurrence. Methods. The subjects were 20 dentate adults with both a healthy tooth and an affected tooth entirely covered with a complete cast crown in the molar regions of the same arch. The pH was measured in plaque adhering to the margin of the tooth covered with a complete cast crown and adhering to the cervicobuccal area of the natural tooth. In addition, the numbers of cariogenic bacteria (mutans streptococci and lactobacilli) were measured employing the saliva test. The relationships between the number of cariogenic bacteria and plaque pH of the natural tooth and between the number of cariogenic bacteria and plaque pH of the tooth covered with a complete cast crown were investigated. Results. The plaque pH of the tooth covered with a complete cast crown decreased as the numbers of SM and LB increased. The natural tooth were also influenced by the number of SM. Conclusion. Secondary caries are likely to develop from the marginal region of the crown in the oral cavity with a high caries risk unless a preventive program is prepared and the oral environment is improved following the program. PMID:22287964

  3. The Use of a Lidar Forward-Looking Turbulence Sensor for Mixed-Compression Inlet Unstart Avoidance and Gross Weight Reduction on a High Speed Civil Transport

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Soreide, David; Bogue, Rodney K.; Ehernberger, L. J.; Seidel, Jonathan

    1997-01-01

    Inlet unstart causes a disturbance akin to severe turbulence for a supersonic commercial airplane. Consequently, the current goal for the frequency of unstarts is a few times per fleet lifetime. For a mixed-compression inlet, there is a tradeoff between propulsion system efficiency and unstart margin. As the unstart margin decreases, propulsion system efficiency increases, but so does the unstart rate. This paper intends to first, quantify that tradeoff for the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) and second, to examine the benefits of using a sensor to detect turbulence ahead of the airplane. When the presence of turbulence is known with sufficient lead time to allow the propulsion system to adjust the unstart margin, then inlet un,starts can be minimized while overall efficiency is maximized. The NASA Airborne Coherent Lidar for Advanced In-Flight Measurements program is developing a lidar system to serve as a prototype of the forward-looking sensor. This paper reports on the progress of this development program and its application to the prevention of inlet unstart in a mixed-compression supersonic inlet. Quantified benefits include significantly reduced takeoff gross weight (TOGW), which could increase payload, reduce direct operating costs, or increase range for the HSCT.

  4. INTEGRATION OF RELIABILITY WITH MECHANISTIC THERMALHYDRAULICS: REPORT ON APPROACH AND TEST PROBLEM RESULTS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    J. S. Schroeder; R. W. Youngblood

    The Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is developing simulation-based methods and tools for analyzing safety margin from a modern perspective. [1] There are multiple definitions of 'margin.' One class of definitions defines margin in terms of the distance between a point estimate of a given performance parameter (such as peak clad temperature), and a point-value acceptance criterion defined for that parameter (such as 2200 F). The present perspective on margin is that it relates to the probability of failure, and not just the distance between a nominal operating point and a criterion.more » In this work, margin is characterized through a probabilistic analysis of the 'loads' imposed on systems, structures, and components, and their 'capacity' to resist those loads without failing. Given the probabilistic load and capacity spectra, one can assess the probability that load exceeds capacity, leading to component failure. Within the project, we refer to a plot of these probabilistic spectra as 'the logo.' Refer to Figure 1 for a notional illustration. The implications of referring to 'the logo' are (1) RISMC is focused on being able to analyze loads and spectra probabilistically, and (2) calling it 'the logo' tacitly acknowledges that it is a highly simplified picture: meaningful analysis of a given component failure mode may require development of probabilistic spectra for multiple physical parameters, and in many practical cases, 'load' and 'capacity' will not vary independently.« less

  5. [Community marketing of contraceptives].

    PubMed

    Urrutia, J M

    1987-09-01

    The 5-year-old community contraceptive distribution program developed by PROFAMILIA, Colombia's private family planning organization, has given excellent results, but several cost-effectiveness comparisons with social marketing programs have suggested that commercial distribution programs are superior. The community contraceptive distribution program has a high content of information and education activities, which produced significant increases in knowledge and use of contraception in the communities covered. It has been a fundamental support for the social marketing program, creating much of the demand for contraceptive products that the social marketing program has filled. The social marketing program has given good results in terms of volume of sales and in cost-effectiveness since 1976, prompting calls for replacement of the community contraceptive distribution program by the social marketing program in those sectors where knowledge and use of contraception have achieved acceptable levels. An experiment in the Department of Santander in 1984 and 1985 gave very favorable results, suggesting that community contraceptive distribution programs should be replaced by social marketing programs in all more developed markets. But economic problems in 1985 and the decision of manufacturers to decrease the profit margin for PROFAMILIA jeopardized the social marketing program. The community distribution program covered about 20% of the market. Reduced profits in the social marketing program threatened its continued expansion, at the same time that potential demand was growing because of increases in the fertile aged population and increased use of contraception. To meet the need, PROFAMILIA combined the community contraceptive distribution and social marketing programs into a new entity to be called community marketing. The strategy of the community marketing program will be to maintain PROFAMILIA's participation in the market and aid the growth of demand for contraceptives through educational and informational activities. The distribution scheme must continue to cover all the established points of sale in pharmacies despite the reduced profit margins.

  6. Building positive self-image in adolescents in foster care: the use of role models in an interactive group approach.

    PubMed

    Yancey, A K

    1998-01-01

    In a previous article (Yancey, 1992), the literature on identity development in individuals from socially devalued racial and ethnic groups was summarized. It was postulated that the social maladaptation of adolescents in residential group foster care is reflective of identity disturbances created by the negative images of African-Americans and Latinos perpetuated by the dominant society and unfiltered by optimal parental racial/ethnic socialization. The present article describes the development of a pilot preventive mental health intervention, the PRIDE (Personal and Racial/ethnic Identity Development and Enhancement) program, designed to provide components of parenting that are necessary for promoting positive self-image in ethnically marginalized adolescents and that are typically lacking in the group foster care milieu. PRIDE utilizes successful, ethnically relevant role models in interactive group sessions to create a significant cognitive and emotional experience for teens. While the utility of role modeling for at-risk youth is widely accepted, there is little research on the packaging, delivery, and influence of this intervention modality. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a "hybrid" role-modeling approach (intermediate in intensity of exposure and cost between one-to-one mentoring and career-day programs). Implications for further research on this type of intervention are discussed.

  7. Stability and Control Analysis of the F-15B Quiet SpikeTM Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McWherter, Shaun C.; Moua, Cheng M.; Gera, Joseph; Cox, Timothy H.

    2009-01-01

    The primary purpose of the Quiet Spike(TradeMark) flight research program was to analyze the aerodynamic, structural, and mechanical proof-of-concept of a large multi-stage telescoping nose spike installed on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) F-15B airplane. This report describes the preflight stability and control analysis performed to assess the effect of the spike on the stability, controllability, and handling qualities of the airplane; and to develop an envelope expansion approach to maintain safety of flight. The overall flight test objective was to collect flight data to validate the spike structural dynamics and loads model up to Mach 1.8. Other objectives included validating the mechanical feasibility of a morphing fuselage at operational conditions and determining the near-field shock wave characterization. The two main issues relevant to the stability and control objectives were the effects of the spike-influenced aerodynamics on the F-15B airplane flight dynamics, and the air data and angle-of-attack sensors. The analysis covered the sensitivity of the stability margins, and the handling qualities due to aerodynamic variation and the maneuvering limitations of the F-15B Quiet Spike configuration. The results of the analysis and the implications for the flight test program are also presented.

  8. 2006 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System Workshop; Volume 1

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steinetz, Bruce, M. (Editor); Hendricks, Robert C. (Editor); Delgado, Irebert (Editor)

    2007-01-01

    The 2006 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System workshop covered the following topics: (i) Overview of NASA s new Exploration Initiative program aimed at exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond; (ii) Overview of NASA s new fundamental aeronautics technology project; (iii) Overview of NASA Glenn Research Center s seal project aimed at developing advanced seals for NASA s turbomachinery, space, and reentry vehicle needs; (iv) Reviews of NASA prime contractor, vendor, and university advanced sealing concepts including tip clearance control, test results, experimental facilities, and numerical predictions; and (v) Reviews of material development programs relevant to advanced seals development. Turbine engine studies have shown that reducing seal leakages as well as high-pressure turbine (HPT) blade tip clearances will reduce fuel burn, lower emissions, retain exhaust gas temperature margin, and increase range. Several organizations presented development efforts aimed at developing faster clearance control systems and associated technology to meet future engine needs. The workshop also covered several programs NASA is funding to develop technologies for the Exploration Initiative and advanced reusable space vehicle technologies. NASA plans on developing an advanced docking and berthing system that would permit any vehicle to dock to any on-orbit station or vehicle. Seal technical challenges (including space environments, temperature variation, and seal-on-seal operation) as well as plans to develop the necessary "androgynous" seal technologies were reviewed. Researchers also reviewed seal technologies employed by the Apollo command module that serve as an excellent basis for seals for NASA s new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).

  9. Contributing Meaning to Research in Developmental Disabilities: Integrating Participatory Action and Methodological Rigor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powers, Laurie E.

    2017-01-01

    Action research approaches reflecting power sharing by academic and community researchers, full engagement of community partners across all study phases, and ongoing commitment to partnership and capacity building have been increasingly embraced, particularly in research affecting marginalized populations. Findings suggest action research…

  10. Stratal stacking patterns and tectono-sedimentary evolution of hyperextended magma-poor rifted margins

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ribes, C.; Gillard, M.; Epin, M. E.; Ghienne, J. F.; Manatschal, G.; Karner, G. D.; Johnson, C. A.

    2016-12-01

    Research on the formation and evolution of deep-water rifted margins has undergone a major paradigm shift in recent years. An increasing number of studies of present-day and fossil rifted margins allow us to identify and characterize the structural architecture of the most distal parts of rifted margins, the so-called hyperextended, magma-poor rifted margins. However, at present, little is known about the depositional environments, sedimentary facies, stacking patterns, subsidence and thermal history within these domains. In this context, characterizing the stratal stacking patterns and understanding their spatial and temporal evolution is a new challenge. The major difficulty comes from the fact that the observed stratigraphic geometries and facies relationships are a result of the complex interplay between sediment supply and available accommodation, which is controlled by not only the regional generation of accommodation, but also by local tectono-magmatic processes. These parameters are poorly constrained or even sufficiently known in these tectonic settings. Indeed, the complex structural evolution of hyperextended magma-poor rifted margins, including the development of poly-phase in-sequence and out of sequence extensional detachment faults and associated mantle exhumation and magmatic activity, can generate complex accommodation patterns over a highly structured top basement. The presentation summarizes early results concerning the controlling parameters on ultra-deep water stratigraphic stacking patterns and to provide a conceptual framework. This observation-driven approach combines fieldwork from fossil Alpine Tethys margins exposed in the Alps and the analysis of seismic reflection data from present-day deep water rifted margins such as the Australian-Antarctic, East India and Iberia-Newfoundland margins.

  11. Community-based participatory research in Little Haiti: challenges and lessons learned.

    PubMed

    Kobetz, Erin; Menard, Janelle; Diem, Joshua; Barton, Betsy; Blanco, Jenny; Pierre, Larry; Auguste, Pascale D; Etienne, Marie; Brewster, Cheryl

    2009-01-01

    Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective methodology for developing relevant interventions with socially marginalized communities. However, implementing CBPR methods is challenging for several reasons. This paper presents challenges encountered in the context of an ongoing CBPR initiative in Little Haiti in Miami, Florida, and describes the solutions used to address them. We sought to describe the challenges faced and lessons learned while conducting CBPR in Little Haiti. Community-academic partnerships were created to guide the creation of culturally relevant cancer interventions and research. Historical distrust of research, cultural constructions of health and illness, and literacy issues are key considerations when developing partnerships with Haitian and other marginalized, immigrant communities. Partnerships are fostered over time through demonstrated mutual commitment to improving health and building community capacity. Communities must play an active role throughout the research process to ensure that studies are culturally relevant, and ensuing intervention, sustainable.

  12. MIZEX: A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. MIZEX Bulletin VII.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-03-01

    8217 ILI L2.2363 31-25 UICRQCCW p O TEST C4ART’OPSMa, -f AoA IV 4 86 9 ’ 5 MIZEX BULLETIN SERIES: INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS The main purpose of the...Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones MIZEX BULLETIN VII LEC T E SEP 2 9 1986 ’Jl P March 1986 J A ’QOzltnal OontsSn$ ooLoP...studies in both the northern and southern hemispheres. W.D. HIBLER Ill March 1986 ii CONTENTS* Page P reface

  13. MIZEX: A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. VIII. A Science Plan for a Winter Marginal Ice Zone Experiment in the Fram Strait/Greenland Sea: 1987/89,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-04-01

    forward modeling, with the pa- be telemetered via the ARGOS system for real - rameter changes needed to bring the predictions time evaluation, and the...integrated en ’i- rtinnental measurement svs fern. quisition system to the Winter MIZEX in I-ram To control and direct the experiment, real - time Strait...to measure, under- Electromagnetic sensing via aircraft and satellites stand, and model: will be employed in real time to identify eddy " Changes in

  14. Trainees do not negatively impact the institutional learning curve for robotic prostatectomy as characterized by operative time, estimated blood loss, and positive surgical margin rate.

    PubMed

    Schroeck, Florian R; de Sousa, Chiquita A Palha; Kalman, Ross A; Kalia, Maitri S; Pierre, Sean A; Haleblian, George E; Sun, Leon; Moul, Judd W; Albala, David M

    2008-04-01

    We evaluated the learning curves and perioperative outcomes of an experienced laparoscopic surgeon and his trainees to assess our structured teaching program. We retrieved 383 patients undergoing robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) from our database. Trainees completed a structured teaching program and were categorized as early (days 0 to 232), mid (days 566 to 797), and late (days 825 to 1218) according to the time period in which they were working with the mentor. We compared operative times, estimated blood loss (EBL), and positive surgical margin (PSM) rates between the trainees and the mentor (Mann-Whitney and Chi-square test). Association of EBL, body mass index (BMI), and prostate weight with operative time was evaluated in multivariate linear regression analysis. Median operative times of the early, mid, and late trainees (258, 220, and 200 minutes) significantly decreased and were similar to the corresponding senior surgeon's (254, 242, and 180 minutes). Operative times decreased with lower BMI, EBL, and prostate weight (P = 0.006, P <0.001, and P <0.001, respectively). Overall, EBL (150 mL vs. 150 mL, P = 0.215) and PSM rates (20% vs. 18.6%, P = 0.741) did not differ between the mentor and the trainees. A structured teaching program for RALP is effective and trainees are able to adopt the increased efficiency and skills of their mentor. Lower BMI, EBL, and prostate weight were associated with shorter operative times. Trainees performing the procedure did not negatively affect EBL and positive surgical margin rate.

  15. The effect of repair costs on the profitability of a ureteroscopy program.

    PubMed

    Tosoian, Jeffrey J; Ludwig, Wesley; Sopko, Nikolai; Mullins, Jeffrey K; Matlaga, Brian R

    2015-04-01

    Ureteroscopy (URS) is a common treatment for patients with stone disease. One of the disadvantages of this approach is the great capital expense associated with the purchase and repair of endoscopic equipment. In some cases, these costs can outpace revenues and lead to an unprofitable and unsustainable enterprise. We sought to characterize the profitability of our URS program when accounting for endoscope maintenance and repair costs. We identified all URS cases performed at a single hospital during fiscal year 2013 (FY2013). Charges, collection rates, and fixed and variable costs including annual equipment repair costs were obtained. The net margin and break-even point of URS were derived on a per-case basis. For 190 cases performed in FY2013, total endoscope repair costs totaled $115,000, resulting in an average repair cost of $605 per case. The vast majority of cases (94.2%) were conducted in the outpatient setting, which generated a net margin of $659 per case, while inpatient cases yielded a net loss of $455. URS was ultimately associated with a net positive margin approaching $600 per case. On break-even analysis, URS remained profitable until repair costs reached $1200 per case. Based on these findings, an established URS program can sustain profitability even with large equipment repair costs. Nonetheless, our findings serve to emphasize the importance of controlling costs, particularly in the current setting of decreasing reimbursement. A multifaceted approach, based on improving endoscope durability and exploring digital and disposable platforms, will be critical in maintaining the sustainability of URS.

  16. Tool Wear Feature Extraction Based on Hilbert Marginal Spectrum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guan, Shan; Song, Weijie; Pang, Hongyang

    2017-09-01

    In the metal cutting process, the signal contains a wealth of tool wear state information. A tool wear signal’s analysis and feature extraction method based on Hilbert marginal spectrum is proposed. Firstly, the tool wear signal was decomposed by empirical mode decomposition algorithm and the intrinsic mode functions including the main information were screened out by the correlation coefficient and the variance contribution rate. Secondly, Hilbert transform was performed on the main intrinsic mode functions. Hilbert time-frequency spectrum and Hilbert marginal spectrum were obtained by Hilbert transform. Finally, Amplitude domain indexes were extracted on the basis of the Hilbert marginal spectrum and they structured recognition feature vector of tool wear state. The research results show that the extracted features can effectively characterize the different wear state of the tool, which provides a basis for monitoring tool wear condition.

  17. The Idealized Cultural Identities Model on Help-Seeking and Child Sexual Abuse: A Conceptual Model for Contextualizing Perceptions and Experiences of South Asian Americans

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kanukollu, Shanta N.; Mahalingam, Ramaswami

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, we propose an interdisciplinary framework to study perceptions of child sexual abuse and help-seeking among South Asians living in the United States. We integrate research on social marginality, intersectionality, and cultural psychology to understand how marginalized social experience accentuates South Asian immigrants' desire to…

  18. Students at the Margins and the Institutions That Serve Them: A Global Perspective. Salzburg Global Seminar Session 537 (Salzburg, Austria, October 11-16, 2014). A Special Policy Notes, Spring 2015

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bloe, Diasmer

    2015-01-01

    In partnership with Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, Salzburg Global Seminar hosted an international strategic dialogue of 60 thought leaders, researchers, and practitioners from institutions serving marginalized populations to…

  19. Finding My Voice: [Re]living, [Re]learning, and [Re]searching Becoming a Singer in a Culture of Marginalization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manovski, Miroslav Pavle

    2012-01-01

    Boys who sing in school are often marginalized, taunted, sometimes called "gay." What if "singer" is someone's whole identity, and that person also happens to be gay? This autoethnography (Ellis, 2004) is a story of the education and development of such a singer and how, within this context, a voice teacher with an empowering…

  20. Seals/Secondary Fluid Flows Workshop 1997; Volume I

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hendricks, Robert C. (Editor)

    2006-01-01

    The 1997 Conference provided discussions and data on (a) program overviews, (b) developments in seals and secondary air management systems, (c) interactive seals flows with secondary air or fluid flows and powerstream flows, (d) views of engine externals and limitations, (e) high speed engine research sealing needs and demands, and (f) a short course on engine design development margins. Sealing concepts discussed include, mechanical rim and cavity seals, leaf, finger, air/oil, rope, floating-brush, floating-T-buffer, and brush seals. Engine externals include all components of engine fluid systems, sensors and their support structures that lie within or project through the nacelle. The clean features of the nacelle belie the minefield of challenges and opportunities that lie within. Seals; Secondary air flows; Rotordynamics; Gas turbine; Aircraft; CFD; Testing; Turbomachinery

  1. Ancient Wings: animating the evolution of butterfly wing patterns.

    PubMed

    Arbesman, Samuel; Enthoven, Leo; Monteiro, Antónia

    2003-10-01

    Character optimization methods can be used to reconstruct ancestral states at the internal nodes of phylogenetic trees. However, seldom are these ancestral states visualized collectively. Ancient Wings is a computer program that provides a novel method of visualizing the evolution of several morphological traits simultaneously. It allows users to visualize how the ventral hindwing pattern of 54 butterflies in the genus Bicyclus may have changed over time. By clicking on each of the nodes within the evolutionary tree, the user can see an animation of how wing size, eyespot size, and eyespot position relative the wing margin, have putatively evolved as a collective whole. Ancient Wings may be used as a pedagogical device as well as a research tool for hypothesis-generation in the fields of evolutionary, ecological, and developmental biology.

  2. Flight Control Laws for NASA's Hyper-X Research Vehicle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davidson, J.; Lallman, F.; McMinn, J. D.; Martin, J.; Pahle, J.; Stephenson, M.; Selmon, J.; Bose, D.

    1999-01-01

    The goal of the Hyper-X program is to demonstrate and validate technology for design and performance predictions of hypersonic aircraft with an airframe-integrated supersonic-combustion ramjet propulsion system. Accomplishing this goal requires flight demonstration of a hydrogen-fueled scramjet powered hypersonic aircraft. A key enabling technology for this flight demonstration is flight controls. Closed-loop flight control is required to enable a successful stage separation, to achieve and maintain the design condition during the engine test, and to provide a controlled descent. Before the contract award, NASA developed preliminary flight control laws for the Hyper-X to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed scramjet test sequence and descent trajectory. After the contract award, a Boeing/NASA partnership worked to develop the current control laws. This paper presents a description of the Hyper-X Research Vehicle control law architectures with performance and robustness analyses. Assessments of simulated flight trajectories and stability margin analyses demonstrate that these control laws meet the flight test requirements.

  3. The Automation System Censor Speech for the Indonesian Rude Swear Words Based on Support Vector Machine and Pitch Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Endah, S. N.; Nugraheni, D. M. K.; Adhy, S.; Sutikno

    2017-04-01

    According to Law No. 32 of 2002 and the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission Regulation No. 02/P/KPI/12/2009 & No. 03/P/KPI/12/2009, stated that broadcast programs should not scold with harsh words, not harass, insult or demean minorities and marginalized groups. However, there are no suitable tools to censor those words automatically. Therefore, researches to develop a system of intelligent software to censor the words automatically are needed. To conduct censor, the system must be able to recognize the words in question. This research proposes the classification of speech divide into two classes using Support Vector Machine (SVM), first class is set of rude words and the second class is set of properly words. The speech pitch values as an input in SVM, it used for the development of the system for the Indonesian rude swear word. The results of the experiment show that SVM is good for this system.

  4. A tectonic reconstruction of accreted terranes along the paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bammel, Brandon

    The southern oceanic margin of Gondwana was nearly 40,000 km long or 24,854.8 miles. The southern margin was the result of the Terra Australis orogen. Spanning 18,000 km or 11,184.7 miles and is proposed as one of the largest and longest lived orogens in Earth history. The paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana consisted of segments of the Australian-Antarctic craton, southern South America (modern Argentina and Chile), southern South Africa, Marie Byrdland, New Zealand and its adjacent continental shelf, the Ellsworth Mountains, and the Transantarctic Mountains. The process of terrane accretion has played a substantial part in the assembly of the continents as they look today. The paleo-Pacific margin of Gondwana was an active region of terrane accretion from the Neoproterozoic to the Late Mesozoic. This research study examines the accretion of terranes across the paleo-Pacific Gondwana margin to provide a comprehensive reconstruction. A paleogeographic basemap was created using PALEOMAP Project maps and the geology data was provided by the School of Geoscience from the University of Witwatersrand of South Africa. Location and data analyzed for terranes were collected building a PDF library of journal articles across numerous geological publications.

  5. The sociocultural model of eating disorders in Mexican American women: behavioral acculturation and cognitive marginalization as moderators.

    PubMed

    Warren, Cortney S; Castillo, Linda G; Gleaves, David H

    2010-01-01

    White American cultural values of appearance are implicated in the development of body dissatisfaction. This study examined whether the relationships between awareness of White American appearance ideals, internalization of such ideals, and body dissatisfaction are moderated by behavioral acculturation and attitudinal marginalization in a sample of 94 Mexican American women. Results indicated that behavioral acculturation moderated the relationship between awareness and internalization and cognitive marginalization moderated the relationship between internalization and body dissatisfaction. Body size was positively correlated with body dissatisfaction and negatively correlated with behavioral acculturation. These findings have important implications for clinical practice and research with Mexican American women.

  6. Overcoming diabetes-related stigma in Iran: A participatory action research.

    PubMed

    Doosti-Irani, Mehri; Abdoli, Samereh; Parvizy, Soroor; Fatemi, Naimeh Seyed

    2017-08-01

    The study aimed to overcome diabetes-related stigma in individuals living with type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) in Iran. The study proposed that if individuals with T1DM and the community work together to develop and implement an anti-stigma program, diabetes-related stigma in individuals with T1DM can be reduced. This study was conducted as a participatory action research study based on Kemmis and McTaggert's (2000) Model to design and implement an anti-stigma program for T1DM. Participants were selected among individuals with T1DM, their family members, health care providers, and residents without diabetes in Isfahan, Iran. Data collection was conducted using interviews, focus groups, emails, and text messages. Content analysis was used to analyze the data to develop anti-stigma interventions. Interventions were prioritized based on the Suitability, Feasibility and Flexibility (SFF) Matrix. Anti-stigma interventions were implemented in different levels in Isfahan, Iran, from 2011 to 2014. The effect of the program was evaluated based on interviews, feedback, and focus groups at the individual level. However, interventions were implemented in different levels including community, organization, family, and individual. Participants with T1DM experienced significant empowerment during the project to overcome diabetes-related stigma. The three main themes indicating this feeling of empowerment are "from doubt to trust", "from shadow to light", and "from me to us". Participatory action research can be an effective way to reduce diabetes-related stigma in individuals living with T1DM. It integrates the voices of the marginalized group reducing stigma and discrimination against diabetes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  7. Tour Robot Dance

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cleary, Geoff

    2014-09-08

    This program exercises the robotic elements in Oracle Storage Tek tape libraries. This is useful for two known cases: 1.) shaking out marginal or new hardware by ensuring hardware robustness under high-duty usage. 2.) ensuring tape libraries are visually interesting during datacenter tours

  8. "A Friend Who Understand Fully": Notes on Humanizing Research in a Multiethnic Youth Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paris, Django

    2011-01-01

    In this article, I conceptualize ethnographic, qualitative, and social language research with marginalized and oppressed communities as "humanizing research". Humanizing research is a methodological stance, which requires that our inquiries involve dialogic consciousness-raising and the building of relationships of dignity and care for both…

  9. Critical Issues in the Funding of Qualitative Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bourgeault, Ivy Lynn

    2012-01-01

    Qualitative research has moved from the margins to the mainstream in many domains of scholarship. Yet, biases against how qualitative methods can best address important research questions still persist. The present article provides reflections regarding my experiences of proposing and reviewing both qualitative and quantitative research grants for…

  10. Humanitarian engineering in the engineering curriculum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vandersteen, Jonathan Daniel James

    There are many opportunities to use engineering skills to improve the conditions for marginalized communities, but our current engineering education praxis does not instruct on how engineering can be a force for human development. In a time of great inequality and exploitation, the desire to work with the impoverished is prevalent, and it has been proposed to adjust the engineering curriculum to include a larger focus on human needs. This proposed curriculum philosophy is called humanitarian engineering. Professional engineers have played an important role in the modern history of power, wealth, economic development, war, and industrialization; they have also contributed to infrastructure, sanitation, and energy sources necessary to meet human need. Engineers are currently at an important point in time when they must look back on their history in order to be more clear about how to move forward. The changing role of the engineer in history puts into context the call for a more balanced, community-centred engineering curriculum. Qualitative, phenomenographic research was conducted in order to understand the need, opportunity, benefits, and limitations of a proposed humanitarian engineering curriculum. The potential role of the engineer in marginalized communities and details regarding what a humanitarian engineering program could look like were also investigated. Thirty-two semi-structured research interviews were conducted in Canada and Ghana in order to collect a pool of understanding before a phenomenographic analysis resulted in five distinct outcome spaces. The data suggests that an effective curriculum design will include teaching technical skills in conjunction with instructing about issues of social justice, social location, cultural awareness, root causes of marginalization, a broader understanding of technology, and unlearning many elements about the role of the engineer and the dominant economic/political ideology. Cross-cultural engineering development placements are a valuable pedagogical experience but risk benefiting the student disproportionately more than the receiving community. Local development placements offer different rewards and liabilities. To conclude, a major adjustment in engineering curriculum to address human development is appropriate and this new curriculum should include both local and international placements. However, the great force of altruism must be directed towards creating meaningful and lasting change.

  11. Risk Factors for Social Isolation in Older Korean Americans.

    PubMed

    Jang, Yuri; Park, Nan Sook; Chiriboga, David A; Yoon, Hyunwoo; Ko, Jisook; Lee, Juyoung; Kim, Miyong T

    2016-02-01

    Given the importance of social ties and connectedness in the lives of older ethnic immigrants, the present study examined the prevalence of social isolation and its risk factors in older Korean Americans. Using survey data from 1,301 participants (Mage = 70.5, SD = 7.24), risk groups for marginal social ties with family and friends were identified and predictors of each type of social isolation explored. Male gender and poorer rating of health were identified as common risk factors for marginal ties to both family and friends. Findings also present specific risk factors for each type of social isolation. For example, an increased risk of having marginal ties with friends was observed among individuals with perceived financial strain, greater functional impairment, and a shorter stay in the United States. The common and specific risk factors should be incorporated in programs to reduce social isolation in older immigrant populations. © The Author(s) 2015.

  12. Automatic control of electric thermal storage (heat) under real-time pricing. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Daryanian, B.; Tabors, R.D.; Bohn, R.E.

    1995-01-01

    Real-time pricing (RTP) can be used by electric utilities as a control signal for responsive demand-side management (DSM) programs. Electric thermal storage (ETS) systems in buildings provide the inherent flexibility needed to take advantage of variations in prices. Under RTP, optimal performance for ETS operations is achieved under market conditions where reductions in customers` costs coincide with the lowering of the cost of service for electric utilities. The RTP signal conveys the time-varying actual marginal cost of the electric service to customers. The RTP rate is a combination of various cost components, including marginal generation fuel and maintenance costs, marginalmore » costs of transmission and distribution losses, and marginal quality of supply and transmission costs. This report describes the results of an experiment in automatic control of heat storage systems under RTP during the winter seasons of 1989--90 and 1990--91.« less

  13. Achieve a Better Understanding of Cloud and Precipitation Processes for the Promotion of Water Security in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farrah, S.; Al Yazidi, O.

    2016-12-01

    The UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) is an international research initiative designed to advance the science and technology of rain enhancement. It comes from an understanding of the needs of countries suffering from scarcity of fresh water, and its will to support innovation globally. The Program focuses on the following topics: Climate change, Climate modelling, Climatology, Atmospheric physics, Atmospheric dynamics, Weather modification, Cloud physics, Cloud dynamics, Cloud seeding, Weather radars, Dust modelling, Aerosol physics , Aerosol chemistry, Aerosol/cloud interactions, Water resources, Physics, Numerical modelling, Material science, Nanotechnology, Meteorology, Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Rocket technology, Laser technology, Water sustainability, Remote sensing, Environmental sciences... In 2015, three research teams from Japan, Germany and the UAE led by Prof. Masataka Murakami, Volker Wulfmeyer and Linda Zou have been respectively awarded. Together, they are addressing the issue of water security through innovative ideas: algorithms and sensors, land cover modification, and nanotechnologies to accelerate condensation. These three projects are undergoing now with extensive research and progresses. This session will be an opportunity to present their latest results as well as to detail the evolution of research in rain enhancement. In 2016 indeed, the Program saw a remarkable increase in participation, with 91 pre-proposals from 398 scientists, researchers and technologists affiliated to 180 institutes from 45 countries. The projects submitted are now focusing on modelling to predict weather, autonomous vehicles, rocket technology, lasers or new seeding materials… The science of rain enhancement offers considerable potential in terms of research, development and innovation. Though cloud seeding has been pursued since the late 1940s, it has been viewed as a relatively marginal field of interest for scientists. This benign neglect has been recently replaced by a new drive to solve the technical obstacles impeding its potential. There is now a real prospect that this science will come of age and play its rightful part in boosting sustainable water supplies for people at risk in arid and semi-arid regions of the world.

  14. SinoProbe - A Multidisciplinary Research Program of Earth Sciences in China (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dong, S.; Li, T.

    2010-12-01

    China occupies a large region of central and eastern Asia and holds keys to resolving several first-order problems in Earth Sciences. Besides the importance in Earth Science research, the rapid growth of Chinese economy also demands a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of its natural resources and the impacts of geohazards on its societal development. In order to address the above issues, the Chinese government had initiated a new multidisciplinary research project in Earth Sciences - the SinoProbe Program. Its fundamental goal is to determine the three-dimensional structure, composition distribution, and geological evolution of the Chinese continental lithosphere. The results of the SinoProbe Program are expected to have broad impacts on the Chinese society and economy. In particular, the program will greatly enhance our current understanding on (1) the forming and distribution of mineral resources in the nation, (2) the locations and recurrence histories of major active fault zones capable of generating large earthquakes in highly populated regions, and (3) the distribution of major hazard-prone regions induced by geological processes. In 2009, more than 720 investigators and 70 engineers from Chinese institutions are currently involved with the research program. Sinoprobe hope that the joint forces by Chinese and international researchers will bring in modern approaches, new analytical tools, and advanced exploration technology into the successful operation of the program. In past year, 1,960km long seismic reflection profiling with broadband seismological studies and MT surveys separated from 6 profiles in China continent have completed. MT array coved the North China craton by 1°×1° network and 3-D exploration in larger ore deposits in selected area were carried out. A scientific drilling area operated in Tibet. We started to establish a geochemical reference framework for the values of 76 elements in a grid network with data-point spacing of 160 km in China. Some stress monitoring were centered in the Beijing and the southeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau regions. Also, SinoProbe begin to establish a high-performance calculation platform that will consider coupling processes between deformation and thermal evolution in the lithosphere. Meanwhile, data integration and data dissemination is going to stored. Finally, SinoProbe will also devote to develop new technologies, innovative methods, data integration platforms, and modern equipments for deep Earth and mineral-deposit explorations. In summary, SinoProbe is a multi-year and multidisciplinary research program to be carried in China with 9 projects and 49 sub-projects. It will integrate geological, geophysical, geochemical, and modern exploration technology to examine the deep Earth structures and their evolution in China. The results will undoubtedly contribute to the improvement of our current understanding of the Eurasia continent in particular and the Earth in general.

  15. Influence of maternal health literacy on child participation in social welfare programs: the Philadelphia experience.

    PubMed

    Pati, Susmita; Mohamad, Zeinab; Cnaan, Avital; Kavanagh, Jane; Shea, Judy A

    2010-09-01

    We examined the influence of maternal health literacy on child participation in social welfare programs. In this cohort, 20% of the mothers had inadequate or marginal health literacy. Initially, more than 50% of the families participated in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Food Stamp Program, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, whereas fewer than 15% received child care subsidies or public housing. In multivariate regression, TANF participation was more than twice as common among children whose mothers had adequate health literacy compared with children whose mothers had inadequate health literacy.

  16. Natural constraints on exploring Antarctica's continental margin, existing geophysical and geological data basis, and proposed drilling program

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Anderson, J.B.

    1987-05-01

    There have been a number of multichannel seismic reflection and seismic refraction surveys of the Antarctic continental shelf. While glacial erosion has left acoustic basement exposed on portions of the inner shelf, thick sedimentary sequences occur on the passive margin of east Antarctica. The thickness and age of these strata vary due to different breakup histories of the margin. Several sedimentary basins have been identified. Most are rift basins formed during the early stages of Antarctica's separation from other Gondwana continents and plateaus. The west Antarctic continental shelf is extensive, being approximately twice the size of the Gulf of Mexicomore » shelf. It has been poorly surveyed to date, owing mainly to its perennial sea ice cover. Gradual subduction of the spreading center from south to north along the margin resulted in old active margin sequences being buried beneath passive margin sequences. The latter should increase in thickness from north to south along the margin although no data bear this out. Hydrocarbon potential on the northern portion of the west Antarctic margin is considered low due to a probable lack of reservoir rocks. Establishment of ice sheets on Antarctica caused destruction of land vegetation and greatly restricted siliciclastic sand-producing environments. So only sedimentary basins which contain pre-early Miocene deposits have good hydrocarbon prospectivity. The Antarctic continental shelf is the deepest in the world, averaging 500 m and in places being more than a kilometer deep. The shelf has been left rugged by glacial erosion and is therefore prone to sediment mass movement. Widespread sediment gravity flow deposits attest to this. The shelf is covered with sea ice most of the year and in a few areas throughout the year. Icebergs, drift freely in the deep waters of the shelf; drift speeds of 1 to 2.5 km/year are not uncommon.« less

  17. Effect of metal selection and porcelain firing on the marginal accuracy of titanium-based metal ceramic restorations.

    PubMed

    Shokry, Tamer E; Attia, Mazen; Mosleh, Ihab; Elhosary, Mohamed; Hamza, Tamer; Shen, Chiayi

    2010-01-01

    Titanium is the most biocompatible metal used for dental casting; however, there is concern about its marginal accuracy after porcelain application since this aspect has direct influence on marginal fit. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect that metal selection and the porcelain firing procedure have on the marginal accuracy of metal ceramic prostheses. Cast CP Ti, milled CP Ti, cast Ti-6Al-7Nb, and cast Ni-Cr copings (n=5) were fired with compatible porcelains (Triceram for titanium-based metals and VITA VMK 95 for Ni-Cr alloy). The Ni-Cr alloy fired with its porcelain served as the control. Photographs of metal copings placed on a master die were made. Marginal discrepancy was determined on the photographs using an image processing program at 8 predetermined locations before airborne-particle abrasion for porcelain application, after firing of the opaque layer, and after firing of the dentin layer. Repeated-measures 2-way ANOVA was used to investigate the effect of metal selection and firing stage, and paired t tests were used to determine the effect of each firing stage within each material group (alpha=.05). ANOVA showed that both metal selection and firing stage significantly influenced the measured marginal discrepancy (P<.001), and there was interaction between the 2 variables (P<.001). Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparison tests showed that there were significant differences between any 2 metals compared, at each stage of measurement. Paired t tests showed that significant changes in marginal discrepancy occurred with opaque firing on milled CP Ti (P=.017) and cast Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy (P=.003). Titanium copings fabricated by CAD/CAM demonstrated the least marginal discrepancy among all groups, while the base metal (Ni-Cr) groups exhibited the most discrepancy of all groups tested. Copyright 2010 The Editorial Council of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. The Politics of Schools and Money: Building Awareness about Channeling Practices for Supplemental Resource Allocations to Serve English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okhremtchouk, Irina S.

    2017-01-01

    One of the aims of K-12 supplemental programs is to maximize the potential for success of students who bring special needs into a classroom. Therefore, the intent behind a large majority of these additional resources is to support programs that are designed to address the needs of otherwise marginalized students by leveling the playing field. The…

  19. Learning Environments at the Margin: Case Studies of Disenfranchised Youth Doing Science in an Aquarium and an After-School Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rahm, Jrene; Ash, Doris

    2008-01-01

    In this article, we explore how two informal educational contexts--an aquarium and an after-school science program--enabled disenfranchised learners to adopt an identity as insiders to the world of science. We tell the stories of four youth, relating what doing science meant to them and how they positioned themselves in relation to science. We…

  20. Multiple Interactive Pollutants in Water Quality Trading

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarang, Amin; Lence, Barbara J.; Shamsai, Abolfazl

    2008-10-01

    Efficient environmental management calls for the consideration of multiple pollutants, for which two main types of transferable discharge permit (TDP) program have been described: separate permits that manage each pollutant individually in separate markets, with each permit based on the quantity of the pollutant or its environmental effects, and weighted-sum permits that aggregate several pollutants as a single commodity to be traded in a single market. In this paper, we perform a mathematical analysis of TDP programs for multiple pollutants that jointly affect the environment (i.e., interactive pollutants) and demonstrate the practicality of this approach for cost-efficient maintenance of river water quality. For interactive pollutants, the relative weighting factors are functions of the water quality impacts, marginal damage function, and marginal treatment costs at optimality. We derive the optimal set of weighting factors required by this approach for important scenarios for multiple interactive pollutants and propose using an analytical elasticity of substitution function to estimate damage functions for these scenarios. We evaluate the applicability of this approach using a hypothetical example that considers two interactive pollutants. We compare the weighted-sum permit approach for interactive pollutants with individual permit systems and TDP programs for multiple additive pollutants. We conclude by discussing practical considerations and implementation issues that result from the application of weighted-sum permit programs.

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