2,866 research outputs found
Evaluation of the Sustainability of an Intervention to Increase HIV Testing
BACKGROUND
Sustainability—the routinization and institutionalization of processes that improve the quality of healthcare—is difficult to achieve and not often studied.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the sustainability of increased rates of HIV testing after implementation of a multi-component intervention in two Veterans Health Administration healthcare systems.
DESIGN
Quasi-experimental implementation study in which the effect of transferring responsibility to conduct the provider education component of the intervention from research to operational staff was assessed.
PATIENTS
Persons receiving healthcare between 2005 and 2006 (intervention year) and 2006 and 2007 (sustainability year).
MEASUREMENTS
Monthly HIV testing rate, stratified by frequency of clinic visits
RESULTS
The monthly adjusted testing rate increased from 2% at baseline to 6% at the end intervention year and then declined reaching 4% at the end of the sustainability year. However, the stratified, visit-specific testing rate for persons newly exposed to the intervention (i.e., having their first through third visits during the study period) increased throughout the intervention and sustainability years. Increases in the proportion of visits by patients who remained untested despite multiple, prior exposures to the intervention accounted for the aggregate attenuation of testing during the sustainability year. Overall, the percentage of patients who received an HIV test in the sustainability year was 11.6%, in the intervention year 11.1%, and in the pre-intervention year 5.0%
CONCLUSIONS
Provider education combined with informatics and organizational support had a sustainable effect on HIV testing rates. The effect was most pronounced during patients' early contacts with the healthcare system.Health Services Research & Development Service (SDP 06–001
Lensing Effects on the Protogalaxy Candidate cB58 and their Implications for the Cosmological Constant
The amplification of the protogalaxy candidate cB58 due to gravitational
lensing by the foreground cluster of galaxies MS1512.4+3647 is quantified based
on recent ROSAT and ASCA X-ray observations. It is found that the amplification
is at most 25 for any reasonable cosmological model with or without
cosmological constant. It is also argued that the system may be used to place
new constraints on the value of the cosmological constant. The gas mass
fraction for this cluster is found to be about 0.2.Comment: LaTex, 9 pages, 9 figures, uses aas2pp4.sty, Accepted for publication
in Ap
The Dearth of UV-Bright Stars in M32: Implications for Stellar Evolution Theory
Using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope,
we have obtained deep far-ultraviolet images of the compact elliptical galaxy
M32. When combined with earlier near-ultraviolet images of the same field,
these data enable the construction of an ultraviolet color-magnitude diagram of
the hot horizontal branch (HB) population and other hot stars in late phases of
stellar evolution. We find few post-asymptotic giant branch (PAGB) stars in the
galaxy, implying that these stars either cross the HR diagram more rapidly than
expected, and/or that they spend a significant fraction of their time
enshrouded in circumstellar material. The predicted luminosity gap between the
hot HB and its AGB-Manque (AGBM) progeny is less pronounced than expected,
especially when compared to evolutionary tracks with enhanced helium
abundances, implying that the presence of hot HB stars in this metal-rich
population is not due to (Delta Y)/(Delta Z) > 4. Only a small fraction (~2%)
of the HB population is hot enough to produce significant UV emission, yet most
of the UV emission in this galaxy comes from the hot HB and AGBM stars,
implying that PAGB stars are not a significant source of UV emission even in
those elliptical galaxies with a weak UV excess.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Latex, 18
pages, 18 black & white figures, in emulate-ApJ format. Figures 11 & 16 have
been degraded due to size constraints; the high-quality version of the paper
is at http://www.stsci.edu/~tbrown/research/m32fuv.pd
Photometric Oscillations of Low Luminosity Red Giant Stars
I present details of the variations of several hundred red giant stars on
time scales of a few hours to a few days from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
observations of a low-extinction galactic bulge sample from an intensive seven
day campaign. Variations in the red giants are shown to be a strong function of
position within the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) in accord with general
expectations from theory. Amplitudes are greater for stars with larger radii,
whether this results from higher luminosity at the same effective temperature
or lower temperature at a fixed apparent magnitude. Likewise, characteristic
time scales for the variations increase to the upper right in a CMD as does the
ratio of amplitudes measured at 606 nm compared to 814 nm. Characteristic
variation time scales are well matched by low-order radial pulsation modes. The
effective sample discussed here extends from about two magnitudes above the
bulge turnoff at which red giant radii are ~7 R/R_{\odot} at 5,000 K with
typical amplitudes of ~0.5 mmag to ~40 R/R_{\odot} at 4,000 K with amplitudes
of ~3.5 mmag. Variability characteristics are quite similar at any given
position in the CMD, and at levels in the CMD where oscillations are easily
detected nearly all red giants show such. If these variations represent
oscillations with sufficient lifetimes to derive accurate mode frequencies more
extensive observations, e.g. as should soon be provided by the Kepler Mission},
would provide a rich asteroseismic return.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables; accepted for publication in A
Chemical behavior of the Dwarf Irregular Galaxy NGC 6822. Its PN and HII region abundances
We aim to derive the chemical behavior of a significant sample of PNe and HII
regions in the irregular galaxy NGC 6822 The selected objects are distributed
in different zones of the galaxy. Due to the faintness of PNe and HII regions
in NGC 6822, to gather spectroscopic data with large telescopes is necessary.
We obtained a well suited sample of spectra by employing VLT-FORS 2 and
Gemini-GMOS spectrographs. Ionic and total abundances are calculated for the
objects where electron temperatures can be determined through the detection of
[OIII] \lambda 4363 or/and [NII] \lambda 5755 lines. A "simple" chemical
evolution model has been developed and the observed data are used to compute a
model for NGC 6822 in order to infer a preliminary chemical history in this
galaxy. Confident determinations of He, O, N, Ne, S and Ar abundances were
derived for a sample of 11 PNe and one HII region. We confirm that the present
ISM is chemically homogeneous, at least in the central 2 kpc of the galaxy,
showing a value 12+log O/H = 8.060.04. From the abundance pattern of PNe,
we identified two populations: a group of young PNe with abundances similar to
HII regions and a group of older objects with abundances a factor of two lower.
A couple of extreme Type I PNe were found. No third dredge-up O enrichement was
detected in PNe of this galaxy. The abundance determinations allow us to
discuss the chemical behavior of the present and past ISM in NGC 6822. Our
preliminary chemical evolution model predicts that an important gas-mass lost
occurred during the first 5.3 Gyr, that no star higher than 40 M was
formed, and that 1% of all 3-15 M stars became binary systems
progenitors to SNIa.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures and 4 tables. A&A, Accepted 13/06/200
Towards an understanding of tensile deformation in Ti-based bulk metallic glass matrix composites with BCC dendrites
The microstructure and tension ductility of a series of Ti-based bulk metallic glass matrix composite (BMGMC) is investigated by changing content of the β stabilizing element vanadium while holding the volume fraction of dendritic phase constant. The ability to change only one variable in these novel composites has previously been difficult, leading to uninvestigated areas regarding how composition affects properties. It is shown that the tension ductility can range from near zero percent to over ten percent simply by changing the amount of vanadium in the dendritic phase. This approach may prove useful for the future development of these alloys, which have largely been developed experimentally using trial and error
The Detailed Star Formation History in the Spheroid, Outer Disk, and Tidal Stream of the Andromeda Galaxy
Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope, we have
obtained deep optical images reaching stars well below the oldest main sequence
turnoff in the spheroid, tidal stream, and outer disk of the Andromeda Galaxy.
We have reconstructed the star formation history in these fields by comparing
their color-magnitude diagrams to a grid of isochrones calibrated to Galactic
globular clusters observed in the same bands. Each field exhibits an extended
star formation history, with many stars younger than 10 Gyr but few younger
than 4 Gyr. Considered together, the star counts, kinematics, and population
characteristics of the spheroid argue against some explanations for its
intermediate-age, metal-rich population, such as a significant contribution
from stars residing in the disk or a chance intersection with the stream's
orbit. Instead, it is likely that this population is intrinsic to the inner
spheroid, whose highly-disturbed structure is clearly distinct from the
pressure-supported metal-poor halo that dominates farther from the galaxy's
center. The stream and spheroid populations are similar, but not identical,
with the stream's mean age being ~1 Gyr younger; this similarity suggests that
the inner spheroid is largely polluted by material stripped from either the
stream's progenitor or similar objects. The disk population is considerably
younger and more metal-rich than the stream and spheroid populations, but not
as young as the thin disk population of the solar neighborhood; instead, the
outer disk of Andromeda is dominated by stars of age 4 - 8 Gyr, resembling the
Milky Way's thick disk. The disk data are inconsistent with a population
dominated by ages older than 10 Gyr, and in fact do not require any stars older
than 10 Gyr.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 29 pages, 23
figures (including 9 in color), latex. Updated for minor edits and additional
references. Images and CMDs are significantly smoothed and degraded in this
version; a version with high-quality figures is available at
http://www.stsci.edu/~tbrown/m31sfh/preprint.pd
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Adaptive divergence in shoot gravitropism creates hybrid sterility in an Australian wildflower.
Natural selection is responsible for much of the diversity we see in nature. Just as it drives the evolution of new traits, it can also lead to new species. However, it is unclear whether natural selection conferring adaptation to local environments can drive speciation through the evolution of hybrid sterility between populations. Here, we show that adaptive divergence in shoot gravitropism, the ability of a plant's shoot to bend upwards in response to the downward pull of gravity, contributes to the evolution of hybrid sterility in an Australian wildflower, Senecio lautus We find that shoot gravitropism has evolved multiple times in association with plant height between adjacent populations inhabiting contrasting environments, suggesting that these traits have evolved by natural selection. We directly tested this prediction using a hybrid population subjected to eight rounds of recombination and three rounds of selection in the field. Our experiments revealed that shoot gravitropism responds to natural selection in the expected direction of the locally adapted population. Using the advanced hybrid population, we discovered that individuals with extreme differences in gravitropism had more sterile crosses than individuals with similar gravitropic responses, which were largely fertile, indicating that this adaptive trait is genetically correlated with hybrid sterility. Our results suggest that natural selection can drive the evolution of locally adaptive traits that also create hybrid sterility, thus revealing an evolutionary connection between local adaptation and the origin of new species
Discovery of An Unusually Blue L Dwarf Within 10 pc of the Sun
We report the discovery of an unusually blue L5 dwarf within 10 pc of the Sun
from a search of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra. A spectrophotometric
distance estimate of 8.0+/-1.6 pc places SDSS J141624.08+134826.7 among the six
closest known L dwarfs. SDSS 1416+13 was overlooked in infrared color-based
searches because of its unusually blue J-K_S color, which also identifies it as
the nearest member of the blue L dwarf subclass. We present additional infrared
and optical spectroscopy from the IRTF/SpeX and Magellan/MagE spectrographs and
determine UVW motions that indicate thin disk kinematics. The inclusion of SDSS
1416+13 in the 20 pc sample of L dwarfs increases the number of L5 dwarfs by
20% suggesting that the L dwarf luminosity function may be far from complete.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in AJ; updated version
includes corrected radial velocit
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