Using Data to Drive State Improvement in Enrollment and Retention Performance

Outlines the RWJF Maximizing Enrollment program's core performance measures for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program enrollment and retention, designed to assess state efforts to better utilize data to monitor and improve outreach and policy

It’s Time to Mobilize in Support of Inclusive LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessments

No abstract available

Mobilizing Communities to Sustainably Produce Face Masks: Public Health Practice in the Time of COVID-19

Background: Face mask shortages in health care and use recommendations and requirements in a variety of com-munity and professional contexts associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States created initial and ongoing demand for face masks. In March 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided guidelines for use of cotton masks for individuals in health care settings and in public. Community volun-teers provide a potential workforce to rapidly and flexibly address critical needs in emergent circumstances. Methods: People Protecting Each-other Sustainably (PPEs) was developed to recruit and manage over 100 Northeast Ohio volunteers. People Protecting Each-other Sustainably used the social media platform Facebook to facilitate material donations, volunteer recruitment and training, and to function as an ongoing central communications hub. Leaders used an assembly line process with zero contact pick up and drop off at multiple stages of production to allow safe assembly and distribution of face masks. Results: A total of 7 695 handmade face masks were created to distribute to local frontline responders in 10 weeks. Use of upsourced and donated materials allowed this project to reduce potential landfill waste and made a zero cost project possible. Volunteers had positive responses to the project and reported benefits from their participation. Conclusion: This model has been successfully recreated by a smaller group in Geauga County, Ohio, with similarly successful results. Clearly this model of community mobilization has the potential to be replicated in other state of emer-gency crises and emergency response situations to produce lifesaving or necessary equipment when industry standard equipment is not readily available

Attitudes and behaviors for understanding compliance in Greenland\u27s Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fishery

Noncompliance is a central challenge for conservation, but in settings with limited access to behavioral data, it can be difficult to evaluate what drives compliance. Conservationists can measure and evaluate resource users\u27 attitudes, and in so doing, leverage a complementary, nonbehavioral measure for evaluating compliance. In Greenland, wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fishers are under increasing regulatory pressure to report salmon catch because the majority of North Atlantic salmon stocks are classified as suffering. The objective of this study is to measure salmon catch reporting compliance, reporting behavior, and attitudes toward Greenland\u27s salmon management. We surveyed Greenland\u27s licensed salmon fishers, used an unmatched count technique to estimate the incidence of underreporting salmon catch, and linked salmon fishers\u27 actual catch reports to their survey responses. In 2019, more than 84% of salmon fishers reported their catch and demonstrating high levels of compliance. We also found that salmon fishers did not indicate strong instrumental motivations for reporting, but exhibited moral obligations and normative, legitimacy-based motivations to report catch. Salmon fishers found regulations to be fair, and that regulatory authorities were professional and acted honestly. Catch underreporting was also remarkably low, with 90–94% of respondents stating that they report all their catch. Joining together individuals\u27 attitudinal and behavioral responses to conservation rules illustrates the benefits and limitations of expanding actor-based theories of compliance. This case of already high levels of compliance offers empirical evidence for further improving fisheries compliance, and it also illustrates the limitations that fishery managers face when conserving a highly migratory species

Compressibility and entropy of cold fermions in one dimensional optical lattices

We calculate several thermodynamic quantities for repulsively interacting one-dimensional fermions.We solve the Hubbard model at both zero and finite temperatures using the Bethe-ansatz method. For arbitrary values of the chemical potential, we calculate the particle number density, the double occupancy, various compressibilities, and the entropy as a function of temperature and interaction. We find that these thermodynamic quantities show a characteristic behavior so that measurements of these quantities can be used as a detection of temperature, the metal-insulator transition, and metallic and insulating phases in the trap environment. Further, we discuss an experimental scheme to extract these thermodynamic quantities from the column density profiles. The entropy and the compressibility of the entire trapped atomic cloud also reveal characteristic features indicating whether insulating and/or metallic phases coexist in the trap.Comment: 9 pages and 11 figures. The published versio

RIPK3 restricts viral pathogenesis via cell death-independent neuroinflammation

Receptor-interacting protein kinase-3 (RIPK3) is an activator of necroptotic cell death, but recent work has implicated additional roles for RIPK3 in inflammatory signaling independent of cell death. However, while necroptosis has been shown to contribute to antiviral immunity, death-independent roles for RIPK3 in host defense have not been demonstrated. Using a mouse model of West Nile virus (WNV) encephalitis, we show that RIPK3 restricts WNV pathogenesis independently of cell death. Ripk3(-/-) mice exhibited enhanced mortality compared to wild-type (WT) controls, while mice lacking the necroptotic effector MLKL, or both MLKL and caspase-8, were unaffected. The enhanced susceptibility of Ripk3(-/-) mice arose from suppressed neuronal chemokine expression and decreased central nervous system (CNS) recruitment of T lymphocytes and inflammatory myeloid cells, while peripheral immunity remained intact. These data identify pleiotropic functions for RIPK3 in the restriction of viral pathogenesis and implicate RIPK3 as a key coordinator of immune responses within the CNS

p53 protects against genome instability following centriole duplication failure

Centriole function has been difficult to study because of a lack of specific tools that allow persistent and reversible centriole depletion. Here we combined gene targeting with an auxin-inducible degradation system to achieve rapid, titratable, and reversible control of Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4), a master regulator of centriole biogenesis. Depletion of Plk4 led to a failure of centriole duplication that produced an irreversible cell cycle arrest within a few divisions. This arrest was not a result of a prolonged mitosis, chromosome segregation errors, or cytokinesis failure. Depleting p53 allowed cells that fail centriole duplication to proliferate indefinitely. Washout of auxin and restoration of endogenous Plk4 levels in cells that lack centrioles led to the penetrant formation of de novo centrioles that gained the ability to organize microtubules and duplicate. In summary, we uncover a p53-dependent surveillance mechanism that protects against genome instability by preventing cell growth after centriole duplication failure

Developing autonomous learning in first year university students using perspectives from positive psychology

Autonomous learning is a commonly occurring learning outcome from university study, and it is argued that students require confidence in their own abilities to achieve this. Using approaches from positive psychology, this study aimed to develop confidence in first‐year university students to facilitate autonomous learning. Psychological character strengths were assessed in 214 students on day one at university. Two weeks later their top three strengths were given to them in study skills modules as part of a psycho‐educational intervention designed to increase their self‐efficacy and self‐esteem. The impact of the intervention was assessed against a control group of 40 students who had not received the intervention. The results suggested that students were more confident after the intervention, and that levels of autonomous learning increased significantly compared to the controls. Character strengths were found to be associated with self‐efficacy, self‐esteem and autonomous learning in ways that were theoretically meaningful

Real-time motion analytics during brain MRI improve data quality and reduce costs

Head motion systematically distorts clinical and research MRI data. Motion artifacts have biased findings from many structural and functional brain MRI studies. An effective way to remove motion artifacts is to exclude MRI data frames affected by head motion. However, such post-hoc frame censoring can lead to data loss rates of 50% or more in our pediatric patient cohorts. Hence, many scanner operators collect additional 'buffer data', an expensive practice that, by itself, does not guarantee sufficient high-quality MRI data for a given participant. Therefore, we developed an easy-to-setup, easy-to-use Framewise Integrated Real-time MRI Monitoring (FIRMM) software suite that provides scanner operators with head motion analytics in real-time, allowing them to scan each subject until the desired amount of low-movement data has been collected. Our analyses show that using FIRMM to identify the ideal scan time for each person can reduce total brain MRI scan times and associated costs by 50% or more

Phase Modulation at 125 kHz in a Michelson Interferometer Using an Inexpensive Piezoelectric Stack Driven at Resonance

Fast phase modulation has been achieved in a Michelson interferometer by attaching a lightweight reference mirror to a piezoelectric stack and driving the stack at a resonance frequency of about 125 kHz. The electrical behavior of the piezo stack and the mechanical properties of the piezo-mirror arrangement are described. A displacement amplitude at resonance of about 350 nm was achieved using a standard function generator. Phase drift in the interferometer and piezo wobble were readily circumvented. This approach to phase modulation is less expensive by a factor of roughly 50 than one based on an electro-optic effect