The Interaction of Children Living in Single-Parent Households with Healthcare in Tennessee

The objective of this paper is to examine how a child living in a single-parent home is able to interact with healthcare in the state of Tennessee in 2020. Family structure in the United States trends away from the nuclear family, with 32% of households containing children headed by single-parents in 2018 as recorded by the United States Census Bureau. Given the knowledge that children in single-parent families are at higher risk for unmet healthcare needs, it is prudent to determine whether these trends are mirrored in Tennessee. Tests of statistical analysis were conducted on publicly available data collected from the County Health Rankings website. The percentage of children living in single-parent homes has increased from 30.88% in 2011 to 32.99% in 2020. There is a correlation between the percentage of children living in single-parent households and the percentage of disconnected youths and childhood mortality rates for 2020 in Tennessee counties. However, there is no correlation between the percentage of single-parent homes and the percentage of uninsured children for the same counties in 2020. Tennessee counties with high and low percentages of single-parent families are not significantly different in measures of access to a primary care physician, preventable hospital stays, and flu vaccination

The Polish “Good Change” – What does it mean for relations with Germany and the rest of Europe? EPC Policy Brief, 22 July 2016

Since winning a majority in October 2015, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) has implemented a policy of ‘Good Change’ in Poland, which limits the competences of the Polish Constitutional Court and has drawn vocal criticism from the EU and member states, especially Germany. In this Policy Brief, Adam Balcer warns of an ‘Orbanisation’ of Poland as the nationalistic and right-wing PiS steers the country increasingly towards a Hungarian model of illiberal democracy, and assesses the implications of this transition for relations with Germany and the rest of Europe. He also writes that Brexit could stoke fresh anti-EU sentiment in an already Eurosceptic Poland, and encourage further divergence from Germany and the Union itself

Apoptosis in radiation therapy: a double-edged sword

Radiation therapy achieves its therapeutic effects by inducing apoptosis and non-apoptotic cell death. The aim of this focused review is to highlight the aspects of the cell death pathways most relevant to conventional fractionated radiation therapy. I review reports on how our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cell death may enable us to revise the four radiobiological principles (reoxygenation, repair of sublethal damage, redistribution of cells in the cell cycle, and repopulation of surviving cells) for radiation treatment with fractionated dose delivery. Apoptosis and non-apoptotic forms of cell death are not represented in the linear quadratic model, which is clinically used to calculate the effects of different total doses, dose per fraction and fraction number on reproductive cell death, a mode of cell death associated with lethal chromosome aberrations. Examples are provided to justify or not a reassessment of the role of apoptosis and non-apoptotic cell death in radiosensitivity, tumor cell proliferation and tumor microenvironment. As our understanding of apoptosis developed at the molecular level, so did our understanding of other forms of cell death, particularly autophagy and to a lesser extent, senescence. The linear quadratic model remains a guide for the treatment planner. The therapeutic clinical roles of apoptosis and non-apoptotic forms of cell death remain to be defined. Their relative importance will probably lie in tumor developmental history related to its type, size and stage. Radiobiological research should focus on the quantitative effects of dose and fractionation on the radiation induction of apoptotic and non-apoptotic types of cell death and the interplay among cell death pathways. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “Apoptosis: Four Decades Later”

Boundary Layer Flow Control Using Plasma Induced Velocity

An examination of the effects of plasma induced velocity on boundary layer flow was conducted. A pair of thin copper film electrodes spanned the test section, oriented at thirty degrees from normal to the free stream flow. An adverse pressure gradient was imposed over the electrode configuration using a pressure coefficient profile similar to that associated with suction side of a Pac-B low pressure turbine blade. In addition, suction was applied to keep flow attached on the upper wall, inducing separation over the electrode. The electrode is supplied by an AC source at three different power levels with the free stream flow at three separate chord Reynolds numbers. The chord length was based on the geometry of the simulated airfoil profile used for the upper wall of the test section. The flow turbulence intensity was varied by means of a passive grid in the upstream flow. Velocity data were collected using particle imaging velocimetry as well as with a boundary layer pitot probe. The power levels applied to the plasma were between 20 and 40 watts. The flow regimes studied were between chord Reynolds numbers of 50,000 to 100,000. It was found that the use of plasma to control the boundary layer enabled the flow to remain attached in the presence of an adverse pressure gradient. However, at the studied Reynolds numbers and electrode configuration the plasma was unable to affect an already separated flow regardless of the power input to the electrode. It was finally ascertained that two types of turbulent structures could be resolved, one being a counter-rotating vorticity pair and the other being a counter-rotating vorticity sheet

Subsurface analysis of the depositional environments of the Bedford and Berea Formations in Northern Central Ohio

The Bedford and Berea formations of eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky have been studied by generations of geologists because of their economic and educational value. The Bedford and Berea are clastic units which display a distinct coarsening-upward trend. Past studies have proposed a prograding deltaic complex as the depositional origin of these formations, but much debate still surrounds the interpretation of specific depositional environments within the Bedford/Berea complex. This study utilized 130 geophysical well logs from Morrow, Knox, and Richland counties to determine the distribution and depositional setting of the Bedford/Berea in north central Ohio. Data collected from these wells were used to construct isopach maps of the Bedford and Berea and surface structure contour maps on the tops of the Ohio Shale and Berea Sandstone. These maps support the general interpretation of clastics prograding to the south and southeast into the Appalachian Basin in late Devonian and early Mississippian time. Some of the isopach patterns strongly suggest influence by pre-existing structures in the Ohio Shale on the deposition of the overlying Bedford Shale and Berea Sandstone. Other patterns indicate the importance of gravity driven flows in depositing these sediments