687 research outputs found
Exploring What It Is Like to Be an Undocumented Alien in Seek of Healthcare
Currently, there are about 11.8 million undocumented aliens in the United States who are not eligible for public insurance or any type of private coverage obtained through the American Health Care Act of 2017. This creates barriers to healthcare for this large population and has negative implications for the healthcare system. Despite the availability of clinics and low-cost healthcare, this group tends to underuse resources or seek healthcare for emergencies only which leads to increased cost totaling approximately $1.1 billion a year. The goal of this qualitative study is to better understand what it is like to be an undocumented alien seeking healthcare. Eight semi-structured interviews with Latino undocumented aliens were conducted. Interviews were transcribed into WORD™ documents and reviewed for accuracy. Data was analyzed using content analysis to code and identify prominent themes. Analysis of data from participants indicate the following themes embody the experience of being an undocumented alien in seek of healthcare: living in the unsure, high costs, system barriers, language and communication incongruences, perceived discrimination, exploitation and deportation, and relief in finally getting care. Undocumented aliens put off getting healthcare as long as possible due to these factors, despite having many needs. Healthcare practitioners must become familiar with these experiences to address and correct these barriers. Advocacy and healthcare changes take on increasing urgency to ensure the well-being of these individuals
Studies on plankton production in the inshore waters of Tuticorin
The results of hydro-biological investigations, with special reference to plankton production, in the inshore areas off
Tuticorin for the period 1976 to 1985 have been presented. The primary production revealed three distinct peaks during
the years, 1982-85, the first in January-April, the second in June August and the third October -December. The annual
cycle of zooplankton production was dicyclic with slight variations throughout the period of study. Components of
zooplankters showed definite seasonal fluctuations. Occurrence of fish eggs and larvae in increased percentages during
March, June, July and September-October indicated the spawning seasons in this area. The distribution of bivalve and
gastropod larvae exhibits two distinct modes during February-March and October-December, revealing the breeding season
of this group. The environmental conditions of the inshore area relating to primary and secondary production are briefly
discussed
Mid-J CO Shock Tracing Observations of Infrared Dark Clouds I
Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are dense, molecular structures in the
interstellar medium that can harbour sites of high-mass star formation. IRDCs
contain supersonic turbulence, which is expected to generate shocks that
locally heat pockets of gas within the clouds. We present observations of the
CO J = 8-7, 9-8, and 10-9 transitions, taken with the Herschel Space
Observatory, towards four dense, starless clumps within IRDCs (C1 in
G028.37+00.07, F1 and F2 in G034.43+0007, and G2 in G034.77-0.55). We detect
the CO J = 8-7 and 9-8 transitions towards three of the clumps (C1, F1, and F2)
at intensity levels greater than expected from photodissociation region (PDR)
models. The average ratio of the 8-7 to 9-8 lines is also found to be between
1.6 and 2.6 in the three clumps with detections, significantly smaller than
expected from PDR models. These low line ratios and large line intensities
strongly suggest that the C1, F1, and F2 clumps contain a hot gas component not
accounted for by standard PDR models. Such a hot gas component could be
generated by turbulence dissipating in low velocity shocks.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables, accepted by A&A, minor updates to
match the final published versio
Nonvolatile memory with molecule-engineered tunneling barriers
We report a novel field-sensitive tunneling barrier by embedding C60 in SiO2
for nonvolatile memory applications. C60 is a better choice than ultra-small
nanocrystals due to its monodispersion. Moreover, C60 provides accessible
energy levels to prompt resonant tunneling through SiO2 at high fields.
However, this process is quenched at low fields due to HOMO-LUMO gap and large
charging energy of C60. Furthermore, we demonstrate an improvement of more than
an order of magnitude in retention to program/erase time ratio for a metal
nanocrystal memory. This shows promise of engineering tunnel dielectrics by
integrating molecules in the future hybrid molecular-silicon electronics.Comment: to appear in Applied Physics Letter
Aspect Ratio Dependence of the Free-Fall Time for Non-Spherical Symmetries
We investigate the collapse of non-spherical substructures, such as sheets
and filaments, which are ubiquitous in molecular clouds. Such non-spherical
substructures collapse homologously in their interiors but are influenced by an
edge effect that causes their edges to be preferentially accelerated. We
analytically compute the homologous collapse timescales of the interiors of
uniform-density, self-gravitating filaments and find that the homologous
collapse timescale scales linearly with the aspect ratio. The characteristic
timescale for an edge driven collapse mode in a filament, however, is shown to
have a square root dependence on the aspect ratio. For both filaments and
circular sheets, we find that selective edge acceleration becomes more
important with increasing aspect ratio. In general, we find that lower
dimensional objects and objects with larger aspect ratios have longer collapse
timescales. We show that estimates for star formation rates, based upon gas
densities, can be overestimated by an order of magnitude if the geometry of a
cloud is not taken into account.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ, minor grammatical errors fixe
Dietary nitrate increases arginine availability and protects mitochondrial complex I and energetics in the hypoxic rat heart
This is the final version. It was first published by Wiley in The Journal of Physiology at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2014.275263/abstract.Hypoxic exposure is associated with impaired cardiac energetics in humans and altered mitochondrial function, with suppressed complex I-supported respiration, in rat heart. This response might limit reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, but at the cost of impaired electron transport chain (ETC) activity. Dietary nitrate supplementation improves mitochondrial efficiency and can promote tissue oxygenation by enhancing blood flow. We therefore hypothesised that ETC dysfunction, impaired energetics and oxidative damage in the hearts of rats exposed to chronic hypoxia could be alleviated by sustained administration of a moderate dose of dietary nitrate. Male Wistar rats (n=40) were given water supplemented with 0.7 mmol/L NaCl (as control) or 0.7 mmol/L NaNO3, elevating plasma nitrate levels by 80%, and were exposed to 13% O2 (hypoxia) or normoxia (n=10 per group) for 14 days. Respiration rates, ETC protein levels, mitochondrial density, ATP content and protein carbonylation were measured in cardiac muscle. Complex I respiration rates and protein levels were 33% lower in hypoxic/NaCl rats compared with normoxic/NaCl controls. Protein carbonylation was 65% higher in hearts of hypoxic rats compared with controls, indicating increased oxidative stress, whilst ATP levels were 62% lower. Respiration rates, complex I protein and activity, protein carbonylation and ATP levels were all fully protected in the hearts of nitrate-supplemented hypoxic rats. Both in normoxia and hypoxia, dietary nitrate suppressed cardiac arginase expression and activity and markedly elevated cardiac L-arginine concentrations, unmasking a novel mechanism of action by which nitrate enhances tissue NO bioavailability. Dietary nitrate therefore alleviates metabolic abnormalities in the hypoxic heart, improving myocardial energetics
Progress of the National Air Quality Cooperation Programme (NSL)
Om de luchtkwaliteit in Nederland te verbeteren is het Nationaal Samenwerkingsprogramma Luchtkwaliteit (NSL) opgezet. In dit programma werken de Rijksoverheid en decentrale overheden samen om te zorgen dat Nederland overal tijdig aan de grenswaarden voor fijnstof (2011) en stikstofdioxide (2015) zal voldoen. Om de voortgang te volgen is bij het NSL een monitoringsprogramma opgezet. Centraal onderdeel daarvan is een rekeninstrument waarvoor de overheden de brongegevens aanleveren. De daaruitvolgende rekenresultaten zijn vervolgens door het Bureau Monitoring (samenwerkingsverband RIVM en InfoMil) samengevoegd in voorliggende voortgangsrapportage. De prognoses voor 2011 en 2015 laten zien dat voor een groot deel van Nederland de resultaten onder de Europese grenswaarden voor PM10 (fijnstof) en NO2 liggen. Op een aantal plekken zijn er wel nieuwe of grotere overschrijdingen van de PM10- en NO2-grenswaarden zichtbaar. Bij de fijnstof (PM10) overschrijdingen gaat het hoofdzakelijk om locaties bij veehouderijen en een aantal industriele gebieden. Vooral nabij veehouderijen is op een aantal plekken nog sprake van grote overschrijdingen die lastig voor medio 2011 op te lossen zijn. De huidige prognose voor de concentraties stikstofdioxide in 2015 laat een minder gunstige ontwikkeling zien ten opzichte van wat is berekend in de vaststelling van het NSL. Dit komt voor een belangrijk deel door tegenvallende verkeersemissies wat heeft geleid tot een aantal nieuwe overschrijdingen. De nu in de prognoses berekende concentraties liggen op veel locaties net onder de grenswaarde. Met veel concentraties net onder de grenswaarde neemt het aantal overschrijdingen snel toe bij een tegenvaller in een van de gemaakte aannamen. In combinatie met een grote en deels onbekende onzekerheid in de rekenresultaten vormt dit een risico voor het behalen van de doelstelling van het NSL.The NSL has been put in place to improve air quality in the Netherlands and to ensure that the Netherlands meets the date of compliance with the EU limit values for particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide. Local, regional and national authorities work together within the framework of this programme to ensure that these goals are met. A monitoring programme, centred around a specially designed assessment tool, has been set up to monitor the progress. This tool uses data that the participating authorities are required to provide as part of the annual monitoring cycle. The results of the tool have been bundled by the Bureau Monitoring into this progress report. The prognosis for 2011 and 2015, based on the results obtained using the assessment tool, are that the concentrations of PM10 and NO2 fall below the EU limit values in most parts of the Netherlands. However, exceedances of the limit values do occur at specific locations. For PM10, these exceedances mostly occur close to a number of industrial sites and stock farms. Particularly high exceedances in the vicinity of these stock farms will make it difficult to meet the limit values by mid 2011 at these locations. The prognostications for NO2 show a less favourable decline in NO2 concentrations than was modelled at the establishment of the NSL. This is mostly due to the decline in traffic emissions falling short of expectations, resulting in new exceedances. At many locations, the calculated concentrations in the prognostications fall just under the limit value and, consequently, there will be a large increase in the number of exceedances when one or more of the premises become less favourable. This possibility, together with the large and partially unknown uncertainty in the calculation results, add up to a risk for not meeting the limit values by the date of compliance.VRO
Studies on primary and secondary production in relation to hydrography in the inshore waters of Tuticorin
The results of hydrobiological investigations oonducted in the inshore waters off Tuticorin during
1983-84 have been presented. The primary production estimated by oxygen technique indicated three
distinct peak periods, the first during January-March, the second during June-August and the third
during October-December. The trend of secondary production closely followed that of primary
production. Zooplankters were found to be abundant during May-September and again a
short secondary peak was noticed during November-January. The occurrence of different zooplankters
showed a definite seasonal fluctuation. The physico-chemical properties of the seawater showed
variations in space and time. A general picture of the environmental conditions of the inshore area,
based on the earlier observations along with the present observations of primary and secondary
production are discussed in this account
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