6,608 research outputs found
Evaluating Unpaid Time Contributions by Seniors: A Conceptual Framework
In the past, considerable research in gerontology has focused on services provided to seniors. Recently, however, there has a been a growing recognition of the contributions made by seniors to their families, communities and to society. Empirical estimates have been provided by researchers to show how much these contributions are worth in terms of savings in dollar amounts. A critical review of the literature identifies unresolved issues concerning which contributions to count and how to measure and value these contributions. As yet, no clear criteria exist that readily identify the distinction between volunteer activities and unpaid work, what specifically should be counted as an unpaid time contribution, how it should be quantified, and how this unit of contribution should be monetarily valued. The market replacement approach and the opportunity cost approach that are used to assign value to unpaid work often use very different wage rates or levels of income loss. This paper reviews the relevant literature and identifies important issues in evaluating unpaid time contribution of seniors. The authors propose a framework which addresses some of the methodological shortcomings identified in previous research and which provides a guide for future research in this area.seniors; valuing unpaid work
Health related quality of life of people with non-epileptic seizures: The role of socio-demographic characteristics and stigma
Purpose
People with non-epileptic seizures (NES) consistently report poorer Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) than people with epilepsy. Yet, unlike in epilepsy, knowledge of how social factors influence the HRQoL of adults with NES is limited. To add to the evidence base, this study explores the relationship between HRQoL and perceived stigma among adults with NES, and the role of socio-demographic characteristics.
Methods
Data was gathered from a survey of 115 people living with the condition, recruited from online support groups. Participants provided socio-demographic and health-related data and completed a series of questions investigating their HRQoL (QOLIE-31) and stigma perceptions (10-item Epilepsy Stigma Scale).
Results
Participants were found to experience high levels of perceived stigma (median 5.2, mean 4.9). A significant and moderate inverse correlation was observed between HRQoL and stigma (rsâŻââŻ0.474, pâŻ=âŻ<âŻ0.001); suggesting higher perceptions of stigma contribute to poorer HRQoL among adults with NES. Stigma perceptions were found to be most strongly associated with the seizure worry (rsâŻ=âŻââŻ0.479), emotional wellbeing (rsâŻ=âŻââŻ0.421), and social functioning (rsâŻ=âŻ0.407) HRQoL domains. Participants who reported being in employment or education were found to have significantly better HRQoL than those who were not (pâŻ=âŻ<âŻ0.001).
Conclusion
More (qualitative and quantitative) research is justified to understand how â and why â those with the condition experience stigmatisation, and the factors that impede and help facilitate the participation of people with NES in education and employment
Heisenberg Spin Bus as a Robust Transmission Line for Perfect State Transfer
We study the protocol known as quantum state transfer for a strongly coupled
antiferromagnetic spin chain or ring (acting as a spin bus), with weakly
coupled external qubits. By treating the weak coupling as a perturbation, we
find that perfect state transfer (PST) is possible when second order terms are
included in the expansion. We also show that PST is robust against variations
in the couplings along the spin bus and between the bus and the qubits. As
evidence of the quantum interference which mediates PST, we show that the
optimal time for PST can be smaller with larger qubit separations, for an
even-size chain or ring.Comment: 6 figures,submitte
Open Gromov-Witten Invariants of Toric Calabi-Yau 3-Folds
We present a proof of the mirror conjecture of Aganagic-Vafa
[arXiv:hep-th/0012041] and Aganagic-Klemm-Vafa [arXiv:hep-th/0105045] on disk
enumeration in toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds for all smooth semi-projective toric
Calabi-Yau 3-folds. We consider both inner and outer branes, at arbitrary
framing. In particular, we recover previous results on the conjecture for (i)
an inner brane at zero framing in the total space of the canonical line bundle
of the projective plane (Graber-Zaslow [arXiv:hep-th/0109075]), (ii) an outer
brane at arbitrary framing in the resolved conifold (Zhou [arXiv:1001.0447]),
and (iii) an outer brane at zero framing in the total space of the canonical
line bundle of the projective plane (Brini [arXiv:1102.0281, Section 5.3]).Comment: 39 pages, 11 figure
Quantum Group as Semi-infinite Cohomology
We obtain the quantum group as semi-infinite cohomology of the
Virasoro algebra with values in a tensor product of two braided vertex operator
algebras with complementary central charges . Each braided VOA is
constructed from the free Fock space realization of the Virasoro algebra with
an additional q-deformed harmonic oscillator degree of freedom. The braided VOA
structure arises from the theory of local systems over configuration spaces and
it yields an associative algebra structure on the cohomology. We explicitly
provide the four cohomology classes that serve as the generators of
and verify their relations. We also discuss the possible extensions of our
construction and its connection to the Liouville model and minimal string
theory.Comment: 50 pages, 7 figures, minor revisions, typos corrected, Communications
in Mathematical Physics, in pres
The BV-algebra structure of W_3 cohomology
We summarize some recent results obtained in collaboration with J. McCarthy
on the spectrum of physical states in gravity coupled to matter. We
show that the space of physical states, defined as a semi-infinite (or BRST)
cohomology of the algebra, carries the structure of a BV-algebra. This
BV-algebra has a quotient which is isomorphic to the BV-algebra of polyvector
fields on the base affine space of . Details have appeared elsewhere.
[Published in the proceedings of "Gursey Memorial Conference I: Strings and
Symmetries," Istanbul, June 1994, eds. G. Aktas et al., Lect. Notes in Phys.
447, (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1995)]Comment: 8 pages; uses macros tables.tex and amssym.def (version 2.1 or later
Radiation effects in uranium-niobium titanates
Pyrochlore is an important actinide host phase proposed for the immobilization of high level nuclear wastes and excess weapon plutonium.[1] Synthetic pyrochlore has a great variety of chemical compositions due to the possibility of extensive substitutions in the pyrochlore structure.[2] During the synthesis of pyrochlore, additional complex titanate phases may form in small quantities. The response of these phases to radiation damage must be evaluated because volume expansion of minor phases may cause micro-fracturing. In this work, two complex uranium-niobium titanates, U3NbO9.8U3NbO9.8 (U-rich titanate) and Nb3UO10Nb3UO10 (Nb-rich titanate) were synthesized by the alkoxide/nitrate route at 1300â°C under an argon atmosphere. The phase composition and structure were analyzed by EDS, BSE, XRD, EMPA and TEM techniques. An 800âKeVKr2+800KeVKr2+ irradiation was performed using the IVEM-Tandem Facility at Argonne National Laboratory in a temperature range from 30 K to 973 K. The radiation effects were observed by in situ TEM. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87573/2/403_1.pd
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