Primary Care in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky

There is a major physician shortage occurring across the United States as of 2023 and it is expected to get worse over the next five to ten years. A significant portion of the shortage is predicted to consist of primary care physicians in rural areas. Data on factors that affect primary care visits like rurality, household income, health insurance coverage, non-communicable disease, and primary care physician prevalence were analyzed from the regions of Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky. Health coverage was found to be average to above average in the two regions. However, almost all counties included in the study were found to be significantly rural, have lower than average median income, higher mortality rates of non-communicable disease, and severely low rates of primary care physicians. It was also found that a majority of the counties had either stagnant or decreasing rates of primary care physicians. 74.3% of the counties were found to have significantly lower primary care physician rates than the calculated absolute minimum rate of 60.7 primary care physicians per 100,000 people. In trends from data of medical school matriculant rates and residential program rates, it was found that the number of rural medical students going into primary care has dropped significantly in recent years. Based on the data trends of factors that impact primary care, it is clear that the state of primary care in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky is worsening and requires significant intervention

Credit Ratings, Cost Of Debt, And Internal Control Disclosures: A Comparison Of SOX 302 And SOX 404

We compare the effects of SOX 302 and SOX 404 mandated internal control system disclosures on firm credit ratings, changes in credit ratings, and firm cost of debt. We find results consistent with the interpretation that disclosure of firm internal control deficiencies provides incremental information to credit analysts which is negatively associated with a firm’s credit rating, and positively associated with cost of debt. Additionally, we find that while disclosures under SOX 302 are negatively related to credit ratings, this effect largely disappears once prior 404 disclosures are considered. Importantly, the impact of 404 internal control disclosures is significant regardless of past 302 disclosures. These results contribute positively to the public policy debate concerning the efficacy of auditor attested internal control evaluations required by SOX 404

Comparisons and associations between personality, creative potential and achievement in creative, non-creative and early psychosis participants

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Epidemiological evidence supports common genetic determinants between psychosis spectrum populations and creative individuals. Aspects of personality may contribute to protecting the creative artist from psychosis vulnerability. This study examines the similarities and differences in personality within a sample of early psychosis (EP), creative control (CC) and non-creative control (NCC) participants. Findings indicated that the CC group shared closer personality commonalities with the EP group than with NCC participants, on traits such as Neuroticism, Openness and Impulsive Non-Conformity as well as on variables such as Unusual Experiences, Cognitive Disorganisation and Paranoia/Suspiciousness. However, the CC group may better manage their emotional sensitivity and interpersonal suspiciousness than the EP participants. In separate analyses, CC and EP participants recorded higher creative cognition than NCC participants. Unsurprisingly, the CC group reported significantly higher creative achievement than the EP and NCC samples. Of note, the findings indicate that EP participants recorded significantly higher creative achievement than NCC, suggesting that EP patients demonstrate some capacity for creative cognition and creative achievement. These preliminary findings may encourage further research and promote avenues of treatment for at-risk creative individuals and EP individuals

MgB2 tunnel junctions and 19 K low-noise dc superconducting quantum interference devices

Point contact junctions made from two pieces of MgB2 can be adjusted to exhibit either superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) or superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) current-voltage characteristics. The SIS characteristics are in good agreement with the standard tunneling model for s-wave superconductors, and yield an energy gap of (2.02 +/- 0.08) meV. The SNS characteristics are in good agreement with the predictions of the resistively-shunted junction model. DC Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices made from two SNS junctions yield magnetic field noise as low as 35 fT/Hz^{1/2} at 19 K.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A first look at equid “idols” from Tepecik-Ciftlik, southern Cappadocia, Turkey

Desde el año 2000, el profesor Erhan Biçakçi de la Universidad de Estambul, ha dirigido diversas campañas de excavación en el yacimiento arqueológico de Tepeçik-Çiftlik, en la región Niğde, al sur de la Capadocia. Allí se han podido documentar niveles pertenecientes al Neolítico Pre-cerámico, Neolítico Cerámico y Calcolítico Antiguo. Las excavaciones han sacado a la luz un rico conjunto de objetos de hueso datados en el Neolítico y Calcolítico. Una de las características más destacadas de este conjunto es la presencia de aproximadamente 250 “ídolos” de hueso. Estos objetos fueron realizados sobre la primera falange de équidos, aplanando la superficie dorsal y plantar/volar de ésta. Algunos de ellos incluso muestran una decoración mucho más elaborada. Las medidas tomadas en estos huesos indican que las falanges proximales de caballo salvaje (Equus ferus) e hydruntino (Equus hemionus hydruntinus) fueron empleadas para manufacturar estos objetos de hueso. Este artículo ilustrará cómo estos elementos óseos fueron realizados y cómo se distribuyen cronológicamente en el sitio.Excavation at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Pottery Neolithic, and Early Chalcolithic site of Tepecik-Çiftlik in the Niğde region of Southern Cappadocia, Turkey have been conducted since 2000 under the direction of Professor Erhan Biçakçi of Istanbul University. The excavations have yielded a rich assemblage of worked bone objects dating to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods. One of the striking features of the assemblage is the presence of approximately 250 bone “idols”. These objects were made by flattening the dorsal and plantar/volar surfaces of equid first phalanges. Some also show more elaborate decoration. Measurements taken on these bones indicate that wild horse (Equus ferus) and hydruntine (Equus hemionus hydruntinus) proximal phalanges were used to produce these bone objects. This paper will illustrate how these how these bone objects were manufactured and how they were distributed chronologically within the site

Power systems research at MSFC

Power systems research reviews at Marshall Space Flight Cente