All in the Same Boat: A Qualitative Investigation into the Relationship Between Peer-Led Chronic Pain Support Groups and Chronic Pain Management

Chronic pain is a current public health problem that significantly impacts the United States, including the disproportionate impact on specific communities, quality of life, and the impact on the U.S. economy (Institute of Medicine et al., 2011). Many chronic pain management techniques are used in modern pain management therapies; however, cost, ability, and opportunity can impact the effectiveness of these techniques. Social support documented as an efficacious pain management technique. However, peer-led chronic pain support groups are under-researched. Through a qualitative grounded theory approach, this research used semi-structured interviews to investigate the relationship between peer-led chronic pain support group membership and chronic pain management. In addition, this study investigated the relationship between membership of peer-led chronic pain support groups and if there is a connection to higher success in managing chronic pain while lessening the impact on quality of life and the fiscal impact. The participants in the study identified the significant value that membership in a peer-led chronic pain support group had on the management of their chronic pain. The participants identified six themes while discussing the relationship between their membership in a peer-led support group and their chronic pain management: peer group support, the dichotomy of quality-of-life, self-concept, impacts of healthcare, family and communal relationships, and economic impact. The generated theory states that peer-led chronic pain support groups are an effective method of managing chronic pain due to their positive impact on quality of life and self-concept while relieving some of the financial burdens of chronic pain

New information reported under HMDA and its application in fair lending enforcement

In 2002 the Federal Reserve Board amended its Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, to expand the types of information that lenders covered by the law must disclose to the public about their home-lending activities. The amendments are intended to improve the quality, consistency, and utility of the reported data and to keep the regulation in step with recent developments in home-loan markets. Data reported for 2004 are the first to reflect the changes in the reporting rules. ; This article presents a first look at these greatly expanded data and considers some of their implications for the continuing concerns about fair lending. The analysis highlights some key relationships revealed in an initial review of the types of data that are new for 2004. Some parts of the analysis focus on nationwide statistics, and others examine patterns across groups of lenders, loan products, and various groupings of applicants, borrowers, and neighborhoods. The authors explore, in particular and in some depth, the strengths and limitations of the information on loan pricing. They also describe how the new data are being used to enhance fair lending enforcement activities.Regulation C: Home Mortgage Disclosure ; Home Mortgage Disclosure Act

Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty in the Americas

A collaborative project of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (Yale F&ES

Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Selection Drives Reproductive Fitness Under a Conifer Removal Strategy

The link between individual variation in resource selection (e.g., functional response) and fitness creates a foundation for understanding wildlife-habitat relationships. Although many anthropogenic activities adversely affect these relationships, it is largely unknown whether projects implemented to benefit wildlife populations actually achieve this outcome. For sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate species such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse), expansion of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon-pine (Pinus spp.; conifers) woodlands into sagebrush ecosystems has been identified as a conservation threat. This threat is intensified when a sagebrush ecosystem is bounded by naturally unsuitable habitats. As such, federal, state, and private land managers have implemented landscape-level management to remove conifers on thousands of hectares of sagebrush habitat across the western United States. Despite the scale of contemporary conifer treatments, little was previously known whether sage-grouse will occupy these manipulated landscapes and whether occupancy has consequences on fitness components. To address these questions, we monitored nest and brood success rates for 96 radio-marked sage-grouse from 2012-2015 that inhabited conifer-dominated landscapes in the Box Elder Sage-grouse Management Area in Utah where mechanical conifer removal projects were completed. We then linked sage-grouse resource selection to individual nest (n = 95) and brood (n = 56) success by incorporating random-slope Resource Selection Functions as explanatory predictors in a logistic brood success model. Using the novel approach of random slope covariates, we demonstrated that sage-grouse selected for nest and brooding sites closer to conifer removal areas and that the probability of individual nest and brood success declined (β = − 0.10 and β = − 0.74, respectively) as sage-grouse females selected sites farther from conifer removal areas. Our research provided the first evidence that mechanical conifer removal treatments can increase suitable available breeding habitats for female sage-grouse and that individuals who occupied these areas experienced enhanced nest and brood success

A Statistical Analysis of the SOT-Hinode Observations of Solar Spicules and their Wave-like Behavior

We consider a first important parameter of spicules as observed above the solar visible limb: their apparent diameter as a function of the height above the limb which determines their aspect ratio and leads to the discussion of their magnetic origin using the flux tube approximation. We found that indeed spicules show a whole range of diameters, including unresolved "interacting spicules" (I-S), depending of the definition chosen to characterize this ubiquitous dynamical phenomenon occurring into a low coronal surrounding. 1-D Fourier amplitude spectra (AS) made at different heights above the limb are shown for the first time. A definite signature in the 0.18 to 0.25 Mm range exists, corresponding to the occurrence of the newly discovered type II spicules and, even more impressively, large Fourier amplitudes are observed in the 0.3 to the 1.2 Mm range of diameters and spacing, in rough agreement with what historical works were reporting. Additionally, some statistically significant behavior, based on AS computed for different heights above the limb, is discussed. "Time slice or x-t diagrams" revealing the dynamical behavior of spicules are also analyzed. They show that most of spicules have multiple structures (similarly to the doublet spicules) and they show impressive transverse periodic fluctuations which were interpreted as upward kink or Alfven waves. Evidence of the helical motion in spicules is now well evidenced, the typical periods of the apparent oscillation being around 120 sec. A fine analysis of the time-slice diagram as a function of the effective heights shows an interesting new feature near the 2 Mm height. We speculate on the interpretation of this feature as being a result of the dynamical specificities of the spicule helical motion as seen in these unprecedented high resolution HCaII line emission time series.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figurs, 1 tabl

Mixed Chamber Ensembles

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Mixed Chamber Ensembles, 2:00 p.m. performance.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1357/thumbnail.jp

Unrestricted Termination and Non-Termination Arguments for Bit-Vector Programs

Proving program termination is typically done by finding a well-founded ranking function for the program states. Existing termination provers typically find ranking functions using either linear algebra or templates. As such they are often restricted to finding linear ranking functions over mathematical integers. This class of functions is insufficient for proving termination of many terminating programs, and furthermore a termination argument for a program operating on mathematical integers does not always lead to a termination argument for the same program operating on fixed-width machine integers. We propose a termination analysis able to generate nonlinear, lexicographic ranking functions and nonlinear recurrence sets that are correct for fixed-width machine arithmetic and floating-point arithmetic Our technique is based on a reduction from program \emph{termination} to second-order \emph{satisfaction}. We provide formulations for termination and non-termination in a fragment of second-order logic with restricted quantification which is decidable over finite domains. The resulted technique is a sound and complete analysis for the termination of finite-state programs with fixed-width integers and IEEE floating-point arithmetic