The Collapse Behavior of Compacted West Tennessee Loess

This thesis is an investigation of the collapse behavior of two types of compacted loessial soil. Different stress paths will be followed to define the collapse behavior due to changes in net vertical stress and matric suction for loess specimens acquired from two locations in West Tennessee. The two loessial soils chosen have different grain size distributions, which result in differences in soil structure which should impact the collapsibility of the soil. The soil-water characteristic curve will be measured for the soils in the non-collapsed and collapsed conditions. The volume change behavior will be evaluated using results of collapse tests, measured soil-water characteristic curves, unsaturated soil mechanics volume change theory, and related references. The differences in the test results between the two soil types will be interpreted in light of the differences in grain size distributions. Recommendations for future research on collapsibility will also be presented

Big History and Sustainability

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical examination of Big History at Dominican and offer some retrospective suggestions for any possible future first year experience programs. I reflect on Big History texts, critical papers and books as well as my own experiences and interviews with others. My research and reflections suggest that big history pedagogy failed to convey sufficient meaning and purpose to students. The actual value of the big history pedagogy was compromised by confusing and unnecessary elements of the main text. I conclude that big history pedagogy should culminate in sustainability studies. It is there students will find both meaning and practical application. An example is offered

Biomass burning emission inventory with daily resolution: Application to aircraft observations of Asian outflow

Asian outflo

Accuracy of screening tools for Pap smears in general practice

Background: Data extraction tools (DETs) are increasingly being used for research and audit of general practice, despite their limitations. Objective: This study explores the accuracy of Pap smear rates obtained with a DET compared to that of the Pap smear rate obtained with a manual file audit. Method: A widely available DET was used to establish the rate of Pap smears in a large multi-general practice (multi-GP) in regional New South Wales followed by a manual audit of patient files. The main outcome measure was identification of possible discrepancies between the rates established. Results: The DET used significantly underestimated the level of cervical screening compared to the manual audit. In some instances, the patient file contained phone/specialist record of Pap smear conducted elsewhere, which accounted for the failure of the DET to detect some smears. Those patients who had Pap smears whose pathology codes differed between time intervals, i.e. from different pathology providers or from within the same provider but using a different code, were less likely to have had their most recent Pap smear detected by the DET (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusion: Data obtained from DETs should be used with caution as they may not accurately reflect the rate of Pap smears from electronic medical records

Measures of Fluid Loss during Surfing: A Preliminary Analysis in Recreational Surfers

Surfing is a popular sport, but little is known about the extent to which recreational surfers experience fluid loss from this activity. The principal objective of this research was to estimate fluid loss during a surfing session through changes in pre- to post-session urine color (Ucol), urine osmolality (Uosm), and body mass (BM). Data were collected from 11 recreational surfers across 14 surf sessions conducted under various environmental (mean water temperature = 22.1 SD ± 2.3; range = 20-26oC; air temperature range = 13.1-31.5oC; relative humidity range = 37.5-88.1%) and surfing conditions (e.g. winter/summer, wave type, location, environmental and water conditions). Linear mixed effects models indicated that participants experienced significant pre- to post-session changes in BM (p \u3c 0.001), but not in Ucol or Uosm. These findings suggested that recreational surfers may experience fluid loss (measured by pre- to post-surfing BM) that may impact on their performance and health, and therefore they should adopt a hydration strategy to minimize this impact

Emergency Department Utilization and Hierarchical Condition Category Risk Scores

BACKGROUND: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) to improve the quality of primary care services nationwide. CPC+ utilization measures use a risk-adjustment model to predict utilization for different patient populations. Risk is determined using Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs), which are based on ICD-10 codes and patient demographics. Since patients with higher HCC scores are expected to have higher utilization rates, CMS uses these calculations to compare practices and categorize patients into “risk tiers,” which guide payments. OUSCM participates in CPC+ (Track 2). In order to track our patients’ emergency department utilization (EDU), search for patterns of use, and identify opportunities for quality improvement, we sought to determine (1) what associations exist between HCC risk tiers and patterns of EDU and (2) what patient characteristics are associated with HCC risk scores. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional CPC+ data for fiscal year 2018 provided by CMS. We performed multiple linear regression, Tukey’s method, and independent-samples t-tests to explore possible relationships between EDU, HCC risk score and associated risk tiers (range 1-5), and patient characteristics, such as dual-eligibility status and age. The study population included 906 Medicare-only and 1173 dual-eligible patients aged 18 years and older attributed to the OUSCM Internal Medicine (n=1122) or Family Medicine (n=957) practice. RESULTS: Our patient population had a median HCC risk score of 0.93 (CMS-reported Oklahoma median risk score = 0.74). We found that 56.4% of our patients were dual-eligible compared to the national average of 19.4%. Tukey multiple comparison test demonstrated significant differences between risk tiers and ED visits (p < .05). Dual-eligible patients had a higher average HCC risk score than Medicare-only patients (t(2072) = 8.491; p < .00001) and a higher average number of ED visits (t(2077) = 3.9577; p < .00001). Age was weakly correlated with HCC risk scores (r = .074, p = .0228). Density analysis of HCC scores by age revealed evidence of low-risk clustering for adults between 45 and 75 years of age. CONCLUSION: HCC risk tier classifications are predictive of EDU rates in our patient population. However, our overall HCC score was lower than anticipated given the complexity of our patient population. Dual-eligible status was associated with higher risk and EDU rates. However, age–typically an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality–was only weakly correlated with HCC scores, suggesting clinicians may be undercoding encounters for adults between the ages of 45 and 75 years, which decreases revenue.N

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Survey Design and First Data Release

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey is a survey of 240,000 emission line galaxies in the distant universe, measured with the AAOmega spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). The target galaxies are selected using ultraviolet photometry from the GALEX satellite, with a flux limit of NUV<22.8 mag. The redshift range containing 90% of the galaxies is 0.2<z<1.0. The primary aim of the survey is to precisely measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) imprinted on the spatial distribution of these galaxies at look-back times of 4-8 Gyrs. Detailed forecasts indicate the survey will measure the BAO scale to better than 2% and the tangential and radial acoustic wave scales to approximately 3% and 5%, respectively. This paper provides a detailed description of the survey and its design, as well as the spectroscopic observations, data reduction, and redshift measurement techniques employed. It also presents an analysis of the properties of the target galaxies, including emission line diagnostics which show that they are mostly extreme starburst galaxies, and Hubble Space Telescope images, which show they contain a high fraction of interacting or distorted systems. In conjunction with this paper, we make a public data release of data for the first 100,000 galaxies measured for the project.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; this has some figures in low resolution format. Full resolution PDF version (7MB) available at http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/mjd/pub/wigglez1.pdf The WiggleZ home page is at http://wigglez.swin.edu.au