“Discreet Masc”: Non-Heterosexual Male Identities in Urban and Rural New Hampshire

Many subcultural identities exist within male culture. Identities may vary by geographical location, and further intersectional research is needed in the fields of gender and sexuality as they relate to location. By examining a sample of 600 social networking app profiles, the present study establishes that experiences of masculinity vary significantly for non-heterosexual men based on their urban or rural setting. Men in rural locations are more inclined to assume traditionally masculine identities, and as such, a claim to an inconspicuous and heteronormative position in the masculinity hierarchy. Even so, “discreet and masculine” men must find ways to connect to others within the non-heterosexual male community for friendship, sexual companionship, romantic relationships, and mentorship. Regional social expectations play a major role in shaping and perpetuating varying masculinities, and non-heterosexual men in rural New Hampshire utilize social networking apps to project their own versions of masculinity while searching for others with whom to connect

Models of the diffuse radar backscatter from Mars

The topographies of several debris flow units near the Mount St. Helens Volcano were measured at lateral scales of millimeters to meters in September 1990. The objective was to measure the surface roughness of the debris flows at scales smaller than, on the order of, and larger that the radar wavelength of common remote sensing radars. A laser profiling system and surveying instruments were used to obtain elevation data for square areas that varied in size from 10 to 32 cm. The elevation data were converted to estimates of the power spectrum of surface roughness. The conversions were based upon standard periodogram techniques, and upon a modified spectral estimation technique that was developed

Mesoscale monitoring of the soil freeze/thaw boundary from orbital microwave radiometry

A technique was developed for mapping the spatial extent of frozen soils from the spectral characteristics of the 10.7 to 37 GHz radiobrightness. Through computational models for the spectral radiobrightness of diurnally heated freesing soils, a distinctive radiobrightness signature was identified for frozen soils, and the signature was cast as a discriminant for unsupervised classification. In addition to large area images, local area spatial averages of radiobrightness were calculated for each radiobrightness channel at 7 meteorologic sites within the test region. Local area averages at the meteorologic sites were used to define the preliminary boundaries in the Freeze Indicator discriminate. Freeze Indicator images based upon Nimbus 7, Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) data effectively map temporal variations in the freeze/thaw pattern for the northern Great Plains at the time scale of days. Diurnal thermal gradients have a small but measurable effect upon the SMMR spectral gradient. Scale-space filtering can be used to improve the spatial resolution of a freeze/thaw classified image

Anomalous isotopic predissociation in the F³Πu(v=1) state of O₂

Using a tunable, narrow-bandwidth vacuum-ultraviolet source based on third-harmonic generation from excimer-pumped dye-laser radiation, the F³Πu←X³Σg-(1,0)photoabsorption cross sections of ¹⁶O₂ and ¹⁸O₂ have been recorded in high resolution. Rotational analyses have been performed and the resultant F(v=1) term values fitted to the ³Π Hamiltonian of Brown and Merer [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 74, 488 (1979)]. A large rotationless isotope effect is observed in the F(v=1)predissociation, wherein the Lorentzian linewidth component for ¹⁸O₂ is a factor of ∼50 smaller than the corresponding ¹⁶O₂linewidth. This effect, a consequence of the nonadiabatic rotationless predissociation mechanism, is described using a coupled-channel treatment of the strongly Rydberg-valence-mixed 3Πu states. Significant J, e/f-parity, and sublevel dependencies observed in the isotopic F(v=1) rotational widths are found to derive from an indirect predissociation mechanism involving an accidental degeneracy with the E³Σ−u(v=3) level, itself strongly predissociated by ³Σ−u Rydberg-valence interactions, together with L-uncoupling (rotational) interactions between the Rydberg components of the F and E states. Transitions into the E(v=3) level are observed directly for the first time, specifically in the ¹⁸O₂ spectrumPartial support was provided by an NSF International Opportunities for Scientists and Engineers Program Grant No. INT-9513350, and Visiting Fellowships for G.S. and J.B.W. at the Australian National University

SEGREGATION, INEQUALITY, DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE, AND SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION

We describe a rural/micropolitan example of the intertwining of school consolidation and demographic change with exacerbated segregation and inequality. To do this we consider Dawson County, Nebraska, which hosts the state\u27s most Latino/a school district (Lexington) and which saw its number of schools decline from 37 to 19 during this century\u27s first decade, and the number of local school districts lessened from 18 to 5. In particular, we call attention to the irony that consolidation was pursued with an explicit call for more equality in schooling in Dawson County (Swidler 2013) and yet population concentrations and variation in expenditures seemed to have moved away from rather than toward that goal. This article also highlights the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to the review and presentation of educational research

EMPOWERCARE: EMPOWERing individuals & communities to manage their own CARE

EMPOWERing individuals and communities to manage their own CARE (EMPOWERCARE) was a 3-year social innovation project involving 13 cross border European partners. EMPOWERCARE developed a holistic community asset approach to respond to current gaps in the care of people in the target group (those aged 65+ and those aged 50+ with at least one chronic condition). It aimed to address challenges facing our societies concerning the care of our ageing populations and when older people are not being involved in decisions concerning their own health and wellbeing. The project ensured that older people are at the forefront of improved technology and better care from within their communities. This sought to improve their situation but also tackle the financial issues of an ageing population and improve social cohesion. The main key messages from the evaluation of the project initiatives were: • Self-efficacy – Across all sites, ‘inactive’ participants at baseline showed a statistically significant increase in self-efficacy at the end of the initiatives. Qualitative data confirmed end-users’ increased levels of selfconfidence and self-efficacy around taking action in relation to their own health. • Emotional and social wellbeing - When considering all project sites, there was no significant decrease of the level of reported loneliness, overall and by type (emotional and social), for participants who reported feeling lonely at the start of the initiative. For participants from philosophically focused initiatives, who reported being lonely at the start of the initiative, there was a slight decrease in emotional loneliness from baseline, although this change was not statistically significant. Overall, there was no decrease, but for initiatives that were philosophically focused there was a negative trend. Qualitative data evidenced the positive impact initiatives had in tackling end-users’ loneliness. • Digital literacy - When analysing survey responses from all sites, end-users reported internet healthseeking behaviour did change at the end of initiatives. Nonetheless, for the sites focusing more on technology, internet health-seeking behaviour increased from baseline to end of initiative, although the positive change was not statistically significant. Qualitative data from end-users confirms the survey results that those participating in the initiatives felt more digitally literate and confident in using technology for their physical and mental health needs and to keep connected with their social networks. • Internet health-seeking behaviour – There was no significant change in this area for end-users. This could be explained by them receiving help in-person and therefore they felt less need to go online for help with their health. For technology focused initiatives there was still no significant change, but there was a positive trend for technology enthusiasm. Anxiety around technology use remained and the qualitative data relating to this indicated there was room to build on technology skills. • Person centred care - Across all sites, for those that had a baseline of below average person-centredness or lower, mean scores increased from baseline to end of initiatives, and this improvement was statistically significant, indicating that the project initiatives significantly increased workforce person-centeredness. There were also similar significant improvements in the specific areas of this scale of Climate of Safety, Climate of Everydayness, Climate of community and Climate of Comprehensibility, indicating that the project initiatives significantly increased workforce feelings of whether the workplace is a place where the patients are in safe hands, staff use language that the patients can understand, it is easy for patients to talk to the staff and where the patients have someone to talk to if they so wish. Qualitative data reflected these results, talking about the transformation in people’s lives that was possible through being focused on the needs of the individuals and what matters to them. • Workforce technology uptake - Across all sites, survey results from workforce attitudes towards technology did not show any change from baseline to end of initiatives. Similarly, there was no difference between workforce participants in technology-focused and philosophical initiatives. Qualitative data from the workforce showed an understanding of the need to embrace technology in their work and that some of the drive for that need came from the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. • Job satisfaction and workforce training embeddedness – for job satisfaction there was no significant change, although there was a positive trend for those who started below the top 15%. The context of working through COVID-19 may have had a negative impact on job satisfaction. Across all sites, there were higher average scores on certain areas of efficacy in relation to workforce training in implementing, embedding, and integrating a complex healthcare initiative, such as reflective monitoring and collective action compared to coherence, and cognitive participation findings suggest that overall workforce members showed they are willing to engage in reflexive monitoring and collective action across all sites – so they were willing to self-monitor and take time to think about their behaviour and work together to take action. The qualitative data indicated that embedding training has enabled the workforce to understand the value of taking time, reflecting and connecting, which are some of the key person-centred competencies and attributes you would want to see in a transformed workforce. The Cost Benefit Analysis showed: • Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) evaluation indicate that individuals are willing to pay (WTP) on average €10.31 per month from their own out of pocket expenses to use and obtain the health benefits and wellbeing effects of participating in the EMPOWERCARE initiatives. • WTP is positively influenced by the value individuals place on the technically focused initiatives, willingness to participate in an alternative initiative along with improvements gained in emotional and social loneliness because of the EMPOWERCARE initiatives. • The WTP estimates defined in this evaluation provide significant insights for decision makers and healthcare commissioners on the value that previous participants place on the services provided through the EMPOWERCARE initiatives in local communities. • Insights from the ‘Good Ancestor’ principles in FGD promotes the deliberation of long-term thinking which can lead to the power of change, reshaping decisions to take account of future generations, while promoting and encouraging sustainability in respect for future generations. The evaluation results provide some positive results on the success of the EMPOWERCARE initiatives across the 4 countries. More analysis has been done per site to understand the different aspects of the EMPOWERCARE Strategy, Workforce Transformation Package and Technology Blueprint that made a positive difference to end-users and members of the workforce. This further analysis will provide a more comprehensive picture of the impact of the EMPOWERCARE initiatives, as well as inform the next stages of work

Multi‐scale roughness spectra of Mount St. Helens debris flows

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95676/1/grl6957.pd