1,297 research outputs found
Perceived Health Issues: A perspective from East-African immigrants
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">This Study explores Somali and Ethiopian community leaders’ perceptions about health issues in their communities and the barriers to access and utilization of primary health care services.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with community leaders and thematic analysis was used to analyze interviews.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Participants identified chronic diseases, the unhealthy behaviors associated with them, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and mental health as major health issues. Infectious diseases were secondarily mentioned as important health concerns. Lack of insurance and limited understanding of the health system were viewed as barriers to utilizing health care services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other identified needs were: better education within immigrant communities about major health issues, enhanced cultural awareness of health care providers, improved health care access, and assistance with the acculturation process.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Recommendations to improve the communities’ health status included enhancing providers' cultural competence, educating immigrants about major health issues, and increasing mental health care access.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span
Perceived Health Issues: A perspective from East-African immigrants
This Study explores Somali and Ethiopian community leaders’ perceptions about health issues in their communities and the barriers to access and utilization of primary health care services. Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with community leaders and thematic analysis was used to analyze interviews. Participants identified chronic diseases, the unhealthy behaviors associated with them, and mental health as major health issues. Infectious diseases were secondarily mentioned as important health concerns. Lack of insurance and limited understanding of the health system were viewed as barriers to utilizing health care services. Other identified needs were: better education within immigrant communities about major health issues, enhanced cultural awareness of health care providers, improved health care access, and assistance with the acculturation process. Recommendations to improve the communities’ health status included enhancing providers' cultural competence, educating immigrants about major health issues, and increasing mental health care access
Protons in near earth orbit
The proton spectrum in the kinetic energy range 0.1 to 200 GeV was measured
by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) during space shuttle flight STS-91 at
an altitude of 380 km. Above the geomagnetic cutoff the observed spectrum is
parameterized by a power law. Below the geomagnetic cutoff a substantial second
spectrum was observed concentrated at equatorial latitudes with a flux ~ 70
m^-2 sec^-1 sr^-1. Most of these second spectrum protons follow a complicated
trajectory and originate from a restricted geographic region.Comment: 19 pages, Latex, 7 .eps figure
Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV
The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied
using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy
of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for
Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross
section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the
invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level
with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and
the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.)
+(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also
studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph
event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by
PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic
Epidemiology of and prenatal molecular distinction between invasive and colonizing group B streptococci in The Netherlands and Taiwan
The identification of markers for virulent group B streptococci (GBS) could guide prenatal prevention and intervention strategies. We compared the distribution of serotypes and potential pathogenicity islands (PPIs) between invasive and colonizing GBS. Colonizing and invasive strains from The Netherlands and Taiwan were serotyped. We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the amplification of several new PPI markers. Several combinations of PPI-specific markers and serotypes were associated with invasiveness. For Dutch neonatal strains, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with serotype and five PPI markers showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.963 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.935–0.99). For Taiwanese neonatal strains, serotype and four different PPI markers resulted in an ROC curve with an AUC of 0.894 (95% CI 0.826–0.963). PPI-specific and serological markers can distinguish local neonatal invasive GBS strains from colonizing ones. Apparently, there are clear regional differences in the GBS epidemiology and infection potential of clones
A Study of Cosmic Ray Secondaries Induced by the Mir Space Station Using AMS-01
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a high energy particle physics
experiment that will study cosmic rays in the to range and will be installed on the International Space Station
(ISS) for at least 3 years. A first version of AMS-02, AMS-01, flew aboard the
space shuttle \emph{Discovery} from June 2 to June 12, 1998, and collected
cosmic ray triggers. Part of the \emph{Mir} space station was within the
AMS-01 field of view during the four day \emph{Mir} docking phase of this
flight. We have reconstructed an image of this part of the \emph{Mir} space
station using secondary and emissions from primary cosmic rays
interacting with \emph{Mir}. This is the first time this reconstruction was
performed in AMS-01, and it is important for understanding potential
backgrounds during the 3 year AMS-02 mission.Comment: To be submitted to NIM B Added material requested by referee. Minor
stylistic and grammer change
Search for antihelium in cosmic rays
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was flown on the space shuttle
Discovery during flight STS-91 in a 51.7 degree orbit at altitudes between 320
and 390 km. A total of 2.86 * 10^6 helium nuclei were observed in the rigidity
range 1 to 140 GV. No antihelium nuclei were detected at any rigidity. An upper
limit on the flux ratio of antihelium to helium of < 1.1 * 10^-6 is obtained.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, 9 .eps figure
Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments
In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one
Precision of the current methods to measure the alkenone proxy UK'37 and absolute alkenone abundance in sediments : results of an interlaboratory comparison study
Measurements of the UK'37 index and the absolute abundance of alkenones in marine sediments are increasingly used in paleoceanographic research as proxies of past sea surface temperature and haptophyte (mainly coccolith-bearing species) primary productivity, respectively. An important aspect of these studies is to be able to compare reliably data obtained by different laboratories from a wide variety of locations. Hence the intercomparability of data produced by the research community is essential. Here we report results from an anonymous interlaboratory comparison study involving 24 of the leading laboratories that carry out alkenone measurements worldwide. The majority of laboratories produce data that are intercomparable within the considered confidence limits. For the measurement of alkenone concentrations, however, there are systematic biases between laboratories, which might be related to the techniques employed to quantify the components. The maximum difference between any two laboratories for any two single measurements of UK'37 in sediments is estimated, with a probability of 95%, to be <2.18C. In addition, the overall within-laboratory precision for the UK'37 temperature estimates is estimated to be <1.68C (95% probability). Similarly, from the analyses of alkenone concentrations the interlaboratory reproducibility is estimated at 32%, and the repeatability is estimated at 24%. The former is compared to a theoretical estimate of reproducibility and found to be excessively high. Hence there is certainly scope and a demonstrable need to improve reproducibility and repeatability of UK'37 and especially alkenone quantification data across the community of scientists involved in alkenone research
Lifshitz formula by spectral summation method
The Lifshitz formula is derived by making use of the spectral summation
method which is a mathematically rigorous simultaneous application of both the
mode-by-mode summation technique and scattering formalism. The contributions to
the Casimir energy of electromagnetic excitations of different types (surface
modes, waveguide modes, and photonic modes) are clearly retraced. A correct
transition to imaginary frequencies is accomplished with allowance for all the
peculiarities of the frequency equations and pertinent scattering data in the
complex plane, including, in particular, the cuts connecting the
branch points and complex roots of the frequency equations (quasi-normal
modes). The principal novelty of our approach is a special choice of
appropriate passes in the contour integrals, which are used for transition to
imaginary frequencies. As a result, the long standing problem of cuts in the
complex plane is solved completely. Inconsistencies of some previous
derivations of the Lifshitz formula are traced briefly. For completeness of the
presentation, the necessary mathematical facts are also stated, namely,
solution of the Maxwell equations for configurations under consideration,
scattering formalism for parallel plane interfaces, determination of the
frequency equation roots, and others.Comment: The version published in Phys. Rev. A 86, 052503 (2012); criticism of
some previous derivations of the Lifshitz formula is diminished
(Introduction) and emphasizing the authors achievements (Conclusion) is
moderate
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