Developing Capacity, Skills, and Tobacco Control Networks to address Tobacco-related Disparities: Leadership and Advocacy Institute to Advance Minnesota’s Parity for Priority Populations (LAAMPP)

Priority populations disproportionately experience tobacco-related disparities, despite population level declines in tobacco use. The Leadership and Advocacy Institute to Advance Minnesota’s Parity for Priority Populations (LAAMPP) recruits and trains African immigrants/African Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, American Indians, Chicano/Latinos, and LGBTQ community members to develop leaders to address tobacco harms in their communities. This paper describes and evaluates the LAAMPP Institute, and discusses lessons learned through the Institute and future directions for community-based tobacco-control efforts. The mixed-methods evaluation included qualitative key informant interviews with LAAMPP Fellows and community and project contacts, a Skills Assessment Tool, project case studies, and a social network analysis of the Fellows’ tobacco-control social networks at baseline and follow-up. At follow-up, Fellows’ tobacco control networks were larger, more extensive and diverse, and included more actors perceived to be influential in tobacco control. Fellows’ skills increased in core competencies (tobacco control, advocacy, facilitation, collaboration, cultural/community competence) and Fellows used tobacco, advocacy and cultural/community competencies more frequently. Four of five cohorts successfully passed policies. The results of LAAMPP suggest that a cross-cultural leadership institute contributes to the successful development of capacity and leadership skills among priority populations and may be a useful model for others working toward health equity

Electronic structure of silicon-based nanostructures

We have developed an unifying tight-binding Hamiltonian that can account for the electronic properties of recently proposed Si-based nanostructures, namely, Si graphene-like sheets and Si nanotubes. We considered the $sp^3s^*$ and $sp^{3}$ models up to first- and second-nearest neighbors, respectively. Our results show that the Si graphene-like sheets considered here are metals or zero-gap semiconductors, and that the corresponding Si nanotubes follow the so-called Hamada's rule [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 68}, 1579 1992]. Comparison to a recent {\it ab initio} calculation is made.Comment: 12 pages, 6 Figure

Effect of Javanese turmeric (Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.) extract on natural microflora of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajur-caju) and its sensory acceptability

The effects of methanolic extract of Javanese turmeric (Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.) at different level of concentrations on the inactivation of Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp. and Staphylococcus aureus in oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju) were investigated. This study was conducted principally for the achievement on the best combination between the susceptibility of C. xanthorrhiza extract on natural microflora and foodborne pathogenic bacteria with the sensory acceptability of the soaked oyster mushroom. Three different concentrations (g/ml), 0.05%, 0.50% and 5.00%, of C. xanthorrhiza extract prepared with dilution method were designed as sanitizing agent in treating the oyster mushroom at 5 minutes and 10 minutes. There was significance reduction in the survival of microbial load between the untreated fresh oyster mushroom and those soaked with 0.05%, 0.50% and 5.00% rhizome extract (P < 0.05). The relative best combination between antimicrobial ability and sensory acceptability can be achieved with 0.05% rhizome extract where it showed a significant bacterial population reduction (P<0.05) of 0.81, 0.73 and 5.54 log10 CFU/g for total plate count, B. cereus and Pseudomonas spp., as well as a higher mean scores for the tested sensory. The results showed that C. xanthorrhiza extract can be developed as natural sanitizer for food materials

Band structure of hydrogenated Si nanosheets and nanotubes

The band structure of fully hydrogenated Si nanosheets and nanotubes are elucidated by the use of an empirical tight-binding model. The hydrogenated Si sheet is a semiconductor with indirect band gap of about 2.2 eV. The symmetries of the wave functions allow us to explain the origin of the gap. We predict that, for certain chiralities, hydrogenated Si nanotubes represent a new type of semiconductor, one with co-existing direct and indirect gaps of exactly the same magnitude. This behavior is different from the Hamada rule established for non-hydrogenated carbon and silicon nanotubes. Comparison to an ab initio calculation is made.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Real space tests of the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity of the WMAP CMB data

ABRIDGED: We introduce and analyze a method for testing statistical isotropy and Gaussianity and apply it to the WMAP CMB foreground reduced, temperature maps, and cross-channel difference maps. We divide the sky into regions of varying size and shape and measure the first four moments of the one-point distribution within these regions, and using their simulated spatial distributions we test the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity hypotheses. By randomly varying orientations of these regions, we sample the underlying CMB field in a new manner, that offers a richer exploration of the data content, and avoids possible biasing due to a single choice of sky division. The statistical significance is assessed via comparison with realistic Monte-Carlo simulations. We find the three-year WMAP maps to agree well with the isotropic, Gaussian random field simulations as probed by regions corresponding to the angular scales ranging from 6 deg to 30 deg at 68% confidence level. We report a strong, anomalous (99.8% CL) dipole ``excess'' in the V band of the three-year WMAP data and also in the V band of the WMAP five-year data (99.3% CL). We notice the large scale hemispherical power asymmetry, and find that it is not highly statistically significant in the WMAP three-year data (<~ 97%) at scales l <= 40. The significance is even smaller if multipoles up to l=1024 are considered (~90% CL). We give constraints on the amplitude of the previously-proposed CMB dipole modulation field parameter. We easily detect the residual foregrounds in cross-band difference maps at rms level <~ 7 \mu K (at scales >~ 6 deg) and limit the systematical uncertainties to <~ 1.7 \mu K (at scales >~ 30 deg).Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures; more tests added; updated to match the version to be published in JCA

ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯ НАПРЯМІВ ВЗАЄМОДІЇ ПОДАТКОВИХ ОРГАНІВ ТА ПІДПРИЄМСТВ У ПРОЦЕСІ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ ПОДАТКОВОГО КОНТРОЛЮ

The focus of tax reforms in Ukraine, the development of partnerships between payers and supervisors requires new approaches to tax control. The current state of the functioning of the tax control system in Ukraine shows the necessity and at the same time its unpreparedness to transition to more advanced forms, including horizontal monitoring. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need for effective interaction between taxpayers and controlling bodies in the context of improving the quality of tax control. The methodological basis of the study, in particular the theoretical positions, is the methods of scientific abstraction, induction, deduction, logical method, etc. For analytical research mathematical methods were used, in particular correlation-regression analysis, methods of comparison and grouping, synthesis, tabular and graphical methods. As a result of the research, it was found that the main factors hindering the implementation of horizontal monitoring in Ukraine are the lack of compliance with the legislative framework, the insecurity of the confidentiality of information on the activities of taxpayers, corruption in the DFS, large amounts of shadow economy in the country, etc. At the same time, the high level of inconsistency of the assessed tax liabilities and a considerable number of disputes as a result of this also confirm the low level of trust and cooperation between the DFS authorities and the payers. The analysis of the state of tax audits and the dynamics of tax debt — the calculation of correlation relationships between these indicators (R2&nbsp;= -0,92) and the forecast of tax debt — showed that preventive tax control measures do not discipline payers to pay them tax arrears, the conducted tax inspections have a positive effect on the repayment of the tax debt by the payers. Such research results indicate that there are problems in establishing trusting relationships between payers and supervisors and the need to find ways to adjust them in the context of the development of progressive forms of tax control.Спрямованість податкових реформ в Україні, розвиток партнерських взаємовідносин між платниками та органами контролю вимагає нових підходів до проведення податкового контролю. Сучасний стан функціонування системи податкового контролю в Україні свідчить про необхідність та одночасно неготовність її до переходу на нові прогресивніші форми, зокрема горизонтальний моніторинг. Метою статті є обґрунтування необхідності налагодження ефективної взаємодії платників та органів контролю в контексті підвищення якості податкового контролю. Методологічною базою дослідження, зокрема теоретичних положень, є методи наукової абстракції, індукції, дедукції, логічний метод тощо. Для аналітичного дослідження використано математичні методи, зокрема кореляційно-регресійний аналіз, методи порівняння та групування, синтезу, табличний і графічний методи. У результаті дослідження з’ясовано, що основними чинниками, які перешкоджають запровадженню горизонтального моніторингу в Україні, є невідповідність законодавчої бази, незахищеність конфіденційності інформації про діяльність платників податків, корупція в органах ДФС, великі обсяги тіньової економіки в країні тощо. Поряд з цим високий рівень неузгодженості донарахованих податкових зобов’язань і значна кількість спорів унаслідок цього також підтверджують низький рівень довіри та співпраці між органами ДФС і платниками. Проведений аналіз стану податкових перевірок та динаміки податкового боргу — розрахунок кореляційних взаємозв’язків між цими показниками (R2&nbsp;= -0,92) і прогноз податкового боргу — показав, що превентивні заходи податкового контролю не дисциплінують платників щодо погашення ними податкової заборгованості, натомість кількість фактично проведених податкових перевірок позитивно впливають на погашення податкового боргу платниками. Такі результати дослідження свідчать про наявність проблем у налагодженні довірливих взаємин між платниками та органами контролю і необхідність пошуку шляхів їх налагодження в контексті розвитку прогресивних форм податкового контролю

Model for a Light Z' Boson

A model of a light $Z'$ boson is constructed and phenomenological bounds are derived. This $Z'$ boson arises from a very simple extension to the Standard Model, and it is constrained to be light because the vacuum expectation values which generate its mass also break the electroweak gauge group. It is difficult to detect experimentally because it couples exclusively or primarily (depending on symmetry breaking details) to second and third generation leptons. However, if the $Z'$ boson is sufficiently light, then there exists the possibility of the two-body decay $\tau \rightarrow \mu Z'$ occuring. This will provide a striking signature to test the model.Comment: 20 pages + 5 pages of figures (appended as postscipt files), LaTeX, OITS-53

Spin orbit torque induced asymmetric depinning of chiral Néel domain wall in Co/Ni heterostructures

In this letter, we report on distinct depinning of a chiral Néel domain wall (DW) driven by spin-orbit torque (SOT) in Co/Ni nanowires with symmetric potential barriers. In these structures, DW propagation was shown to be in the opposite direction to the electron flow as evidenced from current assisted DW depinning measurements. A transition from field dominated DW depinning to SOT dominated DW depinning was observed as the bias current was increased. For SOT dominated DW depinning, the Up-Down DW exhibits a larger depinning field as compared to the Down-Up DW. This is attributed to the interplay between the SOT and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the structure

Hemispherical power asymmetry: parameter estimation from CMB WMAP5 data

We reexamine the evidence of the hemispherical power asymmetry, detected in the CMB WMAP data using a new method. At first, we analyze the hemispherical variance ratios and compare these with simulated distributions. Secondly, working within a previously-proposed CMB bipolar modulation model, we constrain model parameters: the amplitude and the orientation of the modulation field as a function of various multipole bins. Finally, we select three ranges of multipoles leading to the most anomalous signals, and we process corresponding 100 Gaussian, random field (GRF) simulations, treated as observational data, to further test the statistical significance and robustness of the hemispherical power asymmetry. For our analysis we use the Internally-Linearly-Coadded (ILC) full sky map, and KQ75 cut-sky V channel, foregrounds reduced map of the WMAP five year data (V5). We constrain the modulation parameters using a generic maximum a posteriori method. In particular, we find differences in hemispherical power distribution, which when described in terms of a model with bipolar modulation field, exclude the field amplitude value of the isotropic model A=0 at confidence level of ~99.5% (~99.4%) in the multipole range l=[7,19] (l=[7,79]) in the V5 data, and at the confidence level ~99.9% in the multipole range l=[7,39] in the ILC5 data, with the best fit (modal PDF) values in these particular multipole ranges of A=0.21 (A=0.21) and A=0.15 respectively. However, we also point out that similar or larger significances (in terms of rejecting the isotropic model), and large best-fit modulation amplitudes are obtained in GRF simulations as well, which reduces the overall significance of the CMB power asymmetry down to only about 94% (95%) in the V5 data, in the range l=[7,19] (l=[7,79]).Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures; few typos corrected; published in JCA