12,002 research outputs found
A Geospatial Analysis of CDC-funded HIV Prevention Programs for African Americans in the United States
Given the increase in HIV/AIDS infection rates among racial and ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, this study was undertaken as part of a larger research effort to examine the distribution of HIV prevention services focusing on African American populations within the United States. Data were gathered via a national survey of community-based organizations (CBOs) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A geocoded national database was constructed to identify, locate, and map these HIV prevention programs. A total of 1,020 CBOs responded to the survey, yielding a response rate of 70.3%. These CBOs administered a total of 3,028 HIV prevention programs. Data describing intervention types and persons served, combined with the address and service area of responding CBOs, were integrated with census data (2000) and analyzed by using a geographic information system (GIS). The results of our national level analysis show that HIV prevention services for African Americans have fair coverage where African Americans comprise a substantial proportion of the population in urban areas in northeastern states, but that HIV prevention services for African Americans are inadequately distributed in the southeastern states. A local-level analysis was conducted for Alabama, where 68% of HIV/AIDS cases are among African Americans. Specific interventions such as street and community outreach, health communications, and public information are fairly well provided to African Americans in more urban cities in Alabama, however, individual- and group-level interventions have poor coverage in rural areas where a large percentage of African-Americans live. Overall, our study illustrates that the use of GIS adds value when used with other data sources to provide prevention services that are accessible to the populations most in need
A study of liquid propellant autoignition
Data and theory pertinent to the autoignition of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants were reviewed. Physical models of the processes supporting or contributing to autoignition were developed. Emphasis was placed on the description of the physical environment and its relationship to the autoignition phenomenon
Electromagnetic corrections for the analysis of low energy pi-p scattering data
We calculate the electromagnetic corrections to the isospin invariant mixing
angle and to the two eigenphases for the s and p-waves for low energy pi-p
elastic and charge exchange scattering. These corrections have to be applied to
the nuclear quantities obtained from phase shift analyses of the experimental
data in order to obtain the hadronic phases. We compare our results with
earlier calculations and estimate the uncertainties in the corrections.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. Uses elsart.cls Accepted for publication in
Nuclear Physics
Discipline-Specific Compared to Generic Training of Teachers in Higher Education
A recurrent theme arising in the higher education sector is the suitability and effectiveness of generic versus discipline-specific training of university teachers, who are often recruited based on their disciplinary specialties to become teachers in higher education. We compared two groups of participants who had undergone training using a generic post-graduate certificate in higher education (PGCertGeneric) versus a discipline-specific course in veterinary education (PGCertVetEd). The study was conducted using a survey that allowed comparison of participants who completed PGCertGeneric (n=21) with PGCertVetEd (n=22). Results indicated that participants from both PGCertGeneric and PGCertVetEd considered teaching to be satisfying and important to their careers, valued the teaching observation component of the course, and identified similar training needs. However, the participants of the PGCertVetEd felt that the course made them better teachers, valued the relevance of the components taught, understood course design better, were encouraged to do further courses/reading in teaching and learning, changed their teaching as a result of the course, and were less stressed about teaching as compared to the PGCertGeneric participants (p<.05). It is likely that the PGCertVetEd, which was designed and developed by veterinarians with a wider understanding of the veterinary sector, helped the participants perceive the training course as suited to their needs
Monte Carlo Eikonal Scattering
Monte Carlo evaluation is used to calculate heavy-ion elastic scattering
including the center-of-mass correction and the Coulomb interaction.Angular
distributions are presented for a number of nuclear pairs over a wide energy
range using nucleon-nucleon scattering parameters taken from phase-shift
analyses and densities from independent sources. A technique for the efficient
expansion of the Glauber amplitude in partial waves is developed
An investigation into the dialectic of Academic Teaching Identity: Some preliminary findings [Presentation]
Presented at the International Annual Research Conference, 07-09 Dec 2016, Celtic Manor, Newport in South Wales, United Kingdom
An intermediate state between the kagome-ice and the fully polarized state in DyTiO
DyTiO is at present the cleanest example of a spin-ice material.
Previous theoretical and experimental work on the first-order transition
between the kagome-ice and the fully polarized state has been taken as a
validation for the dipolar spin-ice model. Here we investigate in further depth
this phase transition using ac-susceptibility and dc-magnetization, and compare
this results with Monte-Carlo simulations and previous magnetization and
specific heat measurements. We find signatures of an intermediate state between
the kagome-ice and full polarization. This signatures are absent in current
theoretical models used to describe spin-ice materials.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Struggling and juggling: a comparison of assessment loads in research and teaching-intensive universities
In spite of the rising tide of metrics in UK higher education, there has been scant attention paid to assessment loads, when evidence demonstrates that heavy demands lead to surface learning. Our study seeks to redress the situation by defining assessment loads and comparing them across research-and teaching intensive universities. We clarify the concept of ‘assessment load’ in response to findings about high volumes of summative assessment on modular degrees. We define assessment load across whole undergraduate degrees, according to four measures: the volume of summative assessment; volume of formative assessment; proportion of examinations to coursework; number of different varieties of assessment. All four factors contribute to the weight of an assessment load, and influence students’ approaches to learning. Our research compares programme assessment data from 73 programmes in 14 UK universities, across two institutional categories. Research-intensives have higher summative assessment loads and a greater proportion of examinations; teaching-intensives have higher varieties of assessment. Formative assessment does not differ significantly across both university groups. These findings pose particular challenges for students in different parts of the sector. Our study questions the wisdom that ‘more’ is always better, proposing that lighter assessment loads may make room for ‘slow’ and deep learning
Application of stochastic resonance in gravitational-wave interferometer
We investigate novel approach, which improves the sensitivity of
gravitational wave (GW) interferometer due to stochastic resonance (SR)
phenomenon, performing in additional nonlinear cavity (NC). The NC is installed
in the output of interferometer before photodetector, so that optical signal
emerging interferometer incidents on the NC and passes through it. Under
appropriate circumstances a specific transformation of noisy signal inside the
NC takes place, which results in the increase of output signal-to-noise ratio
(SNR). As a result optical noisy signal of interferometer becomes less noisy
after passing through the NC. The improvement of SNR is especially effective in
bistable NC for wideband (several hundreds Hz) detection, when chirp GW signal
is detected. Then SNR gain reaches amount ~ 10. When detection bandwidth is
narrowed, the influence of SR mechanism gradually disappears, and SNR gain
tends to 1. SNR gain also tends to 1 when the NC is gradually transformed to
linear cavity. Proposed enhancement of SNR due to the SR is not dependent of
noise type, which is prevalent in interferometer. Particularly proposed
approach is capable to increase signal-to-displacement noise ratio.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure
Finite Density QCD in the Chiral Limit
We present the first results of an exact simulation of full QCD at finite
density in the chiral limit. We have used a MFA (Microcanonical Fermionic
Average) inspired approach for the reconstruction of the Grand Canonical
Partition Function of the theory; using the fugacity expansion of the fermionic
determinant we are able to move continuously in the () plane with
.Comment: 3 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures, uses espcrc2.sty, psfig. Talk presented by
A. Galante at Lattice 97. Correction of some reference
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