EFFECTS OF FOOD AND HEALTH SPENDING PATTERNS ON THE HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY

Examines linkages between food and health spending patterns, income, and health status of the elderly. Links these relationships to food insecurity and expenditures on nutraceuticals. Methodology includes simultaneous estimation of expenditure systems and health production functions. Preliminary results indicate simultaneity between health production function and spending patterns throughout the life cycle.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Precision lattice QCD calculations and predictions of fundamental physics in heavy quark systems

I describe the recent success in performing accurate calculations of the effects of the strong force on particles containing bottom and charm quarks. Since quarks are never seen in isolation, and so cannot be studied directly, numerical simulations are key to understanding the properties of these particles and extracting information about the quarks. The results have direct impact on the worldwide experimental programme that is aiming to determine the parameters of the Standard Model of particle physics precisely and thereby uncover or constrain the possibilities for physics beyond the Standard Model. The numerical simulation of the strong force is a huge computational task and the recent success is the result of international collaboration in developing techniques that are fast enough to do the calculations on powerful supercomputers.Comment: Invited talk at SCIDAC 2006, Denver, June 2006. 15 page

Faraday rotation maps of disk galaxies

Faraday rotation is one of the most widely used observables to infer the strength and configuration of the magnetic field in the ionised gas of the Milky Way and nearby spiral galaxies. Here we compute synthetic Faraday rotation maps at $z=0$ for a set of disk galaxies from the Auriga high-resolution cosmological simulations, for different observer positions within and outside the galaxy. We find that the strength of the Faraday rotation of our simulated galaxies for a hypothetic observer at the solar circle is broadly consistent with the Faraday rotation seen for the Milky Way. The same holds for an observer outside the galaxy and the observed signal of the nearby spiral galaxy M51. However, we also find that the structure and angular power spectra of the synthetic all-sky Faraday rotation maps vary strongly with azimuthal position along the solar circle. We argue that this variation is a result of the structure of the magnetic field of the galaxy that is dominated by an azimuthal magnetic field ordered scales of several kpc, but has radial and vertical magnetic field components that are only ordered on scales of 1-2 kpc. Because the magnetic field strength decreases exponentially with height above the disk, the Faraday rotation for an observer at the solar circle is dominated by the local environment. This represents a severe obstacle for attempts to reconstruct the global magnetic field of the Milky Way from Faraday rotation maps alone without including additional observables.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRA

Supporting Teaching and Learning Reform in College Mathematics: Finding Value in Communities of Practice

Improving college STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) student learning outcomes is an ongoing area of focus in Institutions of Higher Education (IHE). This reform includes challenging, changing, and adapting both teaching practices and the learning environment. Communities of practice (CoPs) can support faculty in making these shifts; however, creating large-scale instructional changes in STEM education requires a more careful look at the existing systems and structures in place. In this paper, we investigate a network of regional CoPs composed mainly of mathematics faculty from IHE focused on teaching with inquiry methods. Understanding what faculty need and value to support their instructional changes is important as CoPs and other mechanisms are put in place to increase student success. In this qualitative study, we use the value framework developed by Wenger et al. (2011) to dissect the variety of ways faculty engage and find value in their CoP participation. Faculty participants expressed that CoP participation created unique layers of value in helping them to identify resources to support teaching with inquiry especially during a pandemic, shift their beliefs about teaching, and engage with a network of peers about mathematics and teaching. Findings from this study, conducted during the COVID-19 global pandemic, provide preliminary insights for STEM stakeholders interested in large-scale, ongoing instructional reform to improve student learning outcomes and for networks interested in collectively supporting CoPs with ongoing rather than finite goals

Non-Profit Community Project

Meridian Valley Humane Society is a small non-profit canine rescue for all of Meridian. They are trying to solve the issue of finding abandoned, abused, or relocated dogs a forever, loving home. Meridian Valley Humane Society houses a maximum of 30 dogs at a time which enables a unique and loving experience for the dogs as the volunteers can spend more time training, loving, and caring for them. It receives no county, city, state, or federal funding of any kind and relies heavily on volunteers and donations. Because of this, the adoption rates are higher than other nonprofit organizations like Idaho Humane Society or Canyon County Animal Shelter. Meridian Valley Human Society wants to reflect the cost of their adoption rates with the cost of caring for and keeping the dogs healthy with spaying/neutering, vaccinating, and wellness exams. Our group chimed in to create an infographic for them to educate potential adopters

Surveillance of cancer among sexual and gender minority populations: Where are we and where do we need to go?

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153075/1/cncr32384_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153075/2/cncr32384.pd

Zwischen Serviceanspruch und Eigenverantwortung - ein Balanceakt in Zeiten Bolognas

Die TU Kaiserslautern nimmt die Neuorientierung der Hochschullandschaft im Zuge der Bolognareform zum Anlass, die unterschiedlichen Statusgruppen im Rahmen eines uniweiten Konzepts mit dem Titel "Studierende als Partner" verstärkt zur Zusammenarbeit bei der Bewältigung von Problem- und Entscheidungsprozessen zu motivieren. Welchen Beitrag dieses Konzept zur Schärfung der studentischen Perspektive sowie zur Entwicklung neuer Lösungswege zwischen Serviceanspruch und Eigenverantwortung leisten kann, soll im vorliegenden Beitrag unter Einbeziehung diverser Untersuchungserbnisse zum Thema "Zufriedenheit" und "Workload" dargelegt werden. 10.08.2011 | Claudia Gómez Tutor, Christine Hobelsberger & Christine Menzer (Kaiserslautern