Service Delivery in Rural Municipalities: Privatize, Cooperate, or Go It Alone?

Choices in production and contracting arrangements for a wide range of services were studied using data from approximately 1,000 small, mostly rural municipalities from Illinois, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. Results suggest the use of both for-profit contractors and cooperative agreements with other governments correlate negatively with population. Small municipalities are less likely to use competitive bidding processes, compare costs between production options, or report that privatization produces savings. Median income, rural geography, and ideology show statistically-significant associations with contracting choices. Respondents generally consider themselves ―satisfied‖ with services provided by contract, although satisfaction levels are lower than those associated with self-provision. Satisfaction associated with services provided by other governments is lower than satisfaction with services provided by private contractors, suggesting no tradeoff in service quality directly attributable to ―for-profit‖ contractors.privatization, municipal services, cooperation, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Public Economics,

BUCLAP2: A computer program for instability analysis of laminated long plates subjected to combined inplane loads. User's manual

The usage of the computer program BUCLAP2 is described. The program is intended for linear instability analysis of long, rectangular flat and curved laminated plates with arbitrary orientation of orthotropic axes in each layer. The loadings considered are combinations of inplane normal and shear loads. Arbitray elastic boundary conditions are included for the sides of the plate Instructions for use of the program are included along with Input data requirements, output information, and sample problems. For program description, see

Analysis of the Apollo heat shield performance. Volume 2 - CHAD computer program

CHAD computer program for Apollo heat shield ablation performance analysi

Analysis of the Apollo heat shield performance. Volume 1 - Analytical methods

Analysis of Apollo heat shield using mathematical model

Sleep, Anxiety, and Academic Performance: A Study of Adolescents From Public High Schools in China

PURPOSE: Sleep is essential for optimal learning across the developmental pathways. This study aimed to (1) explore whether school start and end times and screen time influenced sleep disturbances in adolescents during the lockdown in China and (2) investigate if sleep disturbances at night and sleep-related impairment (daytime fatigue) influenced adolescents' academic performance and anxiety levels. METHODS: Ninety-nine adolescents aged 15–17 years old were recruited from two public schools in Baishan City Jilin Province, China. An online questionnaire was distributed including questions on adolescents' demographics, screen time habits, academic performance, anxiety level, sleep disturbances, and sleep-related impairment. RESULTS: Adolescents who started school earlier and ended school later had a greater severity of sleep disturbances and sleep-related impairment compared with students who started school later and finished earlier. Adolescents who engaged in screen time at bedtime were more likely to have a greater severity of sleep-related impairment than students who reported no screen time use at bedtime. Adolescents who had a greater severity of sleep disturbances had higher anxiety and higher academic achievements than adolescents with less sleep disturbances. Finally, 79.7% of adolescents reported their total sleep duration as <8 h. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents are experiencing sleep disturbances to manage academic demands during COVID-19, which in turn is having a wider impact on their mental health. Many schools internationally have continued to provide online education to students, longitudinal studies on how COVID-19 has influenced adolescents sleep and mental health would be beneficial in understanding the impact of the pandemic

The Impact of COVID-19 on Sleep in Autistic Adults: Longitudinal Comparisons pre and During Lockdown

Background: The longer-term impact of the pandemic on autistic adults' sleep are yet to be revealed, with studies concentrating on sleep in autistic children or mental health outcomes and coping strategies of autistic adults. Given the prevalence of sleep problems experienced by autistic adults and the changes in routine that have occurred as a result of COVID-19 societal restrictions, this study assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep problems via a longitudinal subjective assessment method. Methods: Sleep data were gathered at three time points from 95 autistic adults, namely prior to the pandemic, at the start of COVID-19 and several months into COVID-19 to obtain a rich longitudinal dataset ascertaining how/if sleep patterns have changed in autistic adults over these several months. Results: In comparison to pre-lockdown, several sleep components were shown to improve during the lockdown. These improvements included reduced sleep latency (time taken to fall asleep), longer sleep duration, improved sleep efficiency, improved sleep quality, as well as improved daytime functioning. Pre-sleep cognitive arousal scores were found to decrease compared to pre-lockdown, meaning cognitive arousal improved. Approximately 65% of participants reported that they felt their sleep had been impacted since COVID-19 since Time 1, with the most common reasons reported as waking up exhausted (36.92%), not being able to get to sleep (33.85%), waking up in the night (29.23%), having a disrupted sleep pattern (27.69%), and nightmares (18.46%). Conclusions: Improvements in sleep may be related to societal changes (e.g., working from home) during the pandemic. Some of these changes are arguably beneficial for autistic adults in creating a more autism-inclusive society, for example telehealth opportunities for care. Further exploration of the associations between mental health and sleep are warranted

A systematic review on cross-cultural comparative studies of sleep in young populations: The roles of cultural factors

Recent studies have shown that sleep is influenced and shaped by cultural factors, including cultural values, beliefs and practices. However, a systematic understanding of how cultural factors in countries may influence sleep duration and sleep disturbances is still lacking. Therefore, we focused on a comparison of sleep duration and disturbances in young populations between countries. We report cross-cultural differences between the child, parent and environmental factors, and their association with sleep duration and disturbances. The review is based on literature searches of seven databases published until December 2020. Studies were included if they investigated sleep duration and disturbances of individuals up to 18 years across at least two or more countries. The results of this review have shown that sleep duration and disturbances vary between countries and regions and certain factors (e.g., bedtime routines, sleeping arrangement, physical activity and psychological functioning) have been associated with sleep duration or disturbances. This review also demonstrates that certain factors which were associated with sleep duration or disturbances in one country, were not shown in other countries, suggesting a need for recommendations for age-related sleep duration and sleep interventions to consider cultural differences that influence sleep duration or disturbances in individual countries or regions

Good Sleep Quality Improves the Relationship Between Pain and Depression Among Individuals With Chronic Pain

Individuals with chronic pain often experience co-existing sleep problems and depression-related states. Chronic pain, sleep problems, and depression interrelate, and have been shown to exacerbate one another, which negatively impacts quality of life. This study explored the relationships between pain severity, pain interference, sleep quality, and depression among individuals with chronic pain. Secondly, we tested whether sleep quality may moderate the relationship between pain and depression. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1,059 adults with non-malignant chronic pain conditions (Mage 43 years, 88% identified as women) and collected measures related to pain severity, pain interference, sleep quality and depression. Multiple regression analyses found that pain severity, pain interference and sleep quality are all significantly associated with depression. Secondly, moderated regression analyses revealed that sleep quality moderates the relationship between pain interference and depression among individuals with chronic pain such that good sleep quality attenuates the effect of pain interference on depression, and poor sleep quality amplifies the effect of pain interference on depression. These findings suggest that sleep quality may be a relevant therapeutic target for individuals with chronic pain and co-existing depression