Adult Dental Medi-Cal Cuts: Costs & Consequences

Outlines the expected impact of the proposal to eliminate California's Medi-Cal dental benefits for adults not in nursing facilities, including loss of federal matching funds, reduced access to dental care, and effects on concomitant health conditions

The effects of bag style on muscle activity of the trapezius, erector spinae and latissimus dorsi during walking in female university students

© by The Author(s). This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)Back pain is common in adolescents which has been associated with carrying a bag. However, there is little research examining the effects of bag style in female adolescents. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of different bag conditions on muscle activity of the trapezius, erector spinae and latissimus dorsi muscles in female university students during walking. Twelve female university students walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes at 1.1 m/s during five conditions; control, 1 strapped rucksack, 2 strapped rucksack, ipsilateral shoulder strap and contralateral shoulder strap, each containing 10% bodyweight. Electromyography for the trapezius, erector spinae and latissimus dorsi was recorded for the last 30 s of each condition. Two-way ANOVA and paired t-tests were used to identify differences between right and left muscles and between bag conditions. Results showed that muscle activity of the left trapezius was significantly higher than the right trapezius during the 1 strap rucksack condition. For the left trapezius, the 2 strapped rucksack and the control condition had significantly lower muscle activity compared to the 1 strapped rucksack and the ipsilateral shoulder strap. For the left erector spinae muscle, there was significantly greater muscle activity when wearing the contralateral shoulder strap compared to the control. For the right erector spinae, significantly lower muscle activity was observed when wearing the 2 strapped rucksack compared to the ipsilateral shoulder strap and contralateral shoulder strap. There were no significant differences in muscle activity of the latissimus dorsi muscles between any of the bag conditions. These findings suggest that a two strapped rucksack should be used when carrying loads to reduce spinal muscle activity which may, in turn, reduce reports of back pain in female adolescentPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Experimental and Computational Investigations of Heat Transfer Systems in Fluoride Salt-cooled High-temperature Reactors

Fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors (FHRs) face a number of challenges similar to those faced by other Generation IV advanced reactor concepts. Predicting heat transfer in these systems accurately and reliably is one major challenge. Another is ensuring the safety of these systems during challenging operating conditions across the design basis envelope. Finally, achieving good economics to compete in a modern power generation portfolio is necessary for moving any nuclear power plant concept past the pre-conceptual stage. This dissertation attempts to support, from a thermal-hydraulics research standpoint, the case that the FHR can attain these goals. The dissertation focuses on several aspects of the design. The common thread through the different studies is ultimately rooted in improving plant safety and economics. This dissertation has four major contributions in support of the FHR: experimental investigation of a directional direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRACS) heat exchanger (DHX), experimental investigation of twisted versus plain tube heat transfer for molten salt heat exchangers, and two computational studies, one on DRACS reliability and one on heat exchanger optimization. The results for the four studies are presented and discussed. The directional DHX study was performed using a hydrodynamic experimental setup with water as a working fluid and heat transfer performance inferred. The experimental heat transfer work was performed using a simulant fluid, Dowtherm A, to match the important non-dimensional heat transfer parameters. The computational DRACS reliability study was performed using MATLAB and RELAP5-3D, and the computational heat exchanger optimization study was performed using Python and available metaheuristic algorithms. The implications of the various studies are tied together in the conclusions section, with suggestions for future work

The Use of Gesture During Truthful and Fabricated Accounts of a Self-Experience

The goal of this research was to identify nonverbal behaviors (eg, gesture use) that may be correlated with recounted (truthful) and invented accounts (lying) of a self-experience. Deception theories suggest that as cognitive load increases our behavior is impacted (DePaulo et al., 2003; Zuckerman, DePaulo, & Rosenthal, 1981). Current research on recounted and invented accounts have primarily relied on Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA) (eg, Vrij & Mann, 2006) to examine verbal responses. To date there is little research investigating the role of nonverbal communication during recounted and invented accounts. We randomly assigned 40 participants to a truth telling or lying condition. In the truth telling condition participants were asked to complete a sorting and stacking task, similar to a common child’s game. In the deception condition participants were merely giving instructions for completing the task and instructed to not actually perform the task. Regardless of the condition, all participants were instructed to convince our interviewer that they did in fact perform the task. We hypothesized that liars would use fewer gestures than truth tellers and that liars would also use gestures that were smaller in size. Data will be analyzed using independent t-tests. This research has implications for false confessions

A General Event Location Algorithm with Applications to Eclispe and Station Line-of-Sight

A general-purpose algorithm for the detection and location of orbital events is developed. The proposed algorithm reduces the problem to a global root-finding problem by mapping events of interest (such as eclipses, station access events, etc.) to continuous, differentiable event functions. A stepping algorithm and a bracketing algorithm are used to detect and locate the roots. Examples of event functions and the stepping/bracketing algorithms are discussed, along with results indicating performance and accuracy in comparison to commercial tools across a variety of trajectories

Tyrosine 263 in Cyanobacterial Phytochrome Cph1 Optimizes Photochemistry at the prelumi-R→lumi-R Step

We report a low-temperature fluorescence spectroscopy study of the PAS-GAF-PHY sensory module of Cph1 phytochrome, its Y263F mutant (both with known 3D structures) as well as Y263H and Y263S to connect their photochemical parameters with intramolecular interactions. None of the holoproteins showed photochemical activity at low temperature, and the activation barriers for the Pr→lumi-R photoreaction (2.5-3.1 kJ mol(-1)) and fluorescence quantum yields (0.29-0.42) were similar. The effect of the mutations on Pr→Pfr photoconversion efficiency (ΦPr→Pfr) was observed primarily at the prelumi-R S0 bifurcation point corresponding to the conical intersection of the energy surfaces at which the molecule relaxes to form lumi-R or Pr, lowering ΦPr→Pfr from 0.13 in the wild type to 0.05-0.07 in the mutants. We suggest that the Ea activation barrier in the Pr* S1 excited state might correspond to the D-ring (C19) carbonyl - H290 hydrogen bond or possibly to the hindrance caused by the C13(1) /C17(1) methyl groups of the C and D rings. The critical role of the tyrosine hydroxyl group can be at the prelumi-R bifurcation point to optimize the yield of the photoprocess and energy storage in the form of lumi-R for subsequent rearrangement processes culminating in Pfr formation

Film Exhibition at Indian Residential School, 1930-1969

This dissertation examines the pedagogical imperatives informing film exhibition within the Indian Residential School System in Canada between the years 1930-1969, and argues the medium was specifically employed to facilitate the system’s culturally genocidal ideology and curriculum. Archival in methodology, I utilize a range of administrative documents from the Canadian government and varying religious organizations to write the history of film exhibition at residential schools. I situate this research in concert with postcolonial theory, suggesting the films exhibited intended to reimagine Indigenous identity in ways beneficial to the colonial powers dictating Canadian culture and privilege, and then to transfer this identity to the students through educational positioning of film. My introductory chapter outlines a brief history of the Indian Residential School System, and situates my study in conversation with scholarship on educational and colonial uses of cinema. Chapter One illustrates how film was incorporated into the residential schools, beginning in 1930 with the earliest reference to the medium’s use, and extending to the late 1960s, in which rental receipts from schools in Ontario and Quebec suggest film’s later prevalence throughout the system. Chapter Two examines the themes and patterns of the films exhibited, focusing on the frequency with which Hollywood Westerns, and films depicting indigeneity around the world, were screened. Chapter Three employs archival materials to demonstrate the interrelationship between the National Film Board of Canada and residential schools. I show that the Film Board’s “rural circuit” method of distribution had contact with the schools, and that its films were positioned to educate the students regarding the distinctly Canadian identity of the system intended they adopt. Chapter Four concludes this dissertation by aligning film with a public relations campaign undertaken by the residential school system, Churches, and Indian Affairs. This campaign was meant to mislead Canadians, and thereby maintain, public support for the culturally genocidal institutions in their midst. Film and moving images, as I demonstrate throughout the entirety of this work, engaged a complex and multifaceted interaction with the residential school system, its assimilative efforts, and culturally genocidal ideology

Did Common Disjunct Populations of Freshwater Fishes in Northern Australia form from the Same Biogeographic Events?

Several freshwater fishes have disjunct (geographically discrete and widely spaced) distributions across northern Australia. We used mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) data and phylogeographic analyses to examine the origin of these common disjunct distributions and to test the hypothesis that they were a result of a single biogeographic event. These disjunct distributions are not perfectly shared among species, but we selected 3 species that have wide ranges with the most similar disjunct geographic overlap: Spotted Blue Eye (Pseudomugil gertrudae), Pennyfish (Denariusa australis), and MacCulloch's Rainbow Fish (Melanotaenia maccullochi). Despite similarity in their present-day disjunct distributions, spatial genetic patterns varied considerably among the 3 species in terms of measures of molecular diversity, number of mtDNA lineages within each species, inter-and intra-regional spatial distribution of individual lineages within species, and degree of partitioning of genetic variation among regions. Pseudomugil gertrudae and D. australis each contained 1 to 2 divergent lineages at particular sites in 1 of the regions (Top End), but both species also contained lineages in this region that were more closely related to conspecific populations in other regions. Two regional populations (Top End and Northern Cape York Peninsula) of M. maccullochi consisted exclusively of highly divergent lineages that probably reflect cryptic species. When the divergent lineages within each species were excluded from temporal analyses, a single vicariant event among regions could not be rejected. Our results indicate that several regional populations are long-term relicts for M. maccullochi and that several sites within Top End are associated with localized long-term refugia for P. gertrudae and D. australis. A single biogeographic event in the mid-to late-Pleistocene may have created broadscale separation of most populations of these species.Full Tex