A new affordability indicator for rural Alaskan water utilities

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) administers funding for the construction of new water utilities in rural parts of the state. Funding allocation is partially based on whether the recipient community can cover the annual operation, maintenance, repair, equipment and capital replacement costs of the utility. Currently, the DEC deems a project affordable if the annual costs account for 5% or less of the community's median household income (MHI). In rural Alaska MHI is an inaccurate affordability indicator. This is partially because MHI fails to reflect the cost burden experienced by below median income households, it is a static snapshot of income, it does not account for living costs, nor does it account for the demographic composition of a community or the distribution of income. An alternative indicator was developed. The new indicator is composed of a Residential Indicator (RI) and a Financial Capability Index (FCI). RI is obtained by dividing the community's annual user fee by each income quintile value. FCI is composed of socioeconomic indicators chosen for their ability to detail the situation in rural Alaska. The FCI value is obtained by calculating the average of score assigned to the indicators based on pre-established thresholds. The new indicator was found to be more accurate than the MHI indicator. The new indicator was retroactively applied to Akiachak and found to more accurately assess affordability. The new indicator was also used to assess the current situation in communities with water utilities. The MHI indicator was found to have underestimated the price burden of user fees in numerous communities, and to have overestimated the burden in one community

Mobile Device Use Among Rural, Low-Income Families and the Feasibility of an App to Encourage Preschoolers' Physical Activity: Qualitative Study.

BackgroundAs mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous, technology-based interventions provide a promising strategy to positively influence health behaviors of families with young children. However, questions remain about the feasibility and acceptability of intervention delivery via mobile apps in low-income, rural settings and among families with preschoolers.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to understand the content and context of mobile device use for preschoolers; explore parent beliefs on this topic, including the acceptability of intervention delivery via mobile devices; and test a prototype of an app to encourage preschoolers' physical activity with both parents and children.MethodsParents (n=29) were recruited from 5 preschool centers in eastern, rural Colorado to complete a semistructured telephone interview regarding preschoolers' mobile device use. A second sample of parents (n=31) was recruited from the same preschool centers to view the app prototype independently and provide feedback. A third sample of preschool children (n=24) was videotaped using the app in small groups to measure engagement and record their responses to the app.ResultsFive key content areas emerged from the telephone interviews: (1) mobile devices are an important part of families' everyday routines, and parents have parameters governing their use; (2) parents often use mobile devices as a tool for behavior management; (3) parents clearly distinguish between mobile device use for learning versus entertainment; (4) parents have an overarching desire for balance in regard to their child's mobile device use; and (5) parents were generally supportive of the idea of using mobile apps for intervention delivery. From the app prototype testing with parents, participants reacted positively to the app and felt that it would be useful in a variety of situations. Testing with preschoolers showed the children were highly engaged with the app and a majority remained standing and/or actively moving through the entire length of the app.ConclusionsMobile devices are already integrated into most families' daily routines and appear to be an acceptable method of intervention delivery in low-income families in rural Colorado. The physical activity app represents an innovative way to reach these families and, with further improvements based on participant feedback, will provide children with a unique opportunity to practice key movement skills

Twitter Chats as a Research Tool: A Study of Young Adult Financial Decisions

Many researchers collect online survey data because it is cost-effective and less time-consuming than traditional research methods. This paper describes Twitter chats as a research tool vis-à-vis two other online research methods: providing links to electronic surveys to respondents and use of commercially available survey panels through vendors with readily available respondents. Similar to a face-to-face focus group, Twitter chats provide a synchronous environment for participants to answer a structured series of questions and to respond to both the chat facilitator and each other. This paper also reports representative responses from a Twitter chat that explored financial decisions of young adults. The chat was sponsored by a multi-state group of land-grant university researchers, in cooperation with WiseBread, a personal finance website targeted to millennials, to recruit respondents for a more extensive month-long online survey about the financial decisions of young adults. The Twitter chat responses suggest that student loans were the top concern of participants, and debt and housing rounded out the top three concerns. The internet, both websites and social media, was the most frequently cited source of financial information. The article concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from the Twitter chat experience and suggestions for professional practice

Posterior Cingulate and Lateral Parietal Gray Matter Volume in Older Adults with Depressive Symptoms

Depressive symptoms occurring late in life are an important risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The latest research finds that onset of depressive symptoms in late life may herald the development of AD, not only for amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) patients, but also for cognitively-normal older adults. Neuroimaging of brain structure, blood flow, and glucose metabolism indicates that depressive symptoms in late life are accompanied by structural and functional changes in limbic brain regions vulnerable to AD. The present cross-sectional study was guided by the hypothesis that compared to their non-depressed counterparts, older adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms have less volume in limbic structures vulnerable to changes in AD—specifically, cortical midline structures such as anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate cortex as well as mesial temporal regions such as bilateral hippocampi and amygdalae. Consistent with our hypothesis, results of a voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed smaller retrosplenial, posterior cingulate, and precuneus gray matter volumes in depressed individuals relative to healthy controls. Right lateral parietal cortex—another region vulnerable to change in AD—was also smaller in the group with depressive symptoms. Contrary to our hypothesis, no volumetric differences were found in the anterior cingulate cortex or mesial temporal lobe. Results of this study show a relationship between geriatric depressive symptoms and brain volume in regions vulnerable to AD. Follow-up of participants over time will tell if brain changes detected here predict development of AD

Human-in-the-Loop Operations over Time Delay: NASA Analog Missions Lessons Learned

Teams at NASA have conducted studies of time-delayed communications as it effects human exploration. In October 2012, the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Analog Missions project conducted a Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) with the primary stakeholders to share information and experiences of studying time delay, to build a coherent picture of how studies are covering the problem domain, and to determine possible forward plans (including how to best communicate study results and lessons learned, how to inform future studies and mission plans, and how to drive potential development efforts). This initial meeting s participants included personnel from multiple NASA centers (HQ, JSC, KSC, ARC, and JPL), academia, and ESA. It included all of the known studies, analog missions, and tests of time delayed communications dating back to the Apollo missions including NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS/RATS), International Space Station Test-bed for Analog Research (ISTAR), Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP), Mars 520, JPL Mars Orbiters/Rovers, Advanced Mission Operations (AMO), Devon Island analog missions, and Apollo experiences. Additionally, the meeting attempted to capture all of the various functional perspectives via presentations by disciplines including mission operations (flight director and mission planning), communications, crew, Capcom, Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA), Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP), Medical/Surgeon, Science, Education and Public Outreach (EPO), and data management. The paper summarizes the descriptions and results from each of the activities discussed at the TIM and includes several recommendations captured in the meeting for dealing with time delay in human exploration along with recommendations for future development and studies to address this issue

Longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging and neuropsychological correlates in traumatic brain injury patients

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often involves focal cortical injury and white matter (WM) damage that can be measured shortly after injury. Additionally, slowly evolving WM change can be observed but there is a paucity of research on the duration and spatial pattern of long-term changes several years post-injury. The current study utilized diffusion tensor imaging to identify regional WM changes in 12 TBI patients and nine healthy controls at three time points over a four year period. Neuropsychological testing was also administered to each participant at each time point. Results indicate that TBI patients exhibit longitudinal changes to WM indexed by reductions in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the corpus callosum, as well as FA increases in bilateral regions of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and portions of the optic radiation (OR). FA changes appear to be driven by changes in radial (not axial) diffusivity, suggesting that observed longitudinal FA changes may be related to changes in myelin rather than to axons. Neuropsychological correlations indicate that regional FA values in the corpus callosum and sagittal stratum (SS) correlate with performance on finger tapping and visuomotor speed tasks (respectively) in TBI patients, and that longitudinal increases in FA in the SS, SLF, and OR correlate with improved performance on the visuomotor speed (SS) task as well as a derived measure of cognitive control (SLF, OR). The results of this study showing progressive WM deterioration for several years post-injury contribute to a growing literature supporting the hypothesis that TBI should be viewed not as an isolated incident but as a prolonged disease state. The observations of long-term neurological and functional improvement provide evidence that some ameliorative change may be occurring concurrently with progressive degeneration

Applying the Transtheoretical Model of Change to Consumer Debt Behavior

The Transtheoretical Model of Change (TMM) provided the framework for developing a measure to assess readiness to get out of credit card debt with consumers who are having credit card debt troubles. Key constructs of TTM include stages of change, decisional balance, self-efficacy, and processes of change. The items for the measure were developed by qualitative interviews with experts in credit counseling and consumers with debt troubles. A survey was then completed with a reliability and validity of the measure. The results have potential for use by counseling practitioners, educators and researchers