Turning to Medicaid and SCHIP in an Economic Recession: Conversations With Recent Applicants and Enrollees

Based on focus group discussions, examines how the loss of jobs and employer-sponsored health insurance affects families. Explores the limitations of COBRA and private insurance and the role of Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs

To Hospitalize or Not to Hospitalize? Medical Care for Long-Term Care Facility Residents

Examines factors behind frequent hospitalizations of long-term care facility residents, such as limited capacity, physician preferences, and financial incentives. Suggestions include support and training, advanced care planning, and changes in thinking

In The Best Interest Of The (Adult) Child: Ideas About Kinship Care Of Older Adults

This article uses a qualitative, ethnographic approach to examine the experiences older adults and their kin, as the older adult engages in relocation. Studies looking at caregiving by kin for older adults highlight burdens for the adult child. This study offers a life course perspective on kinship care, analyzing older adults’ decisions’ to move. It was found that many older adults are strongly influenced by the desire to not be cared for by their kin as well as to select housing near their existing social network, which might exclude kin. In conclusion, policy implications are discussed

Infinite-Dimensional Symmetries of Two-Dimensional Coset Models

It has long been appreciated that the toroidal reduction of any gravity or supergravity to two dimensions gives rise to a scalar coset theory exhibiting an infinite-dimensional global symmetry. This symmetry is an extension of the finite-dimensional symmetry G in three dimensions, after performing a further circle reduction. There has not been universal agreement as to exactly what the extended symmetry algebra is, with different arguments seemingly concluding either that it is $\hat G$, the affine Kac-Moody extension of G, or else a subalgebra thereof. Exceptional in the literature for its explicit and transparent exposition is the extremely lucid discussion by Schwarz, which we take as our starting point for studying the simpler situation of two-dimensional flat-space sigma models, which nonetheless capture all the essential details. We arrive at the conclusion that the full symmetry is described by the Kac-Moody algebra G, although truncations to subalgebras, such as the one obtained by Schwarz, can be considered too. We then consider the explicit example of the SL(2,R)/O(2) coset, and relate Schwarz's approach to an earlier discussion that goes back to the work of Geroch.Comment: Typos corrected, some reorganisation; 36 page

Investigating the Electrochemical Behavior of Dihydropyrrolopyroles for Use as Anodically Coloring Electrochromes

Electrochromic materials have found widespread use in consumer electronics, energy saving windows, and military applications. They contain unique electronic properties allowing them to undergo a color change in a redox reaction. One classification of these molecules is known as anodically coloring electrochromes (ACEs). When in solution, these compounds are transmissive in the neutral (ground) state and absorb visible light upon oxidation, by the formation of a radical cation, thus making them colored. The focus of this study is the electronic transitions of this radical cation and how chemical modifications to the structures produce a variable color profile. To design prospective molecules that behave as ACEs, time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations were used to generate theoretical UV-vis absorbance spectra, where a preliminary understanding of structure, connectivity, and functionality is achieved. The goal here is to vary the low-energy absorption in the oxidized state while maintaining UV-absorption as a neutral molecule. Two molecules were synthesized, one containing an electron-donating group (PS-7) and the other containing an electron-withdrawing group (PS-11). The impact on altering chemical substituents was elucidated by UV-vis and NMR spectroscopies, and the experimental data compared with our calculations. Further experiments were done using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry, showing a relatively low onset of oxidation (0.7 V vs Ag/AgCl). This data shows an improvement to traditionally used electrochromes, resulting in a more defined absorbance across the visible spectrum, maximizing the performance of these materials

Rangewide ploidy variation and evolution in Acacia senegal: a north-south divide?

Knowledge of rangewide variation in DNA content and ploidy level may be valuable in understanding the evolutionary history of a species. Recent studies of Acacia senegal report diploids and occasional tetraploids in the Sudano-Sahelian region of sub-Saharan Africa, but nothing is known about the overall extent of DNA ploidy variation within the species. In this study, we determine the DNA content and ploidy level of A. senegal across its native range, and explore whether the variation is related to its evolutionary and colonization history. We used propidium iodide flow cytometry (FCM) to estimate DNA content (2C value) and infer ploidy in 157 individuals from 54 populations on various tissues, using seeds, fresh leaves, dried leaves and twigs and herbarium specimens. The mean 2C DNA (pg ± s.d.) contents detected were 1.47 ± 0.09, 2.12 ± 0.02, 2.89 ± 0.12, and a single individual with 4.51 pg, corresponding to a polyploid series of diploid, triploid, tetraploid and hexaploid individuals. Diploids were confirmed by chromosome counts (2n = 2x = 26). Most populations (90.7 %) were of single ploidy level, while mixed ploidy populations (9.3 %) comprising mostly diploids (2x+3x, 2x+4x and 2x+6x) were restricted to the Sudano-Sahelian and Indian subcontinent regions, its northern range. The species is predominantly diploid, and no mixed ploidy populations were detected in east and southern Africa, its southern range. The geographic pattern of ploidy variation in conjunction with existing phylogeographic and phylogenetic data of the species suggests that polyploids have occurred multiple times in its evolutionary and recent colonization history, including contemporary ecological timescales. The successful use of external tissues of dried twigs in FCM is new, and presents the opportunity to study numerous other dryland woody species