Going the Distance: Field Approaches to Researching the Rural – A Research Note

Studies of crime in rural settings have expanded in recent years. Seldom discussed are the challenges associated with conducting rural field research. This research note describes the methodological approaches utilized in a multi-year study of rural law enforcement across Oklahoma and a nearby state in the United States. Research aims and methodology evolved over time in line with the flexibility inherent within ethnographic approaches. Interviews and field visits were conducted with 39 individuals from 2017 to 2019 for the purpose of understanding rural communities, crime and policing. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews, field visits, ride-alongs, observations and photographs. Owing to the nature of the subject matter, researchers had to maintain flexibility throughout the research process. This research note discusses the range of approaches utilized to gather data, obstacles encountered and insights discovered through the process

Socioeconomic variations in women\u27s diets : what is the role of perceptions of the local food environment

Objectives : To test the contribution of perceived environmental factors (food availability, accessibility and affordability) to mediating socioeconomic variations in women&rsquo;s fruit, vegetable and fast food consumption. Methods : A community sample of 1580 women from 45 neighbourhoods provided survey data on their socioeconomic position (SEP) (education and income); diet (fruit, vegetable and fast food consumption); and the perceived availability of, access to and cost of healthy food in their local area. Results : Once perceived environmental variables were considered, the associations between SEP and diet were weak and non-significant, suggesting that socioeconomic differences in diet were almost wholly explained by perceptions of food availability, accessibility and affordability. Conclusions : Strategies to decrease socioeconomic inequalities in diet could involve promoting inexpensive ways to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, and ensuring that people of low SEP are aware that many healthy foods are available at relatively low cost. Future research should also confirm if perceptions match objective measures of food availability, accessibility and affordability, in order to address the real and/or perceived lack of healthy options in low SEP neighbourhoods.<br /

Earth resources evaluation for New Mexico by LANDSAT-2

The author has identified the following significant results. The Middle Rio Grande project has not yet progressed to the point where mineral exploration sites can be chosen; however, there does appear to be some correlation between the known structure and mineral deposits and the LANDSAT lineament map. A circular feature identified in the southern Magdalena Mountains on LANDSAT-1 imagery agrees well with the location of a newly proposed caldron complex. Several recognized and unrecognized circular features were identified on imagery of the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field. A check of aeromagnetic maps for New Mexico found that the circular features on the LANDSAT imagery showed up as areas of generally high magnetic intensity

Instrumental oscillations in RHESSI count rates during solar flares

Aims: We seek to illustrate the analysis problems posed by RHESSI spacecraft motion by studying persistent instrumental oscillations found in the lightcurves measured by RHESSI's X-ray detectors in the 6-12 keV and 12-25 keV energy range during the decay phase of the flares of 2004 November 4 and 6. Methods: The various motions of the RHESSI spacecraft which may contribute to the manifestation of oscillations are studied. The response of each detector in turn is also investigated. Results: We find that on 2004 November 6 the observed oscillations correspond to the nutation period of the RHESSI instrument. These oscillations are also of greatest amplitude for detector 5, while in the lightcurves of many other detectors the oscillations are small or undetectable. We also find that the variation in detector pointing is much larger during this flare than the counterexample of 2004 November 4. Conclusions: Sufficiently large nutation motions of the RHESSI spacecraft lead to clearly observable oscillations in count rates, posing a significant hazard for data analysis. This issue is particularly problematic for detector 5 due to its design characteristics. Dynamic correction of the RHESSI counts, accounting for the livetime, data gaps, and the transmission of the bi-grid collimator of each detector, is required to overcome this issue. These corrections should be applied to all future oscillation studies.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Predictors of health-related quality of life in korean patients with myocardial infarction: a longitudinal observational study

© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Background: Experience of myocardial infarction (MI) negatively affects different aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Objectives: This study aimed to examine trends in HRQoL of MI patients and to identify demographic, clinical and psychosocial predictors of HRQoL at three months. Methods: A total of 150 patients in South Korea were completed the study questionnaires at baseline. After three months from discharge, 136 participants completed follow-up questionnaires, including the Korean version of the MacNew Quality of Life after Myocardial Infarction Questionnaire (MacNew). Results: HRQoL significantly improved over three months. Younger age, ST-elevation MI, and higher LVEF, lower level of depression, better understanding of the illness and higher perceived social support at baseline were associated with better HRQoL at three months. Conclusion: Providing adequate information about the illness and social support as well as reducing negative psychological experiences in early days after MI may improve HRQoL of MI patients

Correlates of health-related quality of life in patients with myocardial infarction: A literature review

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Background By the increasing emphasis on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), it is necessary to explore factors that affect HRQoL in this population. Objectives This study aimed to identify correlates of HRQoL in patients with MI. Design A literature review of the factors that affect HRQoL in patients with MI (1995–2016). Data sources Three main databases—CINAHL, MEDLINE and PsychINFO—were searched to retrieve relevant peer-reviewed articles published in English. Review methods In consultation with a medical librarian, we identified relevant MeSH terms and used them for searching the literature: health-related quality of life/quality of life/HRQoL/QoL, myocardial infarction/heart attack/MI and predict*/factor. Data elements were extracted and narratively described variables synthesised into four categories. Results A total of 48 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Correlates of HRQoL in patients with MI were identified in the following categories: demographic, behavioural, disease-related, and psychosocial factors. Specific correlates included age and gender-identity for demographic factors; physical activity and smoking for behavioural factors; severity of MI, symptoms, and comorbidities for disease-related factors; anxiety and depression for psychosocial factors. Conclusions Identifying correlates of HRQoL can help identify patients who are at risk for poor HRQoL in the recovery or rehabilitation stage of post-MI. Future intervention should focus on adjustable correlates such as behavioural and psychosocial factors to promote HRQoL among patients after experiencing MI

Detection and Interpretation Of Long-Lived X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in the X-Class Solar Flare On 2013 May 14

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) seen in the time derivative of the GOES soft X-ray light curves are analyzed for the near-limb X3.2 event on 14 May 2013. The pulsations are apparent for a total of at least two hours from the impulsive phase to well into the decay phase, with a total of 163 distinct pulses evident to the naked eye. A wavelet analysis shows that the characteristic time scale of these pulsations increases systematically from $\sim$25 s at 01:10 UT, the time of the GOES peak, to $\sim$100 s at 02:00 UT. A second ridge in the wavelet power spectrum, most likely associated with flaring emission from a different active region, shows an increase from $\sim$40 s at 01:40 UT to $\sim$100 s at 03:10 UT. We assume that the QPP that produced the first ridge result from vertical kink-mode oscillations of the newly formed loops following magnetic reconnection in the coronal current sheet. This allows us to estimate the magnetic field strength as a function of altitude given the density, loop length, and QPP time scale as functions of time determined from the GOES light curves and RHESSI images. The calculated magnetic field strength of the newly formed loops ranges from about $\sim$500 G at an altitude of 24 Mm to a low value of $\sim$10 G at 60 Mm, in general agreement with the expected values at these altitudes. Fast sausage mode oscillations are also discussed and cannot be ruled out as an alternate mechanism for producing the QPP

Geologic analysis of ERTS-1 imagery for the State of New Mexico

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Implantable device monitoring versus usual care for managing individuals with heart failure

© 2019 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effects of using implantable device monitoring as an additional management tool for individuals with heart failure, compared with usual care alone

The medical elective: A unique educational opportunity

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