Personal Assessments of Minimum Income and Expenses: What Do They Tell Us about 'Minimum Living' Thresholds and Equivalence Scales?

Subjective minimum income (MIQ) and minimum spending (MSQ) are the study focus. Basic Needs Module (1995) data from the U.S. Survey of Income and Program Participation are analyzed. A regression intersection approach is used to estimate household thresholds. MIQ thresholds are higher than MSQ thresholds. Both are higher than U.S. official poverty thresholds, and thresholds based on a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) methodology. Subjective threshold based equivalence scales imply greater economies of scale than those in the other two measures but are similar to behavioral scales. This finding suggests that families make trade-offs to meet their minimum needs.well-being, sufficiency, poverty, expenditures, SIPP

Developing a New Poverty Line for the USA: Are There Lessons for India?

This paper reviews a procedure that is being followed in the United States of America (USA) to experimentally test and evaluate recommendations made for redefining poverty measurement in that country. The recommendations were made in 1995 by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Panel on poverty measurement. In this paper these recommendations are reviewed and the impact of implementing the recommendations on measures of inequality and poverty are examined. In conclusion, a discussion concerning possible lessons for India is provided. The recommended poverty measure (based on new measures of thresholds and resources) is examined in terms of its impact on inequality statistics, as well as poverty statistics, and results are compared to similar statistics based on the official measure. The standard Gini index, and three generalized entropy inequality measures are used to examine inequality. For the poverty analysis simple head count ratios, poverty gaps, and Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty measures are computed. Data from the 1991 U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) Interview are used to produce the thresholds, and data from the 1992 through 1997 Current Population Survey (CPS), and in some analyzes, the 1991 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), are used to define resources. The proposed measure produces a distribution of resources that is, in general, more equal than is the distribution of official income. The poverty analysis reveals that changes in the poverty rates based on the official and the experimental measures are similar over time. However, poverty as measured by the NAS measure is greater than official poverty. The experimental poverty measure yields a poverty population that looks slightly more like the total U.S. population in terms of various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics than does the current official measure. Geographically adjusting the thresholds results in greater equality and lower poverty rates than when non-adjusted thresholds are used. With regard to India, poverty measurement is likely not to be based on income and expenditures primarily. Alternative measures based on other needs and resources are reviewed. However, regardless of the measure used, systematic evaluations of the measure are necessary and the USA model may be one to consider in this evaluation process.poverty, Consumer Expenditure Survey, India

Economic Well-Being Based on Income, Consumer Expenditures and Personal Assessments of Minimal Needs

Responses to minimum income and minimum spending questions are used to produce economic well-being thresholds. Thresholds are estimated using a regression framework.  Regression coefficients are based on U.S. Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data and then applied to U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) data. Three different resource measures are compared to the estimated thresholds.  The first resource measure is total before-tax money income, and the other two are expenditure based.  The first of these two refers to expenditure outlays and the second to outlays adjusted for the value of the service flow of owner-occupied housing (rental equivalence). The income comparison is based on SIPP data while the outlays comparisons are based on CE data. Results using official poverty thresholds are shown for comparison. This is among the earliest work in the U.S. in which expenditure outlays have been used for economic well-being determinations in combination with personal assessments, and the first time rental equivalence has been used in such an exercise. Comparisons of expenditures for various bundles of commodities are compared to the CE derived thresholds to provide insight concerning what might be considered minimum or basic. Results reveal that CE and SIPP MIQ thresholds are higher than MSQ thresholds, and resulting poverty rates are also higher with the MIQ.  CE-based MSQ thresholds are not statistically different from average expenditure outlays for food, apparel, and shelter and utilities for primary residences.  When reported rental equivalences for primary residences that are owner occupied are substituted for out-of-pocket shelter expenditures, single elderly are less likely to be as badly off as they would be with a strict outlays approach in defining resources.well-being, sufficiency, poverty, income, expenditures, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation

Dark Matter and Massive Neutrinos: Cosmological Probes of Physics Beyond the Standard Model

[eng] The overwhelming evidence for the existence of dark matter in the Universe, and the discovery of the neutrino masses, are striking indicators of the need for new physics beyond the ΛCDM and Standard Model paradigms. Dark matter (DM) constitutes 85 % of the matter in the Universe, but its fundamental nature remains a mystery. Moreover, the physical mechanism responsible for the neutrino masses is unknown. A complete theoretical framework – consistent with all observations – that incorporates a microscopic description of dark matter into the standard models of cosmology and particle physics, as well as an understanding of the origin and scale of the neutrino masses, is a key common goal. Cosmological observables are promising in this regard and can provide unique insights into the nature of these elusive particles. This thesis focuses on the synergy between cosmology and particle physics in answering these fundamental questions. To this end, I present examples of how upcoming measurements probing the high-redshift Universe can unveil new insights into the nature of dark matter and the complementarity between cosmological observations and terrestrial experiments in determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. The first part of the research presented in this thesis studies the signatures of non-gravitational DM interactions on cosmological observables. I compute the effects of DM decay and annihilation on the thermal and ionisation history of the Universe, and the imprint on the 21 cm line intensity mapping signal from the dark ages. I examine the potential to detect such a signature with forthcoming 21 cm line intensity mapping measurements, presenting forecasted constraints for both upcoming and next-generation experiments. Next, the effects of DM-baryon scattering in the post-recombination Universe are explored. In this work, I consider for the first time the direct contribution of such interactions on the baryon and dark matter temperature perturbations and the resulting evolution of cosmological density perturbations. In particular, I show that these contributions lead to a large enhancement of the baryon temperature power spectrum and a further suppression of matter clustering at small scales, which can alter both the amplitude and time evolution of the 21 cm signal from cosmic dawn and reionization. In the second part of this thesis, I look at the question of neutrino masses and the mass hierarchy from the lens of cosmology. Cosmological surveys provide the tightest constraints on the absolute mass scale of neutrinos, and are closing in on the minimum mass bound allowed under the inverted hierarchy. Using the latest results from global fits to neutrino oscillations experiments combined with cosmological constraints on the sum of the masses, I perform a Bayesian analysis to constrain the individual neutrino masses and evaluate the Bayesian Evidence for each of the neutrino mass orderings. The results show that current data provide strong Bayesian preference for the normal mass hierarchy, even under widely different prior assumptions, which has important implications for particle physics. Finally, I conclude the thesis with a summary of the key results and examine their relevance within the broader context of the field. Moreover, I discuss future prospects and potential avenues to follow up this work.[spa] Las pruebas irrefutables de la existencia de la materia oscura (DM) en el Universo, y el descubrimiento de las masas de neutrinos, son llamativos indicadores de la necesidad de una nueva física más allá de los paradigmas ΛCDM y del Modelo Estándar. Un marco teórico completo que incorpore una descripción microscópica de la materia oscura a los modelos estándar de cosmología y física de partículas, así como una comprensión del origen de las masas de neutrinos, es un objetivo común clave. Esta tesis se centra en la sinergia entre la cosmología y la física de partículas para responder a estas cuestiones fundamentales. La primera parte de la tesis estudia las firmas de las interacciones de la DM en los observables cosmológicos. Calculo los efectos de la desintegración y la aniquilación de DM en la historia térmica y de ionización del Universo, y la huella en la señal cosmológica de 21 cm de las Dark Ages. Examino el potencial para detectar dicha señal con las futuras observaciones de 21 cm y presento las limitaciones previstas para los experimentos próximos. A continuación, se exploran los efectos cosmológicos de la dispersión elástica entre el DM y los bariones. Considero la contribución de estas interacciones en las perturbaciones de temperatura de los bariones y de la DM y la evolución de las perturbaciones de densidad cosmológicas. Muestro que estas contribuciones puedne alterar tanto la amplitud como la evolución temporal de la señal de 21 cm de la época del Cosmic Dawn. En la segunda parte de la tesis, examino la cuestión de las masas de los neutrinos y la jerarquía de masas desde el punto de vista de la cosmología. Utilizando los últimos resultados de los experimentos de oscilaciones de neutrinos, combinados con las restricciones cosmológicas sobre la suma de las masas, realizo un análisis Bayesiano para inferir las masas de los neutrinos y evaluar la evidencia Bayesiana para cada uno de los ordenamientos de masas de neutrinos. Los resultados muestran que los datos actuales proporcionan una fuerte preferencia Bayesiana por la jerarquía de masas normal, incluso bajo probabilidades a priori muy diferentes, lo que tiene importantes implicaciones para la física de partículas

Spectral Type and Radial Velocity Variations in Three SRC Variables

SRC variables are M supergiants, precursors to Type II supernovae, that vary in brightness with moderately regular periods of order 100-1000 days. Although identified as pulsating stars that obey their own period-luminosity relation, few have been examined in enough detail to follow the temperature and spectral changes that they undergo during their long cycles. The present study examines such changes for several SRC variables revealed by CCD spectra obtained at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) during 2005-2009, as well as by archival spectra from the DAO (and elsewhere) for some stars from the 1960s to 1980s, and Cambridge radial velocity spectrometer measures for Betelgeuse. Described here is our classification procedure and information on the spectral type and radial velocity changes in three of the stars. The results provide insights into the pulsation mechanism in M supergiants.Comment: To appear in the Odessa Variable Stars 2010 conference proceedings (see http://uavso.org.ua/?page=vs2010), edited by I. Andronov and V. Kovtyuk

The role of the automation development group in analytical research and development at Dupont Merck

Laboratory robotics has been firmly established in many non-QC laboratories as a valuable tool for automating pharmaceutical dosage form analysis. Often a single project or product line is used to justify an initial robot purchase thus introducing robotics to the laboratory for the first time. However, to gain widespread acceptance within the laboratory and to justify further investment in robotics, existing robots must be used to develop analyses for existing manual methods as well as new projects beyond the scope off the original purchase justification. The Automation Development Group in Analytical Research and Development is a team of analysts primarily devoted to developing new methods and adapting existing methods for the robot. This team approach developed the expertise and synergy necessary to significantly expand the contribution of robotics to automation in the authors' laboratory

Consensus Guidelines for Perioperative Care in Neonatal Intestinal Surgery: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS\u3csup\u3e®\u3c/sup\u3e) Society Recommendations

Background: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) Society guidelines integrate evidence-based practices into multimodal care pathways that have improved outcomes in multiple adult surgical specialties. There are currently no pediatric ERAS® Society guidelines. We created an ERAS® guideline designed to enhance quality of care in neonatal intestinal resection surgery. Methods: A multidisciplinary guideline generation group defined the scope, population, and guideline topics. Systematic reviews were supplemented by targeted searching and expert identification to identify 3514 publications that were screened to develop and support recommendations. Final recommendations were determined through consensus and were assessed for evidence quality and recommendation strength. Parental input was attained throughout the process. Results: Final recommendations ranged from communication strategies to antibiotic use. Topics with poor-quality and conflicting evidence were eliminated. Several recommendations were combined. The quality of supporting evidence was variable. Seventeen final recommendations are included in the proposed guideline. Discussion: We have developed a comprehensive, evidence-based ERAS guideline for neonates undergoing intestinal resection surgery. This guideline, and its creation process, provides a foundation for future ERAS guideline development and can ultimately lead to improved perioperative care across a variety of pediatric surgical specialties

Moderators of Exercise Effects on Cancer-related Fatigue:A Meta-analysis of Individual Patient Data

PURPOSE: Fatigue is a common and potentially disabling symptom in patients with cancer. It can often be effectively reduced by exercise. Yet, effects of exercise interventions might differ across subgroups. We conducted a meta-analysis using individual patient data of randomized controlled trials (RCT) to investigate moderators of exercise intervention effects on cancer-related fatigue. METHODS: We used individual patient data from 31 exercise RCT worldwide, representing 4366 patients, of whom 3846 had complete fatigue data. We performed a one-step individual patient data meta-analysis, using linear mixed-effect models to analyze the effects of exercise interventions on fatigue (z score) and to identify demographic, clinical, intervention- and exercise-related moderators. Models were adjusted for baseline fatigue and included a random intercept on study level to account for clustering of patients within studies. We identified potential moderators by testing their interaction with group allocation, using a likelihood ratio test. RESULTS: Exercise interventions had statistically significant beneficial effects on fatigue (β = -0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.22 to -0.12). There was no evidence of moderation by demographic or clinical characteristics. Supervised exercise interventions had significantly larger effects on fatigue than unsupervised exercise interventions (βdifference = -0.18; 95% CI -0.28 to -0.08). Supervised interventions with a duration ≤12 wk showed larger effects on fatigue (β = -0.29; 95% CI, -0.39 to -0.20) than supervised interventions with a longer duration. CONCLUSIONS: In this individual patient data meta-analysis, we found statistically significant beneficial effects of exercise interventions on fatigue, irrespective of demographic and clinical characteristics. These findings support a role for exercise, preferably supervised exercise interventions, in clinical practice. Reasons for differential effects in duration require further exploration