5,726 research outputs found
Behind at the Starting Line: Poverty Among Hispanic Infants
In this brief, authors Daniel Lichter, Scott Sanders, and Kenneth Johnson examine the economic circumstances of Hispanic infants using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey annual microdata files from 2006 through 2010. They report that a disproportionate share of Hispanic infants start life’s race behind the starting line, poor and disadvantaged—an important finding because the proportion of all U.S. births that are Hispanic is growing rapidly. The poverty risk is especially high among rural Hispanic infants and those in new destinations. Despite higher poverty risks, Hispanic infants receive less governmental assistance. High Hispanic infant poverty has immediate and long-term consequences for infants and the nation. Failing to invest in families and children now has long-term consequences because early childhood poverty tends to set into motion a series of lifecycle disadvantages (such as insufficient parenting, bad neighborhoods, underfunded schools, and poor health care) that greatly increases the likelihood of poverty in adulthood. The authors conclude that whether today’s Hispanic children will assimilate into America’s economic mainstream is an open question, but the Hispanic infants who will help reshape America’s future require public policy attention now
Tests of Ocean-Tide Models by Analysis of Satellite-To-Satellite Range Measurements: An Update
Seven years of GRACE intersatellite range-rate measurements are used to test the new ocean tide model FES2014 and to compare against similar results obtained with earlier models. These qualitative assessments show that FES2014 represents a marked improvement in accuracy over its earlier incarnation, FES2012, with especially notable improvements in the Arctic Ocean for constituents K(sub 1) and S(sub 2). Degradation appears to have occurred in two anomalous regions: the Ross Sea for the O(sub 1) constituent and the Weddell Sea for M(sub 2)
Is There a Doctor in the House? Medical Ethics and the Doctoral Honorific
The proliferation of professional doctorates has reinvigorated debate over the use of the doctoral honorific. Doctorate holders are often addressed as “doctor” in academic contexts, but idiomatic American English associates “doctor” with physicians—licensed clinicians with doctoral degrees in medicine. The possibility of patient confusion has historically justified proscription of the doctoral honorific by others, including nurses, but recently such proscriptions have been withdrawn. An examination of history, language, and ethical reasoning leads us to conclude that, in the context of patient interaction, clinicians should eschew the doctoral honorific entirely. We think it appropriate for professionals to rely on training-pathway titles as part of their professional duty to inform. In particular, we argue that licensed clinicians with doctoral degrees in medicine should embrace the title of “physician.
A practice-led approach to facial animation research
In facial expression research, it is well established that certain emotional expressions are universally recognized. Studies into the observer perception of dynamic expressions have built upon this research by highlighting the importance of particular facial regions, timings, and temporal configurations to perception and interpretation. In many studies, the stimuli for such studies have been generated through posing by non-experts or performances by trained actors. However, skilled character animators are capable of crafting recognizable, believable emotional facial expressions as a part of their professional practice. ‘Emotional Avatars’ was conceived as an interdisciplinary research project which would draw upon the knowledge of animation practice and emotional psychology. The aim of the project was to jointly investigate the artistic generation and observer perception of emotional expression animation to determine whether the nuances of emotional facial expression could be artistically choreographed to enhance audience interpretation
Effects of Ponderosa Pine Ecological Restoration on Forest Soils and Understory Vegetation in Northern Arizona
The human exclusion of wildfire and overgrazing by livestock since settlement have caused dramatic changes in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl ex Laws) forest ecosystems. These changes include increased numbers of tree stems, reduced understory cover and diversity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native understory species. This study evaluated the coverage and species composition of understory vegetation present in the “cool-season” (late spring and early summer) in a ponderosa pine forest on grazed and ungrazed plots that had undergone restoration treatments on three different soil/geologic parent material types near Flagstaff, Arizona, twelve years after tree thinning and grazing exclosure treatments were applied. Several measured soil properties, such as soil respiration and temperature, were also evaluated in this study. Species richness of “cool-season” vegetation was influenced more by grazing practices than restoration treatments. Differences could be less or greater when vegetation that is active later in the season is measured. Vegetative cover was significantly influenced by restoration treatments (9.3% cover under open canopies and 6.5% under dense canopies), probably due to differences in competition for light and other resources (i.e. soil moisture and nutrients). Unlike finding by Abella et al. (2015), who studied “warm-season” vegetation, “cool-season” understory cover was not influenced by soil parent material type in this study, which might suggest that differences in understory cover due to soil properties are only seen shortly after restoration treatments are applied, or the time of year vegetation is evaluated may play a role in the differences seen. Soil respiration was highest on limestone soil parent material type (3.3 g C-CO2 m-2 day-1), and soil temperature was lowest under closed canopy treatments (15°C)
An Overview of the NASA FAP Hypersonics Project Airbreathing Propulsion Research
The propulsion research portfolio of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Fundamental Aeronautics Program Hypersonics Project encompasses a significant number of technical tasks that are aligned to achieve mastery and intellectual stewardship of the core competencies in the hypersonic-flight regime. An overall coordinated programmatic and technical effort has been structured to advance the state-of-the-art, via both experimental and analytical efforts. A subset of the entire hypersonics propulsion research portfolio is presented in this overview paper. To this end, two programmatic research disciplines are discussed; namely, (1) the Propulsion Discipline, including three associated research elements: the X-51A partnership, the HIFiRE-2 partnership, and the Durable Combustor Rig, and (2) the Turbine-Based Combine Cycle Discipline, including three associated research elements: the Combined Cycle Engine Large Scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment, the small-scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment, and the High-Mach Fan Rig
A Randomized approach to the H2/H? Control Problem via Q-parameterization
We show that the mixed H2/H? control problem can be efficiently solved using randomized algorithms. Q-parameterization provides a mechanism to search over all stabilizing controllers, and thus gives us the ability to search for H2 minimizing controllers, while still providing stability robustness. Finally, we are able to show that we can get results comparable to a more traditional approach such as gradient search, but in addition, we can solve more complex problems. With very little modification, we are able to deal with multiple objectives, plant uncertainty, and fixed order controllers
tert-Butyl 6-methyl-2-oxo-4-[4-(trifluoromethoxy)anilino]cyclohex-3-ene-1-carboxylate
In the title compound, C19H22F3NO4, the dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the conjugated part of the enaminone ring is 42.5 (1)°. The ester substituent makes a dihedral angle of 81.3 (2)° with this latter moiety. The crystal structure is held together by strong N—H⋯O and weak C—H⋯O intermolecular interactions. The enaminone ring is disordered over two orientations with relative occupancies of 0.794 (4) and 0.206 (4)
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