Training primary care providers in motivational interviewing for youth behavior change.

Presented at: 8th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference; June 29-July 2, 2015; San Diego, CA.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1049/thumbnail.jp

A Simple Explanation for DAMA with Moderate Channeling

We consider the possibility that the DAMA signal arises from channeled events in simple models where the dark matter interaction with nuclei is suppressed at small momenta. As with the standard WIMP, these models have two parameters (the dark matter mass and the size of the cross-section), without the need to introduce an additional energy threshold type of parameter. We find that they can be consistent with channeling fractions as low as about ~ 15%, so long as at least ~70% of the nuclear recoil energy for channeled events is deposited electronically. Given that there are reasons not to expect very large channeling fractions, these scenarios make the channeling explanation of DAMA much more compelling.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Primary care provider’s use of motivational interviewing to support youth nutrition and physical activity behavior change.

Presented at: International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity; June 8-11, 2016; Cape Town, South Africa.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/prc-posters-presentations/1034/thumbnail.jp

On the new economic philosophy of crisis management in the European Union

This essay attempts to go beyond presenting the bits and pieces of still ongoing crisis management in the EU. Instead it attempts at finding the ‘red thread’ behind a series of politically improvised decisions. Our fundamental research question asks whether basic economic lessons learned in the 1970s are still valid. Namely, that a crises emanating from either structural or regulatory weaknesses cannot and should not be remedied by demand management. Our second research question is the following: Can lacking internal commitment and conviction in any member state be replaced or substituted by external pressure or formalized procedures and sanctions? Under those angles we analyze the project on establishing a fiscal and banking union in the EU, as approved by the Council in December 2012

Mediating boundaries between knowledge and knowing: ICT and R4D praxis

Research for development (R4D) praxis (theory-informed practical action) can be underpinned by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which, it is claimed, provide opportunities for knowledge working and sharing. Such a framing implicitly or explicitly constructs a boundary around knowledge as reified, or commodified – or at least able to be stabilized for a period of time (first order knowledge). In contrast ‘third-generation knowledge’ emphasizes the social nature of learning and knowledge-making; this reframes knowledge as a negotiated social practice, thus constructing a different system boundary. This paper offers critical reflections on the use of a wiki as a data repository and mediating technical platform as part of innovating in R4D praxis. A sustainable social learning process was sought that fostered an emergent community of practice among biophysical and social researchers acting for the first time as R4D co-researchers. Over time the technologically mediated element of the learning system was judged to have failed. This inquiry asks: How can learning system design cultivate learning opportunities and respond to learning challenges in an online environment to support R4D practice? Confining critical reflection to the online learning experience alone ignores the wider context in which knowledge work took place; therefore the institutional setting is also considered

Puzzles of Dark Matter - More Light on Dark Atoms?

Positive results of dark matter searches in experiments DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA confronted with results of other groups can imply nontrivial particle physics solutions for cosmological dark matter. Stable particles with charge -2, bound with primordial helium in O-helium "atoms" (OHe), represent a specific nuclear-interacting form of dark matter. Slowed down in the terrestrial matter, OHe is elusive for direct methods of underground Dark matter detection using its nuclear recoil. However, low energy binding of OHe with sodium nuclei can lead to annual variations of energy release from OHe radiative capture in the interval of energy 2-4 keV in DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA experiments. At nuclear parameters, reproducing DAMA results, the energy release predicted for detectors with chemical content other than NaI differ in the most cases from the one in DAMA detector. Moreover there is no bound systems of OHe with light and heavy nuclei, so that there is no radiative capture of OHe in detectors with xenon or helium content. Due to dipole Coulomb barrier, transitions to more energetic levels of Na+OHe system with much higher energy release are suppressed in the correspondence with the results of DAMA experiments. The proposed explanation inevitably leads to prediction of abundance of anomalous Na, corresponding to the signal, observed by DAMA.Comment: Contribution to Proceedings of XIII Bled Workshop "What Comes beyond the Standard Model?

Magnetospheric convection from Cluster EDI measurements compared with the ground-based ionospheric convection model IZMEM

Cluster/EDI electron drift observations above the Northern and Southern polar cap areas for more than seven and a half years (2001–2008) have been used to derive a statistical model of the high-latitude electric potential distribution for summer conditions. Based on potential pattern for different orientations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in the GSM y-z-plane, basic convection pattern (BCP) were derived, that represent the main characteristics of the electric potential distribution in dependence on the IMF. The BCPs comprise the IMF-independent potential distribution as well as patterns, which describe the dependence on positive and negative IMF<I>B<sub>z</sub></I> and IMF<I>B<sub>y</sub></I> variations. The full set of BCPs allows to describe the spatial and temporal variation of the high-latitude electric potential (ionospheric convection) for any solar wind IMF condition near the Earth's magnetopause within reasonable ranges. The comparison of the Cluster/EDI model with the IZMEM ionospheric convection model, which was derived from ground-based magnetometer observations, shows a good agreement of the basic patterns and its variation with the IMF. According to the statistical models, there is a two-cell antisunward convection within the polar cap for northward IMF<I>B<sub>z</sub></I>+≤2 nT, while for increasing northward IMF<I>B<sub>z</sub></I>+ there appears a region of sunward convection within the high-latitude daytime sector, which assumes the form of two additional cells with sunward convection between them for IMF<I>B<sub>z</sub></I>+≈4–5 nT. This results in a four-cell convection pattern of the high-latitude convection. In dependence of the ±IMF<I>B<sub>y</sub></I> contribution during sufficiently strong northward IMF<I>B<sub>z</sub></I> conditions, a transformation to three-cell convection patterns takes place

Socially optimal contribution rate and cap in a proportional (DC) pension system

In our model, the government operates a mandatory proportional (DC) pension system to substitute for the low life-cycle savings of the lower-paid myopic workers, while maintaining the incentives of the higher-paid far-sighted ones in contributing to the system. The introduction of an appropriate cap on pension contribution (or its base)—excluding the earnings above the cap from the contribution base—raises the optimal contribution rate, helping more the lower-paid myopic workers and reserving enough room for the saving of higher-paid far-sighted ones. The social welfare is almost independent of the cap in a relatively wide interval but the maximal welfare is higher than the capless welfare by 0.3–4.5 %.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio