Great Recession Hit Hard at America's Working Poor: Nearly 1 in 3 Working Families in United States Are Low-Income

Highlights findings on the 2009 increase in the number of low-income working families and their children, proportion of low-income working families by parents' race/ethnicity, and the growth of income inequality. Discusses policy implications

Low-Income Working Mothers and State Policy: Investing for a Better Economic Future

In 2012, there were more than 10 million low-income working families with children in the United States,and 39 percent were headed by working mothers. The economic conditions for these families have worsened since the onset of the recession; between 2007 and 2012, there was a four percentage-point increase in the share of female-headed working families that are low-income. Addressing challenges specific to these families will increase their economic opportunity, boost the economy and strengthen the fabric of communities across the nation.Public policy can play a critical role in our future prosperity by reversing this trend and improving outcomes for low-income working mothers. Of particular interest is how state governments can best invest in helping working mothers gain the education, skills and supports necessary to become economically secure and provide a strong economic future for their children. In this brief, we highlight the latest data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey and recommend state government policies and actions that would facilitate the economic advancement of female-headed, low-income working families with children under age 18

Overlooked and Underpaid: Number of Low-Income Working Families Increases to 10.2 Million

Highlights 2007-10 trends in the number and percentage of working families with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty line by state and race/ethnicity, as well as the number of children affected. Examines income inequality by quintile and implications

Children in Immigrant Families Chart New Path

Explores the role of immigrant families in changing the U.S. population's racial/ethnic composition and the challenges their children face. Analyzes demographic and geographic trends, children's well-being, and state and local reactions to immigration

WIMP Dark Matter and the QCD Equation of State

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) of mass m freeze out at a temperature T_f ~ m/25, i.e. in the range 400 MeV -- 40 GeV for a particle in the typical mass range 10 -- 1000 GeV. The WIMP relic density, which depends on the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom at T_f, may be measured to better than 1% by Planck, warranting comparable theoretical precision. Recent theoretical and experimental advances in the understanding of high temperature QCD show that the quark gluon plasma departs significantly from ideal behaviour up to temperatures of several GeV, necessitating an improvement of the cosmological equation of state over those currently used. We discuss how this increases the relic density by approximately 1.5 -- 3.5% in benchmark mSUGRA models, with an uncertainly in the QCD corrections of 0.5 -- 1 %. We point out what further work is required to achieve a theoretical accuracy comparable with the expected observational precision, and speculate that the effective number of degrees of freedom at T_f may become measurable in the foreseeable future.Comment: 4pp, 2figs. More info including Matlab scripts used to generate equation of state curves at http://www.pact.cpes.sussex.ac.uk/arXiv/hep-ph/0501232

Low-Income Working Families: Rising Inequality Despite Economic Recovery

This data brief, based on 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, provides a national and state-by-state analysis of low-income working families in America. In particular, it highlights: 1) the growing economic divide between working families at the top and bottom of the economic ladder; and 2) the persistenteconomic disparities among working families in different racial/ethnic groups

Detecting Defective Bypass Diodes in Photovoltaic Modules using Mamdani Fuzzy Logic System

In this paper, the development of fault detection method for PV modules defective bypass diodes is presented. Bypass diodes are nowadays used in PV modules in order to enhance the output power production during partial shading conditions. However, there is lack of scientific research which demonstrates the detection of defective bypass diodes in PV systems. Thus, this paper propose a PV bypass diode fault detection classification based on Mamdani fuzzy logic system, which depends on the analysis of Vdrop, Voc , and Isc obtained from the I-V curve of the examined PV module. The fuzzy logic system depends on three inputs, namely percentage of voltage drop (PVD), percentage of open circuit voltage (POCV), and the percentage of short circuit current (PSCC). The proposed fuzzy system can detect up to 13 different faults associated with defective and non-defective bypass diodes. In addition, the proposed system was evaluated using two different PV modules under various defective bypass conditions. Finally, in order to investigate the variations of the PV module temperature during defective bypass diodes and partial shading conditions, i5 FLIR thermal camera was used

Output Power Enhancement for Hot Spotted Polycrystalline Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Hot spotting is a reliability problem in photovoltaic (PV) panels where a mismatched cell heats up significantly and degrades PV panel output power performance. High PV cell temperature due to hot spotting can damage the cell encapsulate and lead to second breakdown, where both cause permanent damage to the PV panel. Therefore, the development of two hot spot mitigation techniques are proposed using a simple and reliable method. PV hot spots in the examined PV system was inspected using FLIR i5 thermal imaging camera. Multiple experiments have been tested during various environmental conditions, where the PV module I-V curve was evaluated in each observed test to analyze the output power performance before and after the activation of the proposed hot spot mitigation techniques. One PV module affected by hot spot was tested. The output power during high irradiance levels is increased by approximate to 1.26 W after the activation of the first hot spot mitigation technique. However, the second mitigation technique guarantee an increase in the power up to 3.97 W. Additional test has been examined during partial shading condition. Both proposed techniques ensure a decrease in the shaded PV cell temperature, thus an increase in the PV output power

Combination GLP-1 and Insulin Treatment Fails to Alter Myocardial Fuel Selection Versus Insulin Alone in Type 2 Diabetes

Context Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and the clinically available GLP-1 agonists have been shown to exert effects on the heart. It is unclear whether these effects occur at clinically used doses in vivo in humans, possibly contributing to CVD risk reduction. Objective To determine whether liraglutide at clinical dosing augments myocardial glucose uptake alone or in combination with insulin compared to insulin alone in metformin-treated Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Design Comparison of myocardial fuel utilization after 3 months of treatment with insulin detemir, liraglutide, or combination detemir+liraglutide. Setting Academic hospital Participants Type 2 diabetes treated with metformin plus oral agents or basal insulin. Interventions Insulin detemir, liraglutide, or combination added to background metformin Main Outcome Measures Myocardial blood flow, fuel selection and rates of fuel utilization evaluated using positron emission tomography, powered to demonstrate large effects. Results We observed greater myocardial blood flow in the insulin-treated groups (median[25th, 75th percentile]: detemir 0.64[0.50, 0.69], liraglutide 0.52[0.46, 0.58] and detemir+liraglutide 0.75[0.55, 0.77] mL/g/min, p=0.035 comparing 3 groups and p=0.01 comparing detemir groups to liraglutide alone). There were no evident differences between groups in myocardial glucose uptake (detemir 0.040[0.013, 0.049], liraglutide 0.055[0.019, 0.105], detemir+liraglutide 0.037[0.009, 0.046] µmol/g/min, p=0.68 comparing 3 groups). Similarly there were no treatment group differences in measures of myocardial fatty acid uptake or handling, and no differences in total oxidation rate. Conclusions These observations argue against large effects of GLP-1 agonists on myocardial fuel metabolism as mediators of beneficial treatment effects on myocardial function and ischemia protection