Race and “Hotspots” of Preventable Hospitalizations

Abstract Preventable hospitalizations (PHs) are those for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions that indicate insufficiencies in local primary healthcare. PH rates tend to be higher among African Americans, in urban centers, rural areas and areas with more African American residents. The objective of this study is to determine geographic clusters of high PH rates (“spatial clusters”) by race. Data from Maryland hospitals were utilized to determine the rates of PHs in zip code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) by race in 2010. Geographic clusters of ZCTAs with higher than expected PH rates were identified using Scan Statistic and Anselin’s Local Moran’s I. 10 PH spatial clusters were observed among the total population with an average PH rate of 3,046.6 per 100,000 population. Among whites, the average PH rate was 3,339.9 per 100,000 in 11 PH spatial clusters. Only five PH spatial clusters were observed among African Americans with a higher average PH rate (3,710.8 per 100,000). The locations and other characteristics of PH spatial clusters differed by race. These results can be used to target resources to areas with high PH rates. Because PH spatial clusters are observed in differing locations for African Americans, approaches that include cultural tailoring may need to be specifically targeted

Magnetic properties of microtektites Semiannual status report, 1 Jan. - 31 Jun. 1969

Magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, and Curie constants for normal and bottle-green microtektites found in deep-sea sediment core

The DarkSide-20k TPC and Underground Argon Cryogenic System

DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) will exploit the physical and chemical properties of liquid argon housed within a large dual-phase time project chamber (TPC) in its direct search for dark matter. The TPC will utilize a compact, integrated design with many novel features to enable the \SI{20}{t} fiducial volume of underground argon. Underground Argon (UAr) is sourced from underground CO$_2$ wells and depleted in the radioactive isotope $^{39}$Ar, greatly enhancing the experimental sensitivity to dark matter interactions. Sourcing and transporting the $\mathcal{O}$(\SI{100}{t}) of UAr for DS-20k is costly, and a dedicated single-closed-loop cryogenic system has been designed, constructed, and tested to handle the valuable UAr. We present an overview of the DS-20k TPC design and the first results from the UAr cryogenic system

Preliminary ultraviolet reflectance of some rocks and minerals from 2000 angstrom to 3000 angstrom

Ultraviolet reflectance measurements of rocks and minerals from 2000 A to 3000

Sky localization of complete inspiral-merger-ringdown signals for nonspinning massive black hole binaries

We investigate the capability of LISA to measure the sky position of equal-mass, nonspinning black hole binaries, combining for the first time the entire inspiral-merger-ringdown signal, the effect of the LISA orbits, and the complete three-channel LISA response. We consider an ensemble of systems near the peak of LISA's sensitivity band, with total rest mass of 2\times10^6 M\odot, a redshift of z = 1, and randomly chosen orientations and sky positions. We find median sky localization errors of approximately \sim3 arcminutes. This is comparable to the field of view of powerful electromagnetic telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, that could be used to search for electromagnetic signals associated with merging massive black holes. We investigate the way in which parameter errors decrease with measurement time, focusing specifically on the additional information provided during the merger-ringdown segment of the signal. We find that this information improves all parameter estimates directly, rather than through diminishing correlations with any subset of well- determined parameters. Although we have employed the baseline LISA design for this study, many of our conclusions regarding the information provided by mergers will be applicable to alternative mission designs as well.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Marginal intra-industry trade and adjustment costs: The Australian experience

The objective of this research is to investigate labour market adjustment associated with changes in Australia's trade pattern over the period 1992-2000. Specifically the focus is on the so-called smooth adjustment hypothesis (SAH) which posits that, compared with inter-industry trade, intra-industry trade (IIT) expansion is associated with relatively lower factor adjustment costs. A dynamic panel data approach (GMM-System) is employed. We find that there is a negative correlation between changes in employment and increased IIT. This result provides support for the SAH. Given the rise in IIT as a proportion of Australia's overall trade during the period under review, the adjustment in labour markets stemming from trade liberalisation at that time is likely to have been less than otherwise expected

Evaluation, development, and characterization of superconducting materials for space application

Results are reported of low magnetic field studies of dc magnetic susceptibility and ac magnetic susceptibility of bulk samples and powders. These data are analyzed and compared with the microstructures and compositions of the samples as determined by scanning electron microscopic micrographs, X-ray and chemical analysis. Particular emphasis is given to the interpretation of the ac magnetic susceptibility data which were obtained as function of the magnitude and frequency of the ac measuring field, and low values of an applied dc magnetic field. Two general conclusions are given and briefly discussed

Glass corrosion in natural environment

A series of studies of the effects of solutes which appear in natural aqueous environments, specifically Mg and Al, under controlled conditions, permit characterization of the retardation of silicate glass leaching in water containing such solutes. In the case of Mg the interaction with the glass appears to consist of exchange with alkali ions present in the glass to a depth of several microns. The effect of Al can be observed at much lower levels, indicating that the mechanism in the case of Al involves irreversible formation of aluminosilicate species at the glass surface

Evaluation, development, and characterization of superconducting materials for space applications

The anisotropic electromagnetic features of a grain-aligned YBa2Cu3O(x) bulk sample derived from a process of long-time partial melt growth were investigated by the measurements of direct current magnetization (at 77 K) and alternating current susceptibility as a function of temperature, with the fields applied parallel and perpendicular to the c axis, respectively. The extended Bean model was further studied and applied to explain the experimental results. Upon comparison of the grain-aligned sample with pure single crystal materials, it is concluded that because of the existence of more effective pinning sites in the grain-aligned sample, not only its critical current density perpendicular to the c axis is improved, but the one parallel to the c axis is improved even more significantly. The anisotropy in the critical current densities in the grain-aligned sample at 77 K is at least one to two orders of magnitude smaller than in the pure single crystal. The measurement of anisotropy of alternating current susceptibility as a function of temperature, especially its imaginary part, shows that there are still some residues of interlayer weak links in the grain-aligned samples, but they are quite different from and far less serious than the weak links in the sintered sample

Terminal velocity and drag reduction measurements on superhydrophobic spheres

Super water-repellent surfaces occur naturally on plants and aquatic insects and are created in the laboratory by combining micro- or nanoscale surface topographic features with hydrophobic surface chemistry. When such types of water-repellent surfaces are submerged they can retain a film of air (a plastron). In this work, we report measurements of the terminal velocity of solid acrylic spheres with various surface treatments settling under the action of gravity in water. We observed increases in terminal velocity corresponding to drag reduction of between 5% and 15% for superhydrophobic surfaces that carry plastrons