Innovative Strategies to Help Affordable Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OPs) Compete in New Insurance Marketplaces

Outlines provisions in the federal health reform law for CO-OPs, or innovative nonprofit health insurance and care plans designed for individuals and small businesses, challenges, and strategies for long-term sustainability and financial success

Attitudinal Differences towards Robotics Competitions of Male and Female Students Participating in a Southeastern State Robotics Competition

Some of the most dynamic and demanding careers are in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, when analyzing gender, there are great disparities among gender in STEM. Statistics indicate females are vastly underrepresented and males are employed double the rate of females. Leading STEM companies are creatively trying to attract future STEM laborers by means of science and engineering competitions. The purpose of this quantitative causal comparative study was to investigate if there are differences in attitudes between male and female students participating in a robotics competition. A convenience sample of public school students (N = 194) from grades 7-12 that participated in a southeastern state robotics competition were used in this study. The sample consisted of 69 females and 125 males. The researcher administered a modified version of the Student’s Attitude toward Science Fairs Survey customized for use at a robotics competition. The instrument measured students’ overall attitudes toward science and engineering competitions and further explored two constructs: usefulness (utility value) and enjoyment (intrinsic value) of the competition. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine if differences existed between male and female students’ attitudes towards science and engineering competitions and results were disclosed. The MANOVA results determined that there are no significant differences found among male and female students and their enjoyment, value (usefulness), and total (overall attitude) values towards a robotics competition, Wilks’s Λ = 1.00, F(2, 191) = 0.10, p \u3e .05, partial η2 = 0.001. Thus, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis. Implications of this investigation and future recommendations for future studies were discussed

This Sounds Like an Episode of The X-Files: Analyzing How Twitter Users Interpreted the COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Sci-Fi Television

While science fiction has a long-standing habit of predicting future technologies, The X-Files’ focus on anatomical manipulations as a means of control resulted in a plotline that inadvertently mirrored the COVID-19 pandemic which occurred a few years later. The proximity to such a similar, real-world situation resulted in some audiences interpreting their own experiences through the framework of sci-fi television, demonstrating that the discursive environment crafted through the text of The X-Files is continually applicable to contemporary anxieties and paranoia even after the show finished airing. In this article, I argue that The X-Files’ critiques of real-world abuses of powers and the running themes of paranoia and governmental distrust gave audiences a framework they could use to negotiate their anxieties, resulting in the series being used to both defend and reject COVID-19 protocols by sci-fi fans on Twitter. In this study, I utilize a thematic analysis of these tweets to examine how audiences perceived the implications of the show’s text and their lived experiences by using the lens of science fiction to contextualize the pandemic

The Truth is in the Archives: An Examination of The X-Files Fandom’s Preservation Practices

Fans of the cult classic TV series, The X-Files, are pioneers when it comes to utilizing online spaces for fan purposes. The ‘90s were filled with Usenet chat rooms and fan-created webpages where people could pay homage to their favorite show and do so within a community of peers. Those fans in the ‘90s and early ‘00s planted seeds of appreciation that have resulted in contemporary fans learning how to navigate outdated platforms to pay their respects to the roots of their fandom. For X-Philes, trudging through archival sites has become a symbolic, initiatory rite, acknowledging the roots of fandom history to appreciate its influence on contemporary fandom. Through investigating how fans on new media platforms utilize preservation and dissemination practices, I examine how fans of The X-Files are embracing archival habits in order to preserve their fandom’s legacy

North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) in South Carolina: Acoustic Detection and Landscape Occupancy of Bats

Bats are under threat from habitat loss, energy development, and the disease white-nose syndrome. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) suggests standardized, large scale monitoring to benefit ecologists and managers. Our first objective was to determine the efficacy of NABat in South Carolina. Detection probabilities differ within and among species and among survey conditions. Thus, our second objective was to determine factors affecting detection probabilities. Finally, effective management strategies addressing large scale threats require landscape scale analyses. Thus, our third objective was to conduct state-wide assessments of environmental factors influencing landscape occupancy and generate predicted distributions. We conducted NABat acoustic surveys across South Carolina from mid-May through July 2015 and 2016. To determine the efficacy of NABat, we compared species detections to known distributions based on historical records, and to predicted distributions based on environmental occupancy models. We detected some species throughout their ranges and others in ≤ 50% of cells within their ranges, and detected some species outside their ranges. Thus, NABat monitoring may be suitable for many species but may not be suitable for species with echolocation calls that are difficult to detect or identify, and may also reveal new information about species distributions. To determine factors that affected detection, we evaluated support for detection models. We found that detection covariates greatly varied among species, but most species had higher detection probabilities at stationary points than mobile transects. Our results suggested that effects of factors on detection probabilities were based on biological and behavioral characteristics of species, which indicated the importance of monitoring survey variables and accounting for them in analyses. To assess effects of environmental factors on occupancy, we evaluated temporally dynamic occupancy models. Occupancy probability differed among ecoregions for northern yellow bats (Dasypterus intermedius) and Myotis species. Hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) were negatively associated with forest edge density. We found no significant effects of habitat conditions for five species. Thus, for some species, site-use analyses of NABat data may be more appropriate than grid-based occupancy analyses. However, predicted distributions closely matched species habitat associations. Our findings can improve future monitoring efforts and inform conservation priorities

Phase-resolved spectroscopy and photometry of the eclipsing polar EP Draconis (=H1907+690)

We present phase-resolved optical spectroscopy and CCD photometry of the faint eclipsing polar EP Dra (H1907+690). A revised ephemeris is derived which connects all 32000 binary cycles since its discovery by Remillard et al. (1991). We found no difference between spin and and orbital periods of the white dwarf. Changes in the light curve morphology are attributed to a different beaming behaviour which might change on timescales as short as one or several orbital periods. Optical light curve modelling was used to estimate the co-latitude of the accretion spot, which must be larger than 40 degrees. We have detected Zeeman absorption lines of Halpha originating in an accretion halo in a field of 16MG. The low-resolution spectra reveal no indication of resolved cyclotron harmonics, which is also suggestive of a relatively low field strength in the accretion region. The Balmer emission lines contain significant contributions from the UV-illuminated hemisphere of the companion star, whereas the HeII4686 emission originates predominantly from the accretion stream. The emission lines have a multi-component structure and we could single out a narrow emission line in the Hbeta and Hgamma lines. Its radial velocity amplitude suggests a low mass for the white dwarf, if the lines are interpreted as being of reprocessed origin from the whole illuminated hemisphere of the companion star.Comment: 9 pages, 4 postscript figures Astronomische Nachrichten, in press see also http://www.aip.de:8080/science/Preprints.htm

Benefits of Sharing Information from Commercial Airborne Forward-Looking Sensors in the Next Generation Air Transportation System

The air transportation system of the future will need to support much greater traffic densities than are currently possible, while preserving or improving upon current levels of safety. Concepts are under development to support a Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) that by some estimates will need to support up to three times current capacity by the year 2025. Weather and other atmospheric phenomena, such as wake vortices and volcanic ash, constitute major constraints on airspace system capacity and can present hazards to aircraft if encountered. To support safe operations in the NextGen environment advanced systems for collection and dissemination of aviation weather and environmental information will be required. The envisioned NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW) infrastructure will be a critical component of the aviation weather support services, providing access to a common weather picture for all system users. By taking advantage of Network Enabled Operations (NEO) capabilities, a virtual 4-D Weather Data Cube with aviation weather information from many sources will be developed. One new source of weather observations may be airborne forward-looking sensors, such as the X-band weather radar. Future sensor systems that are the subject of current research include advanced multi-frequency and polarimetric radar, a variety of Lidar technologies, and infrared imaging spectrometers

Reflectometer distance measurement between parallel conductive plates

This report presents an analytic and experimental investigation of the measurement problem in which a reflectometer is used to determine the distance to a target that is a highly conductive surface parallel to the reflectometer antenna ground plane. These parallel surfaces constitute a waveguide (WG) which can contribute parasitic perturbations that seriously degrade the accuracy of the measurements. Two distinct parallel-plate-waveguide (PPWG) phenomena are described, and their effects on both frequency and time-domain reflectometers are considered. The time-domain processing approach was found to be superior to a representative frequency-domain phase-measurement approach because of less susceptibility to perturbations produced by edge reflections and immunity to phase capture. Experimental results are presented which show that a simple radiating system modification can suppress parallel-plate (PP) propagation. The addition of a thin layer of lossy mu-metal 'magnetic absorber' to the antenna ground plane allowed a measurement accuracy of 0.025 cm (0.01 in.) when a vector network analyzer (VNA) is used as a time-domain reflectometer