Recommendations for meeting the transportation needs of Michigan’s aging population

Mobility, or the ability to get from place to place, is important for everyone. Mobility enables people to conduct activities of daily life, stay socially connected with their world, participate in activities that make life enjoyable, and increase their quality of life. In the United States, and indeed in Michigan, personal mobility is frequently equated with being able to drive a personal automobile. However, because of age related medical conditions and the medications used to treat them, as people age into older adulthood they are more likely to experience declines in abilities needed for safe driving. Because of the preference for the personal automobile, and the lack of acceptable mobility alternatives, one focus of efforts to enhance safe mobility for older adults is to keep older adults driving for as long as they can safely do so. At the same time, society has a responsibility to help maintain mobility for those who are unable or choose not to drive. As the population of older adults in Michigan continues to grow, it is becoming more and more critical that the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) understand the mobility needs of older adults and incorporate these needs into transportation facility design and planning. This project provided the background information needed to help MDOT identify where to concentrate resources to maximize the safe mobility of Michigan’s aging population. The overall goal of the project was to help maintain the safety and well-being of Michigan’s older adult residents by developing a set of low-cost, high-impact measures that could be implemented by MDOT. This goal was achieved through a literature review, an analysis of demographic data, and statewide surveys of older adults and family members/caregivers for Michigan older adults in order to gain a better understanding of the travel and residency patterns, gaps in transportation services, and the transportation needs and wants of Michigan older adult residents and the population of adults who provide care and/or transportation assistance to Michigan older adults. The complete results of these research activities, a list of measures for improving older adult mobility in Michigan, and an implementation plan are included in this report.Michigan Department of Transportationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90961/1/102857.pd

Transportation, mobility, and older adults in rural Michigan

A deliverable for project number OR 10-037: “Transportation Patterns of Older Drivers in Rural Michigan”Michigan Department of Transportation, Lansing, MIhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91979/1/102872.pd

Evaluation of the Michigan TACT Program

This report documents the evaluation of the Michigan Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) program. The TACT program was conducted in three 2-week waves in the fall of 2013 near Grand Rapids, Michigan. Comparable sites in southeast Michigan served as a comparison area. The TACT program combined high visibility enforcement with a public information and education (PI&E) campaign focused on unsafe driving behaviors of cars and trucks near each other. An evaluation of the TACT implementation found that that the enforcement and PI&E plans were followed reasonably well. Outcomes in terms of driver behaviors, attitudes, and traffic safety were tested by means of surveys of motorists and truck drivers; an observational study of passing and merging behaviors of passenger cars near large trucks; and analysis of crash data. A before/after with comparison design was used to measure any effect in each outcome. Results indicated that the PI&E messages reached the drivers in the program area. Analysis of the survey data did not identify any statistically significant changes in self-reported behaviors among the drivers in the program area. The proportion of safe passing and merging maneuvers recorded in the observational study were quite high before the program and did not change significantly after the program. A Poisson crash rate model adjusted for over-dispersion and using six-years of monthly crash data from the program and comparison areas was developed. It accounted for traffic volumes, proportion of trucks in the traffic, snowfall and precipitation, and the economy. The crash data analysis did not identify significant effects of the program on crash rates.Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, Michigan State Policehttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109414/1/103138.pd

Cultural difference in attitudes towards stuttering among British, Arab and Chinese students: considering home and host cultures

Background Geographical and cultural differences have been shown to affect public attitudes towards stuttering. However, increasingly for many individuals in the world one's birthplace culture (or home culture) and culture in their local geographical environment (or host culture) are not the same. Aims The effects of home culture and host culture in shaping the attitudes towards stuttering among students with British, Arab and Chinese home cultures attending one British university were explored. The effects of host culture were investigated by considering the time lived in the UK for Arab and Chinese students. Methods & Procedures The study used a descriptive survey design that included a standardized self‐delivered questionnaire: the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes—Stuttering (POSHA‐S). Purposive sampling was carried out thorough volunteer mailing lists, student societies and personal contact. The final sample of 156 university students included 51 British, 52 Arab and 53 Chinese students. Outcomes & Results Overall stuttering score (OSS), which is indicative of attitudes towards stuttering, was highest for British participants (mean = 30) and lowest for Chinese participants (mean = 13), with Arab participants falling in the middle (mean = 21). The differences in attitudes between the three groups were statistically significant, suggesting that home culture is a contributor to attitudes towards stuttering. A post‐hoc item analysis of the POSHA‐S revealed numerous specific differences in attitudes towards stuttering between the three groups, including differences in the attribution of the aetiology of stuttering, their role in helping people who stutter (PWS) and sympathy toward PWS. Time lived in the UK—a proxy measure for the role of host culture—did not significantly influence the attitudes of Arab and Chinese respondents. Conclusions & Implications To varying degrees, all three groups had evidence of stereotypical stuttering attitudes. Nevertheless, given similar ages and student status in the same university, observed respondent differences confirm previous research documenting geographical influences on stuttering attitudes in Western versus East Asian and Middle Eastern samples. The study also provides evidence that home culture was influential in shaping attitudes towards stuttering, but host culture was not a significant contributor. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Public stereotypical beliefs towards stuttering are found across the world and hinder the quality of life among PWS. Different cultures have unique stereotypical beliefs towards PWS. What this study adds to existing knowledge To the best of our knowledge, no other study has investigated specifically if individuals who live in the same geographical location but have different home cultures, have similar or differing attitudes towards PWS. Results provide preliminary evidence that the home culture of an individual was influential in shaping attitudes towards PWS, but host culture, measured as the length of time living in the current geographical location, did not have a significant relationship with attitudes towards stuttering. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work This study highlights that culturally sensitive clinical practice should not be based on just the culture of the region but should take home culture into consideration as well, and clinicians should discuss cultural perceptions of stuttering with clients in clinical practice

Does the marine biosphere mix the ocean?

Author Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 64 (2006): 541-561, doi:10.1357/002224006778715720.Ocean mixing is thought to control the climatically important oceanic overturning circulation. Here we argue the marine biosphere, by a mechanism like the bioturbation occurring in marine sediments, mixes the oceans as effectively as the winds and tides. This statement is derived ultimately from an estimated 62.7 TeraWatts of chemical power provided to the marine environment in net primary production. Various approaches argue something like 1% (.63 TeraWatts) of this power is invested in aphotic ocean mechanical energy, a rate comparable to wind and tidal inputs

Phenoconversion from probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder to mild cognitive impairment to dementia in a population-based sample

© 2017 The Authors Introduction Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is strongly associated with synucleinopathies. In 2012, we reported an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Parkinson disease (PD) in cognitively normal Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents, aged 70 to 89 years with probable RBD. Here, we examine their progression to dementia and other neurodegenerative phenotypes. Methods Fifteen participants with RBD who were diagnosed with either MCI or PD were longitudinally followed, and their subsequent clinical courses were reviewed. Results Over 6.4 ± 2.9 years, six of the 14 participants with MCI developed additional neurodegenerative signs, five of whom had Lewy body disease features. Four of them progressed to dementia at a mean age 84.8 ± 4.9 years, three of whom met the criteria for probable dementia with Lewy bodies. One subject with PD developed MCI, but not dementia. Discussion Our findings from the population-based sample of Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents suggest that a substantial number of RBD patients tend to develop overt synucleinopathy features over time, and RBD patients who develop MCI and subsequent dementia have clinical features most consistent with dementia with Lewy bodies

The Wolf-Rayet binaries of the nitrogen sequence in the Large Magellanic Cloud: spectroscopy, orbital analysis, formation, and evolution

Massive Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars dominate the radiative and mechanical energy budget of galaxies and probe a critical phase in the evolution of massive stars prior to core-collapse. It is not known whether core He-burning WR stars (classical WR, cWR) form predominantly through wind-stripping (w-WR) or binary stripping (b-WR). With spectroscopy of WR binaries so-far largely avoided due to its complexity, our study focuses on the 44 WR binaries / binary candidates of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC, metallicity Z~0.5 Zsun), identified on the basis of radial velocity variations, composite spectra, or high X-ray luminosities. Relying on a diverse spectroscopic database, we aim to derive the physical and orbital parameters of our targets, confronting evolution models of evolved massive stars at sub-solar metallicity, and constraining the impact of binary interaction in forming them. Spectroscopy is performed using the Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) code and cross-correlation techniques. Disentanglement is performed using the code Spectangular or the shift-and-add algorithm. Evolutionary status is interpreted using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) code, exploring binary interaction and chemically-homogeneous evolution. No obvious dichotomy in the locations of apparently-single and binary WN stars on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is apparent. According to commonly used stellar evolution models (BPASS, Geneva), most apparently-single WN stars could not have formed as single stars, implying that they were stripped by an undetected companion. Otherwise, it must follow that pre-WR mass-loss/mixing (e.g., during the red supergiant phase) are strongly underestimated in standard stellar evolution models.Comment: accepted to A&A on 10.05.2019; 69 pages (25 main paper + 44 appendix); Corrigendum: Shenar et al. 2020, A&A, 641, 2: An unfortunate typo in the implementation of the "transformed radius" caused errors of up to ~0.5dex in the derived mass-loss rates. This has now been correcte

Polarimetric Evidence of Non-Spherical Winds

Polarization observations yield otherwise unobtainable information about the geometrical structure of unresolved objects. In this talk we review the evidences for non-spherically symmetric structures around Luminous Hot Stars from polarimetry and what we can learn with this technique. Polarimetry has added a new dimension to the study of the envelopes of Luminous Blue Variables, Wolf-Rayet stars and B[e] stars, all of which are discussed in some detail.Comment: 8 pages, 2 encapsulated Postscript figures, uses lamuphys.sty. Invited review to appear in IAU Coll. 169, Variable and Non-Spherical Stellar Winds in Luminous Hot Stars, eds. B. Wolf, A.Fullerton and O. Stahl (Springer