Barriers to colorectal cancer screening among American Indian men aged 50 or older, Kansas and Missouri, 2006-2008

American Indian (AI) men have some of the highest rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the United States but among the lowest screening rates. Our goal was to better understand awareness and discourse about colorectal cancer in a heterogeneous group of AI men in the Midwestern United States. Focus groups were conducted with AI men (N = 29); data were analyzed using a community-participatory approach to qualitative text analysis. Several themes were identified regarding knowledge, knowledge sources, and barriers to and facilitators of screening. Men in the study felt that awareness about colorectal cancer was low, and people were interested in learning more. Education strategies need to be culturally relevant and specific

The MINERν\nuA Data Acquisition System and Infrastructure

MINER$\nu$A (Main INjector ExpeRiment $\nu$-A) is a new few-GeV neutrino cross section experiment that began taking data in the FNAL NuMI (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Neutrinos at the Main Injector) beam-line in March of 2010. MINER$\nu$A employs a fine-grained scintillator detector capable of complete kinematic characterization of neutrino interactions. This paper describes the MINER$\nu$A data acquisition system (DAQ) including the read-out electronics, software, and computing architecture.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figure

The Differences Between College Readiness and the Type of Algebra 1 Course Taken by Male and Female Students Attending a Private School in Southwestern Virginia

Algebra 1 is a foundational course for all higher mathematics. Research suggests taking rigorous math courses earlier in a student’s education increases college readiness which leads to a greater economic impact to the community. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine if there is a difference between male and female students’ college readiness as measured by the mathematics test scores of the PSAT/NMSQT of students who have taken an Algebra 1 course, designated as either Honors or Non-Honors section, who attend a private high school. Having early indications of college readiness allows students more time to develop the skills necessary to be successful in college and reduce the need for remedial courses. The study used archival data of a convenience sample of 166 10th-grade participants to determine differences in college readiness between the Honors and Non-Honors Algebra 1 male and female students. A two-way ANOVA was conducted to analyze the differences and interactions between the groups. The results revealed there is a statistically significant difference in the college readiness of students who took Honors Algebra 1 than those who did not. There was no statistically significant difference in college readiness found between genders. Recommendations for future research include investigating the college readiness for students who stay on the Honors track past Algebra 1 and the differences in college readiness between students who take Honors English and those who do not

First evidence of coherent K+K^{+} meson production in neutrino-nucleus scattering

Neutrino-induced charged-current coherent kaon production, $\nu_{\mu}A\rightarrow\mu^{-}K^{+}A$, is a rare, inelastic electroweak process that brings a $K^+$ on shell and leaves the target nucleus intact in its ground state. This process is significantly lower in rate than neutrino-induced charged-current coherent pion production, because of Cabibbo suppression and a kinematic suppression due to the larger kaon mass. We search for such events in the scintillator tracker of MINERvA by observing the final state $K^+$, $\mu^-$ and no other detector activity, and by using the kinematics of the final state particles to reconstruct the small momentum transfer to the nucleus, which is a model-independent characteristic of coherent scattering. We find the first experimental evidence for the process at $3\sigma$ significance.Comment: added ancillary file with information about the six kaon candidate