USING ABSOLUTE DEVIATIONS TO COMPUTE LINES OF BEST FIT

Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

A mental health needs assessment of the industrial area of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

A mental health needs assessment of the industrial area of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia was conducted between September and December, 1989. The study was sponsored by the Cape Breton Mental Health Association. A collaborative approach which emphasized community involvement was utilized to design and implement the study. The study used a convergent analysis of the data to elicit a comprehensive and multidimensional perspective on mental health needs from four sub-sample, including the administrators of mental health services, socio-mental health professionals, consumers of mental health services, and the general public. Data were also obtained from five groups (i.e., youth, those with chronic mental health problems, the elderly, Natives, and women) that were identified as being underserved by the extant services. Finally, four groups (i.e., staff with the Cape Breton District School Board, members of Canadian Friends of Schizophrenia, administrators of homes for special care, and concerned citizens of New Waterford) with specific interests in the delivery of mental health services submitted input into the needs assessment. A variety of needs assessment techniques were used to collect data including a modified community impressions approach which was augmented with community forums, nominal and focus groups, key informant interviews, an analysis of existing services, and a mail survey. The data were analyzed using the following seven mental health service categories which delineate the program areas of mental health services offered in the Industrial Area: 1) problem identification, 2) coordination and direction, 3) treatment/intervention, 4) familial support, 5) accommodation, 6) transportation, and 7) education. The identification of major mental health concerns reflects both inter-sample consensus and individual sample concern. The recommendations address the perceived needs documented in the study. They reflected the key findings of the study and indicate specific areas in which to encourage future efforts from the mental health delivery system and the community. Recommendations were offered in all of the seven categories. The major concerns highlighted by the study are improved coordination of services, an emphasis on an outreach and community-based orientation in the delivery of mental health services, and augmented human resources. Given the limited resources, the use of the mental health professional as consultant was stressed. Youth and the psychogeriatric population were identified as groups who are in particular need of enhanced mental health services. The importance of working with these groups as part of the family unit is recognized. In addition to offering a range of recommendations for specific services the study also makes note of the importance of macroeconomic variables, including poverty and unemployment, and the effects these factors have on a person’s mental health. Suggestions for a service delivery model which encourages local citizen participation are offered. An executive summary offering recommendations was prepared and distributed to representatives of the various groups surveyed in order to validate the findings and solicit input regarding the implementation of the recommendations. A community forum has been planned at which time the results will be released to the public. The forum will serve as a final verification of the findings and stimulate further dialogue within the community on how to implement the recommendations

On the Perturbative Nature of Color Superconductivity

Color superconductivity is a possible phase of high density QCD. We present a systematic derivation of the transition temperature, T_C, from the QCD Lagrangian through study of the di-quark proper vertex. With this approach, we confirm the dependence of T_C on the coupling g, namely $T_C \sim \mu g^{-5} e^{-\kappa/g}$, previously obtained from the one-gluon exchange approximation in the superconducting phase. The diagrammatic approach we employ allows us to examine the perturbative expansion of the vertex and the propagators. We find an additional O(1) contribution to the prefactor of the exponential from the one-loop quark self energy and that the other one-loop radiative contributions and the two gluon exchange vertex contribution are subleading.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, revtex, details and discussion expande

Can a Measurement of the Bs−B‾sB_{s} - {\overline{B}}_{s} Mass Difference Establish the CKM Paradigm?

We present a reanalysis of the allowed region in the $\rho - \eta \,$ plane of the CKM matrix, which follows from our present knowledge of the theoretical and experimental parameters associated with quark mixing and CP violation. Besides providing updated expectations for the angles of the unitarity triangle, this reanalysis predicts a range of allowed values for the $B_{s} - {\overline{B}}_{s} \,$ mass difference $\Delta m_{s}$. We argue that while values of \Delta m_{s} \lsim 10 (ps)^{-1} could be consistent with a non-CKM origin for CP violation in the neutral Kaon system, larger values for $\Delta m_{s}$ would provide strong support for the CKM paradigm.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, 3 uuencoded eps figures(embedded with epsfig.sty)

Assessment of indoor and outdoor radiation levels and human health risk in Sheda Science and Technology Complex and its environ, Abuja, Nigeria

A study to assess the Indoor and Outdoor Background Ionizing Radiation (BIR) of Sheda Science and Technology Complex, Abuja has been conducted. An in-situ measurement using a portable factory calibrated radiation dose rate meter, Radiagem 2000, was used to ascertain the radiation level. The measured radiation dose rates were used to evaluate the radiological health hazards and radiation effective doses to different body organs using well established radiological relations. The results shows that the total Dose Rate (indoor and outdoor), the Total Annual Equivalent Dose (indoor and outdoor), total Annual Effective Dose Equivalent (indoor and outdoor) and the total Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (indoor and outdoor) are 0.113±0.022 (μSv/h), 0.071±0.016 (μSv/h), 0.794±0.155 mSv/y, 0.0.124±0.074 mSv/y, 0.556±0.109 mSv/y, 0.087±0.020 mSv/y, 1.945±0.379, 0.304±0.104 respectively for the three zones. The dosage to organs received shows that the testes have the highest dose while the liver has the lowest dose (indoor and outdoor) for the three zones. Generally the study shows that the Annual Effective Dose Equivalents were within the permissible limits of 1 mSv/y for general public exposure recommended by the (ICRP). Also, the effective doses to different body organs are all below the recommended limits of 1 mSv/y. The calculated Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk values indicates that the chance of contacting cancer by workers and residents of the study area is not probable hence the study area could be said to be radiologically safe.Keywords: Ionizing Radiation, Equivalent Dose, Effective Dose, Excess Lifetime Cancer Ris

Mississippian stratotypes

Working Group on the Mississippian of the U.S.A.Ope

Plant evolution can mediate negative effects from honey bees on wild pollinators

Pollinators are introduced to agroecosystems to provide pollination services. Introductions of managed pollinators often promote ecosystem services, but it remains largely unknown whether they also affect evolutionary mutualisms between wild pollinators and plants. Here, we developed a model to assess effects of managed honey bees on mutualisms between plants and wild pollinators. Our model tracked how interactions among wild pollinators and honey bees affected pollinator and plant populations. We show that when managed honey bees have a competitive advantage over wild pollinators, or a greater carrying capacity, the honey bees displace the wild pollinator. This leads to reduced plant density because plants benefit less by visits from honey bees than wild pollinators that coevolved with the plants. As wild pollinators are displaced, plants evolve by increasing investment in traits that are attractive for honey bees but not wild pollinators. This evolutionary switch promotes wild pollinator displacement. However, higher mutualism investment costs by the plant to the honey bee can promote pollinator coexistence. Our results show plant evolution can promote displacement of wild pollinators by managed honey bees, while limited plant evolution may lead to pollinator coexistence. More broadly, effects of honey bees on wild pollinators in agroecosystems, and effects on ecosystem services, may depend on the capacity of plant populations to evolve

Effects of supplementation of limit-fed growing diets with either soybean meal or nonenzymatically browned soybean meal on steer performance

Seventy two individually fed Angus × Hereford steers (642 lb) were used to evaluate the effects of supplementing limit-fed, growing diets with either soybean meal (SBM) or nonenzymatically browned soybean meal (NSBM). Eight steers were allotted to a control diet composed of 39.1% high-moisture corn, 42% cottonseed hulls, 10.4% ground corn, 5% cane molasses 2.25% urea, and 1.5% vitamins and minerals (dry basis). The remaining steers were allotted to diets that derived 100, 80, 60, or 40% of their supplemental protein from SBM or 60, 45, 30, or 15% of their supplemental protein from NSBN. The balance of supplemental protein came from urea. All diets were formulated to contain 13.0% crude protein (dry basis). Steers were fed once daily for 80 days at 2.25% of BW. Average daily gain and efficiency did not differ (P>.05) between sources (ADG=1.932 + .103 × (% CP from SBM) + .097 × (% CP from NSBM); gain:feed=.140 + .0058 × (% CP from SBM) + .0051 × (% CP from NSBM)). The lack of response to NBSBM supplementation above that for SBM suggests that either degradable intake protein was limiting in the basal diet or a large proportion of the amino acids in the NSBM were unavailable due to overprocessing

Angular Momentum Mixing in Crystalline Color Superconductivity

In crystalline color superconductivity, quark pairs form at non-zero total momentum. This crystalline order potentially enlarges the domain of color superconductivity in cold dense quark matter. We present a perturbative calculation of the parameters governing the crystalline phase and show that this is indeed the case. Nevertheless, the enhancement is modest, and to lowest order is independent of the strength of the color interaction.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Revte

Using a mixture of cottonseed hulls and cottonseed meal to replace alfalfa hay in diets for stressed feeder calves

One 28-day receiving experiment was conducted using 625 exotic × British cross heifers to evaluate growth performance and morbidity on receiving diets that contained either alfalfa hay or a pellet composed of 65% cottonseed hulls and 35% cottonseed meal as the roughage source. Heifers fed the cotton byproduct pellet consumed more feed (P<0.01) but tended to be less efficient than those fed alfalfa hay. Daily gain was comparable between diets (P>0.05), and the percentages of heifers diagnosed, treated, or retreated for respiratory disease were similar