Barriers to Higher Education Among CalWORKs Recipients

Individuals and families in poverty face an abundance of barriers to self-sufficiency with the lack of higher education being the most prominent of them. The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program has been the primary intervention to aid poverty following the welfare reform of 1996. Through their work first approach the CalWORKs program intends to set recipients on the path to self-sufficiency. Although education is the biggest weapon against poverty, CalWORKs recipients face a plethora of barriers while pursuing a college degree, as CalWORKs regulations are rigid and unsupportive toward higher education. Due to the minimal research focusing particularly on CALWORKs recipients, there was a need to further examine the barriers these recipients face while pursuing higher education. This qualitative study explored the barriers hindering CalWORKs recipient’s progression toward college completion. This study administered 11 face to face interviews with active and former CalWORKs recipients in Riverside County, California. The data gathered were transcribed and analyzed to identify recurrent themes regarding barriers toward college completion among CalWORKs recipients. The major themes identified by the study were: lack of knowledge, conflicting roles, lack of self-confidence, and unrealistic requirements by the CalWORKs program. The implications of these findings for CalWORKs stakeholders were discussed

Dynamical analysis of a duolever suspension system

The authors investigate the dynamical behaviour of a Duolever type of suspension on a standard sports motorcycle. The paper contains the modelling aspects of it, as well as the optimization process followed in order to obtain the suspension parameters and geometry arrangements. Head angle, wheelbase and normal trail are studied as indicators of the handling properties of the suspension system. Matlab optimization toolbox was used to design a mathematical model of a duolever front suspension system which keeps its normal trail constant during the full suspension travel. By using VehicleSim software, non-linear simulations were performed on motorcycle model that includes a duolever suspension. By a quasi-static variation of the forward speed of the motorcycle, the time histories of the system's states were obtained. The corresponded root locus to the linearized model were plotted and compared to those of the original motorcycle model without duolever system. A modal analysis was performed in order to get a deeper understanding of the different modes of oscillation and how the duolever system affects them. The results show that whilst a satisfactory anti-dive effect is achieved with this suspension system, it has a destabilizing effect on pitch and wobble modes

Improving rainfall nowcasting and urban runoff forecasting through dynamic radar-raingauge rainfall adjustment

The insufficient accuracy of radar rainfall estimates is a major source of uncertainty in short-term quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPFs) and associated urban flood forecasts. This study looks at the possibility of improving QPFs and urban runoff forecasts through the dynamic adjustment of radar rainfall estimates based on raingauge measurements. Two commonly used techniques (Kriging with External Drift (KED) and mean field bias correction) were used to adjust radar rainfall estimates for a large area of the UK (250,000 km2) based on raingauge data. QPFs were produced using original radar and adjusted rainfall estimates as input to a nowcasting algorithm. Runoff forecasts were generated by feeding the different QPFs into the storm water drainage model of an urban catchment in London. The performance of the adjusted precipitation estimates and the associated forecasts was tested using local rainfall and flow records. The results show that adjustments done at too large scales cannot provide tangible improvements in rainfall estimates and associated QPFs and runoff forecasts at small scales, such as those of urban catchments. Moreover, the results suggest that the KED adjusted rainfall estimates may be unsuitable for generating QPFs, as this method damages the continuity of spatial structures between consecutive rainfall fields

Effects of interconnected suspension systems on the dynamics of sport motorcycles

The effects of interconnected front and rear suspension systems on the in-plane dynamics of sport motorcycle is investigated. The interconnected suspension mathematical description is presented and included in a high-fidelity motorcycle model. The suspension behaviour under road step bump inputs is studied for different values of stiffness and damping interconnection coefficients. Optimal values of interconnection coefficients are proposed for the current motorcycle model. Finally, the oscillating dynanlics of the motorcycle at straight rurrning conditions is studied through its normal modes

Intracellular trafficking and cellular uptake mechanism of PHBV nanoparticles for targeted delivery in epithelial cell lines

Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus; Scielo.Background: Nanotechnology is a science that involves imaging, measurement, modeling and a manipulation of matter at the nanometric scale. One application of this technology is drug delivery systems based on nanoparticles obtained from natural or synthetic sources. An example of these systems is synthetized from poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), which is a biodegradable, biocompatible and a low production cost polymer. The aim of this work was to investigate the uptake mechanism of PHBV nanoparticles in two different epithelial cell lines (HeLa and SKOV-3). Results: As a first step, we characterized size, shape and surface charge of nanoparticles using dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Intracellular incorporation was evaluated through flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy using intracellular markers. We concluded that cellular uptake mechanism is carried out in a time, concentration and energy dependent way. Our results showed that nanoparticle uptake displays a cell-specific pattern, since we have observed different colocalization in two different cell lines. In HeLa (Cervical cancer cells) this process may occur via classical endocytosis pathway and some internalization via caveolin-dependent was also observed, whereas in SKOV-3 (Ovarian cancer cells) these patterns were not observed. Rearrangement of actin filaments showed differential nanoparticle internalization patterns for HeLa and SKOV-3. Additionally, final fate of nanoparticles was also determined, showing that in both cell lines, nanoparticles ended up in lysosomes but at different times, where they are finally degraded, thereby releasing their contents. Conclusions: Our results, provide novel insight about PHBV nanoparticles internalization suggesting that for develop a proper drug delivery system is critical understand the uptake mechanism.https://jnanobiotechnology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12951-016-0241-

Antioxidant Capacity and Antimicrobial Activity of Commercial Samples of Guava Leaves (\u3cem\u3ePsidium guajava\u3c/em\u3e)

Psidium guajava is a small tree native to South and Central America. Guava leaves have traditionally been used for treating different illnesses. These benefits can be attributed to phenolics and flavonoids produced by guava. The chemical composition of guava leaf extracts was correlated with biological activity. Total phenolics, total flavonoids, ABTS/DPPH, TZM-bl, plaque reduction, XTT, spectrophotometric and Kirby-Bauer assays were used to test phenols, flavonoids, antioxidant properties, antiviral activity, cytotoxicity, and antibacterial activity, respectively. The median cytotoxicity concentration and half-maximal effective concentration values were obtained in order to determine antiviral selectivity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and herpes simplex virus type 1. Antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis were evaluated using a spectrophotometric assay and Kirby-Bauer test. The guava leaf extracts had a high phenol (0.8 to 2.1 GAE mg/mL) and flavonoid (62.7 to 182.1 Rutin Eq mg/g DW) content that correlated with high antioxidant capacity and selective antiviral activity (therapeutic index values above 10). Results of antibacterial tests indicated that the extracts have activity against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria