The Youth in Service to Elders (YISTE) Program: A Case Study

The Youth In Service To Elders (YISTE) Program was developed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to meet some of the psychosocial needs of the frail elderly and young student volunteers. The objectives were to promote positive interactions between these groups, to improve the psychosocial well-being of the frail elderly, and to improve the student volunteers\u27 feelings about themselves and about aging. This paper describes the YISTE program and its evaluation. The program sequence was recruitment of youth and elders, training of youth participants, supervision of the youth and elder participants, recognition, and evaluation. Two distinctive features of the program were the involvement of a full-time YISTE coordinator and a comprehensive and structured program to train volunteers and their corresponding agencies. During the 1984/85 program year, 300 frail elders and 250 students interacted in a variety of environments and activities. The evaluations for the 1984/85 program year indicated that positive outcomes were obtained for both groups

Measuring galaxy [OII] emission line doublet with future ground-based wide-field spectroscopic surveys

The next generation of wide-field spectroscopic redshift surveys will map the large-scale galaxy distribution in the redshift range 0.7< z<2 to measure baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO). The primary optical signature used in this redshift range comes from the [OII] emission line doublet, which provides a unique redshift identification that can minimize confusion with other single emission lines. To derive the required spectrograph resolution for these redshift surveys, we simulate observations of the [OII] (3727,3729) doublet for various instrument resolutions, and line velocities. We foresee two strategies about the choice of the resolution for future spectrographs for BAO surveys. For bright [OII] emitter surveys ([OII] flux ~30.10^{-17} erg /cm2/s like SDSS-IV/eBOSS), a resolution of R~3300 allows the separation of 90 percent of the doublets. The impact of the sky lines on the completeness in redshift is less than 6 percent. For faint [OII] emitter surveys ([OII] flux ~10.10^{-17} erg /cm2/s like DESi), the detection improves continuously with resolution, so we recommend the highest possible resolution, the limit being given by the number of pixels (4k by 4k) on the detector and the number of spectroscopic channels (2 or 3).Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Harnessing Semaphores Using Self-Learning Symmetries

Recent advances in compact symmetries and game-theoretic archetypes have paved the way for the World Wide Web. Even though it might seem unexpected, it fell in line with our expectations. Given the current status of certifiable modalities, theorists shockingly desire the simulation of erasure coding. In our research, we discover how neural networks [4, 5, 14] can be applied to the development of A* search

Geodesics in spacetimes with expanding impulsive gravitational waves

We study geodesic motion in expanding spherical impulsive gravitational waves propagating in a Minkowski background. Employing the continuous form of the metric we find and examine a large family of geometrically preferred geodesics. For the special class of axially symmetric spacetimes with the spherical impulse generated by a snapping cosmic string we give a detailed physical interpretation of the motion of test particles.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, final versio

β-cell stimulation by saxagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease with approximately 890,000 patients currently diagnosed with diabetes.1By 2031 it is predicted that 3.3 million Australians will have type 2 diabetes2thus increasing the demand for prevention strategies and an emphasis on early diagnosis and treatment. Saxagliptin (SAXA) is a potent, selective DPP-4 inhibitor, specifically designed for extended inhibition of the DPP-4 enzyme. DPP-4 inactivates incretins that stimulate glucose-dependent insulin secretion and inhibit glucagon secretion. A proposed MOA of SAXA involves protecting incretins from DPP-4 degradation, thus improving β-cell response. This randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, PBO-controlled study (CV181-041) assessed SAXA’s effect on β-cell function by intravenous hyperglycaemic clamp (IV HC) in T2DM patients. Patients were assessed at baseline (BL) and wk 12 in the fasting state (0-180min, IV HC) and after stimulating incretin secretion by orally ingesting 75g glucose (180-480min, IV-oral HC). HC infusions were adjusted to maintain plasma glucose at 280mg/dL. Insulin secretion was calculated by C-peptide deconvolution. Primary endpoint was %Δfrom BL in total insulin secretion (%Δinsulin) during IV-oral HC (180-480min). Secondary endpoint was %Δinsulin during IV HC (120-180min). Patients were drug-naïve with T2DM aged 43-69yrs with BL A1C range 5.9%-8.1%. Twenty patients received SAXA 5mg od; 16 received PBO. After 12 wks, SAXA significantly increased %Δinsulin from BL during IV-oral HC (adj% difference of 18.5% vs PBO, p=.035). In the fasting state during IV HC SAXA significantly increased %Δinsulin from BL (adj% difference of 27.9% vs PBO, p=.020). At wk 12 insulin secretion increased from BL with SAXA but not with PBO (Fig). Glucagon AUC during IV-oral HC also improved from BL with SAXA, (adj% difference of –21.8% vs PBO, p=.031). SAXA was generally safe and well-tolerated. In conclusion, SAXA improved pancreatic β-cell function in the postprandial and fasting states and decreased postprandial glucagon concentration

Mesoscale properties of clay aggregates from potential of mean force representation of interactions between nanoplatelets

Face-to-face and edge-to-edge free energy interactions of Wyoming Na-montmorillonite platelets were studied by calculating potential of mean force along their center to center reaction coordinate using explicit solvent (i.e., water) molecular dynamics and free energy perturbation methods. Using a series of configurations, the Gay-Berne potential was parametrized and used to examine the meso-scale aggregation and properties of platelets that are initially random oriented under isothermal-isobaric conditions. Aggregates of clay were defined by geometrical analysis of face-to-face proximity of platelets with size distribution described by a log-normal function. The isotropy of the microstructure was assessed by computing a scalar order parameter. The number of platelets per aggregate and anisotropy of the microstructure both increases with platelet plan area. The system becomes more ordered and aggregate size increases with increasing pressure until maximum ordered state at confining pressure of 50 atm. Further increase of pressure slides platelets relative to each other leading to smaller aggregate size. The results show aggregate size of (3–8) platelets for sodium-smectite in agreement with experiments (3–10). The geometrical arrangement of aggregates affects mechanical properties of the system. The elastic properties of the meso-scale aggregate assembly are reported and compared with nanoindentation experiments. It is found that the elastic properties at this scale are close to the cubic systems. The elastic stiffness and anisotropy of the assembly increases with the size of the platelets and the level of external pressure.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) and Texas Advanced Computing Center Grant TG-DMR100028)X-Shale Hub at MITSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technolog

Phase ordering in chaotic map lattices with conserved dynamics

Dynamical scaling in a two-dimensional lattice model of chaotic maps, in contact with a thermal bath, is numerically studied. The model here proposed is equivalent to a conserved Ising model with coupligs which fluctuate over the same time scale as spin moves. When couplings fluctuations and thermal fluctuations are both important, this model does not belong to the class of universality of a Langevin equation known as model B; the scaling exponents are continuously varying with the temperature and depend on the map used. The universal behavior of model B is recovered when thermal fluctuations are dominant.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Revised version accepted for publication on Physical Review E as a Rapid Communicatio

Growth Laws for Phase Ordering

We determine the characteristic length scale, $L(t)$, in phase ordering kinetics for both scalar and vector fields, with either short- or long-range interactions, and with or without conservation laws. We obtain $L(t)$ consistently by comparing the global rate of energy change to the energy dissipation from the local evolution of the order parameter. We derive growth laws for O(n) models, and our results can be applied to other systems with similar defect structures.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, second tr

Scaling and Crossover in the Large-N Model for Growth Kinetics

The dependence of the scaling properties of the structure factor on space dimensionality, range of interaction, initial and final conditions, presence or absence of a conservation law is analysed in the framework of the large-N model for growth kinetics. The variety of asymptotic behaviours is quite rich, including standard scaling, multiscaling and a mixture of the two. The different scaling properties obtained as the parameters are varied are controlled by a structure of fixed points with their domains of attraction. Crossovers arising from the competition between distinct fixed points are explicitely obtained. Temperature fluctuations below the critical temperature are not found to be irrelevant when the order parameter is conserved. The model is solved by integration of the equation of motion for the structure factor and by a renormalization group approach.Comment: 48 pages with 6 figures available upon request, plain LaTe

Time to Treat: A System Redesign Focusing on Decreasing the Time from Suspicion of Lung Cancer to Diagnosis

IntroductionMultiple investigations often result in a lengthy process from the onset of lung cancer–related symptoms until diagnosis. An unpublished chart audit indicated suboptimal delays in patients' courses from onset of symptoms until diagnosis of cancer.MethodsThe Time to Treat Program was designed for patients with clinical or radiographic suspicion of lung cancer. Pre- and postimplementation data on median wait times were compared.ResultsFrom April 2005 to January 2007, 430 patients were referred. After Time to Treat Program implementation, the median time from suspicion of lung cancer to referral for specialist consultation decreased from 20 days to 6 days, and the median time from such referral to the actual consultation date decreased from 17 days to 4 days. The median time from specialist consultation to computed tomography scan decreased from 52 days to 3 days, and the median time from computed tomography scan to diagnosis decreased from 39 days to 6 days. Overall, the median time from suspicion of lung cancer to diagnosis decreased from 128 days to 20 days. Of all patients in the Time to Treat Program, 33% were eventually diagnosed with lung cancer.ConclusionsTime to Treat Program was effective in shortening the time from suspicion of lung cancer to diagnosis and reduced time intervals at each step in the process. Earlier diagnosis of lung cancer may allow increased treatment options for patients and may improve outcomes