1,267 research outputs found
Population need and geographical access to general practitioners in rural New Zealand
To use a geographical information system (GIS) approach to demonstrate the extent to which different areas in New Zealand vary in their geographical access to GPs, and to analyse the extent to which spatial access varies in relation to different population groups.
Methods
Three methods; population/GP ratios, least cost path analysis (LCPA), and an allocation method (which considered the capacity constraint of GPs) were used to demonstrate differences in geographic accessibility to GPs. Travel time, and distance to the closest GP, was calculated for every census enumeration district in New Zealand (n=38336)âthus enabling population-based accessibility statistics to be calculated and aggregated to the territorial local authority level. These calculations include the average travel time if everybody visited a GP once and the population more than 30 minutes from a GP. The composition of this population is analysed according to three criteria of need: the level of deprivation (NZDep2001), ethnicity (%Maori), and age (% <5 years, and %65 years and over).
Results
There are significant regional variations in geographical accessibility in New Zealand, and these differences are dependent upon the method to calculate accessibility. Ratio measures give a different picture of GP access than the other two indicators, reflecting the fact that TAs with similar ratios often have wide variations in travel times as well as the size and proportion of the population living more than 30 minutes from the closest GP. TAs with larger numbers and a higher proportion of their populations living in such areas tend to be more deprived and have a higher proportion of Maori, especially in the North Island. There appears to be no significant trend by age.
Conclusion
Given the health and service consequences of poor access, the results suggest that more attention needs to be paid to extending the spatial information base in primary care, in order to achieve more effective planning of services for disadvantaged populations
Improved Proper Name Recall in Aging after Electrical Stimulation of the Anterior Temporal Lobes
Evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology suggests that portions of the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) play a critical role in proper name retrieval. We previously found that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the ATLs improved retrieval of proper names in young adults (Ross et al., 2010). Here we extend that finding to older adults who tend to experience greater proper-naming deficits than young adults. The task was to look at pictures of famous faces or landmarks and verbally recall the associated proper name. Our results show a numerical improvement in face naming after left or right ATL stimulation, but a statistically significant effect only after left-lateralized stimulation. The magnitude of the enhancing effect was similar in older and younger adults but the lateralization of the effect differed depending on age. The implications of these findings for the use of tDCS as tool for rehabilitation of age-related loss of name recall are discussed
KELT-7b: A hot Jupiter transiting a bright V=8.54 rapidly rotating F-star
We report the discovery of KELT-7b, a transiting hot Jupiter with a mass of
MJ, radius of RJ, and an orbital
period of days. The bright host star (HD33643;
KELT-7) is an F-star with , Teff K, [Fe/H]
, and . It has a mass of
Msun, a radius of Rsun, and
is the fifth most massive, fifth hottest, and the ninth brightest star known to
host a transiting planet. It is also the brightest star around which KELT has
discovered a transiting planet. Thus, KELT-7b is an ideal target for detailed
characterization given its relatively low surface gravity, high equilibrium
temperature, and bright host star. The rapid rotation of the star (
km/s) results in a Rossiter-McLaughlin effect with an unusually large amplitude
of several hundred m/s. We find that the orbit normal of the planet is likely
to be well-aligned with the stellar spin axis, with a projected spin-orbit
alignment of degrees. This is currently the second most
rapidly rotating star to have a reflex signal (and thus mass determination) due
to a planetary companion measured.Comment: Accepted to The Astronomical Journa
Default Risk and Equity Returns: A Comparison of the Bank-Based German and the U.S. Financial System
In this paper, we address the question whether the impact of default risk on equity returns depends on the financial system firms operate in. Using an implementation of Merton's option-pricing model for the value of equity to estimate firms' default risk, we construct a factor that measures the excess return of firms with low default risk over firms with high default risk. We then compare results from asset pricing tests for the German and the U.S. stock markets. Since Germany is the prime example of a bank-based financial system, where debt is supposedly a major instrument of corporate governance, we expect that a systematic default risk effect on equity returns should be more pronounced for German rather than U.S. firms. Our evidence suggests that a higher firm default risk systematically leads to lower returns in both capital markets. This contradicts some previous results for the U.S. by Vassalou/Xing (2004), but we show that their default risk factor looses its explanatory power if one includes a default risk factor measured as a factor mimicking portfolio. It further turns out that the composition of corporate debt affects equity returns in Germany. Firms' default risk sensitivities are attenuated the more a firm depends on bank debt financing
Tracking the Small with the Smallest â Using Nanotechnology in Tracking Zooplankton
A major problem when studying behavior and migration of small organisms is that many of the questions addressed for larger animals are not possible to formulate due to constraints on tracking smaller animals. In aquatic ecosystems, this problem is particularly problematic for zoo- and phytoplankton, since tracking devices are too heavy to allow the organism to act naturally. However, recent advances in nanotechnology have made it possible to track individual animals and thereby to focus on important and urgent questions which previously have not been possible to address. Here we report on a novel approach to track movement and migratory behavior of millimeter sized aquatic animals, particularly Daphnia magna, using the commercially available nanometer sized fluorescent probes known as quantum dots. Experimental trials with and without quantum dots showed that they did not affect behavior, reproduction or mortality of the tested animals. Compared to previously used methods to label small animals, the nano-labeling method presented here offers considerable improvements including: 24 h fluorescence, studies in both light and darkness, much improved optical properties, potential to study large volumes and even track animals in semi-natural conditions. Hence, the suggested method, developed in close cooperation between biologists, chemists and physicists, offers new opportunities to routinely study zooplankton responses to light, food and predation, opening up advancements within research areas such as diel vertical/horizontal migration, partial migration and other differences in intra- and interspecific movements and migration
A Profile Likelihood Analysis of the Constrained MSSM with Genetic Algorithms
The Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) is one of the
simplest and most widely-studied supersymmetric extensions to the standard
model of particle physics. Nevertheless, current data do not sufficiently
constrain the model parameters in a way completely independent of priors,
statistical measures and scanning techniques. We present a new technique for
scanning supersymmetric parameter spaces, optimised for frequentist profile
likelihood analyses and based on Genetic Algorithms. We apply this technique to
the CMSSM, taking into account existing collider and cosmological data in our
global fit. We compare our method to the MultiNest algorithm, an efficient
Bayesian technique, paying particular attention to the best-fit points and
implications for particle masses at the LHC and dark matter searches. Our
global best-fit point lies in the focus point region. We find many
high-likelihood points in both the stau co-annihilation and focus point
regions, including a previously neglected section of the co-annihilation region
at large m_0. We show that there are many high-likelihood points in the CMSSM
parameter space commonly missed by existing scanning techniques, especially at
high masses. This has a significant influence on the derived confidence regions
for parameters and observables, and can dramatically change the entire
statistical inference of such scans.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures; Fig. 8, Table 7 and more discussions added to
Sec. 3.4.2 in response to referee's comments; accepted for publication in
JHE
Novel insights into host-fungal pathogen interactions derived from live-cell imaging
Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge funding from the Wellcome Trust (080088, 086827, 075470 and 099215) including a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology 097377 and FP7-2007â2013 grant agreement HEALTH-F2-2010-260338âALLFUN to NARG.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Zgamma production and limits on anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma couplings in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present a measurement of ppbar->Zgamma->ll+gamma (l = e, mu) production
with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.2 fb^{-1}
collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar Collider. The
results of the electron and muon channels are combined, and we measure the
total production cross section and the differential cross section
dsigma/dp_T^gamma, where p_T^gamma is the momentum of the photon in the plane
transverse to the beamline. The results obtained are consistent with the
standard model predictions from next-to-leading order calculations. We use the
transverse momentum spectrum of the photon to place limits on anomalous ZZgamma
and Zgammagamma couplings
Search for first generation leptoquark pair production in the electron + missing energy + jets final state
We present a search for the pair production of first generation scalar
leptoquarks (LQ) in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4
fb collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider in
ppbar collisions at TeV. In the channel , where q, q' are u or d quarks, no significant excess
of data over background is observed, and we set a 95% C.L. lower limit of 326
GeV on the leptoquark mass, assuming equal probabilities of leptoquark decays
to eq and .Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PRD-R
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