Food Insecurity/Food Insufficiency: An Empirical Examination of Alternative Measures of Food Problems in Impoverished U.S. Households

This report analyzes different approaches to measuring food problems among impoverished households. Researchers investigating what public policy analysts refer to as hunger have sketched out alternative conceptual spaces within which these food problems can be measured. The narrower conceptual space may be termed food insufficiency and is distinguished by restricted household food stores, too little food intake among adults or children in the household, and direct reports or perceptions of hunger among household members. The broader conceptual space may be termed food insecurity. This term subsumes food insufficiency and extends to include resource insufficiency, the inability to acquire enough nutritious food through culturally normalized means, and anxiety about this inability, along with various attempts to augment or stretch the food supply. Since the late 1980s these two definitions of food problems in impoverished households have been understood as hunger, insofar as hunger is a measurable phenomenon for policy purposes in an advanced industrial nation such as the United States. These definitions are now central in the development of survey research items used to estimate the population prevalence of hunger, along with its predisposing socioeconomic conditions and resultant health and developmental consequences. Drawing on a data set containing survey responses from more than 5200 low income households with children in 11 sites from around the nation, we conduct an empirical inquiry of questionnaire items tapping phenomena from each conception defined above. Specifically, the study examines 34 distinct questionnaire items, and it addresses four research questions: (1) To what aspect of food insecurity or food insufficiency does each indicator point? (2) Can particular combinations of items be scaled? (3) When scaled, do the items demonstrate content validity? (4) How do the alternative measures perform in an operationalized model of the antecedents and consequences of household food problems? We test models that include variables such as household income, household food and shelter expenditures, and bills in arrears, along with the health status of a randomly chosen child from each household.

Oxygen Isotopic Constraints on the Number and Origin of Basaltic Achondrite Parent Bodies

Our data show that HED meteorites have a homogeneous oxygen isotopic composition consistent with a magma ocean on Vesta. Ibitira, Asuka 881394, Pasamonte, and NWA 1240 probably come from separate parent asteroids

Time domain numerical calculations of unsteady vortical flows about a flat plate airfoil

A time domain numerical scheme is developed to solve for the unsteady flow about a flat plate airfoil due to imposed upstream, small amplitude, transverse velocity perturbations. The governing equation for the resulting unsteady potential is a homogeneous, constant coefficient, convective wave equation. Accurate solution of the problem requires the development of approximate boundary conditions which correctly model the physics of the unsteady flow in the far field. A uniformly valid far field boundary condition is developed, and numerical results are presented using this condition. The stability of the scheme is discussed, and the stability restriction for the scheme is established as a function of the Mach number. Finally, comparisons are made with the frequency domain calculation by Scott and Atassi, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach are assessed

Spontaneous creation of non-zero angular momentum modes in tunnel-coupled two-dimensional degenerate Bose gases

We investigate the dynamics of two tunnel-coupled two-dimensional degenerate Bose gases. The reduced dimensionality of the clouds enables us to excite specific angular momentum modes by tuning the coupling strength, thereby creating striking patterns in the atom density profile. The extreme sensitivity of the system to the coupling and initial phase difference results in a rich variety of subsequent dynamics, including vortex production, complex oscillations in relative atom number and chiral symmetry breaking due to counter-rotation of the two clouds.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Oxygen isotopic and petrological constraints on the origin and relationship of IIE iron meteorites and H chondrites

New oxygen isotopic measurements of IIEs and H chondrites are indistinguishable — strengthening a possible common origin for these groups. Combining oxygen results with mineralogy, the nature of their parent body or bodies can be explored

Neuropsychological and functional outcomes in recent-onset major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: a longitudinal cohort study

Functional disability is the lead contributor to burden of mental illness. Cognitive deficits frequently limit functional recovery, although whether changes in cognition and disability are longitudinally associated in recent-onset individuals remains unclear. Using a prospective, cohort design, 311 patients were recruited and assessed at baseline. One hundred and sixty-seven patients met eligibility criteria (M = 21.5 years old, s.d. = 4.8) and returned for follow-up (M = 20.6 months later, s.d. = 7.8). Two-hundred and thirty participants were included in the final analysis, comprising clinically stable patients with major depression (n = 71), bipolar disorder (BD; n = 61), schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (n = 35) and 63 healthy controls. Neuropsychological functioning and self-rated functional disability were examined using mixed-design, repeated-measures analysis, across diagnoses and cognitive clusters, covarying for relevant confounds. Clinical, neuropsychological and functional changes did not differ between diagnoses (all P40.05). Three reliable neuropsychological subgroups emerged through cluster analysis, characterized by psychomotor slowing, improved sustained attention, and improved verbal memory. Controlling for diagnosis and changes in residual symptoms, clusters with improved neuropsychological functioning observed greater reductions in functional disability than the psychomotor slowing cluster, which instead demonstrated a worsening in disability (Po0.01). Improved sustained attention was independently associated with greater likelihood of follow-up employment (Po0.01). Diagnosis of BD uniquely predicted both follow-up employment and independent living. Neuropsychological course appears to be independently predictive of subjective and objective functional outcomes. Importantly, cognitive phenotypes may reflect distinct pathophysiologies shared across major psychiatric conditions, and be ideal targets for personalized early intervention

Local and global statistical distances are equivalent on pure states

The statistical distance between pure quantum states is obtained by finding a measurement that is optimal in a sense defined by Wootters. As such, one may expect that the statistical distance will turn out to be different if the set of possible measurements is restricted in some way. It nonetheless turns out that if the restriction is to local operations and classical communication (LOCC) on any multipartite system, then the statistical distance is the same as it is without restriction, being equal to the angle between the states in Hilbert space.Comment: 5 pages, comments welcom