Twenty five years after KLS: A celebration of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

When Lenz proposed a simple model for phase transitions in magnetism, he couldn't have imagined that the "Ising model" was to become a jewel in field of equilibrium statistical mechanics. Its role spans the spectrum, from a good pedagogical example to a universality class in critical phenomena. A quarter century ago, Katz, Lebowitz and Spohn found a similar treasure. By introducing a seemingly trivial modification to the Ising lattice gas, they took it into the vast realms of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. An abundant variety of unexpected behavior emerged and caught many of us by surprise. We present a brief review of some of the new insights garnered and some of the outstanding puzzles, as well as speculate on the model's role in the future of non-equilibrium statistical physics.Comment: 3 figures. Proceedings of 100th Statistical Mechanics Meeting, Rutgers, NJ (December, 2008

Hispanic health in the USA: a scoping review of the literature

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the USA. They contribute to the economy, cultural diversity, and health of the nation. Assessing their health status and health needs is key to inform health policy formulation and program implementation. To this end, we conducted a scoping review of the literature and national statistics on Hispanic health in the USA using a modified social-ecological framework that includes social determinants of health, health disparities, risk factors, and health services, as they shape the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. These social, environmental, and biological forces have modified the epidemiologic profile of Hispanics in the USA, with cancer being the leading cause of mortality, followed by cardiovascular diseases and unintentional injuries. Implementation of the Affordable Care Act has resulted in improved access to health services for Hispanics, but challenges remain due to limited cultural sensitivity, health literacy, and a shortage of Hispanic health care providers. Acculturation barriers and underinsured or uninsured status remain as major obstacles to health care access. Advantageous health outcomes from the “Hispanic Mortality Paradox” and the “Latina Birth Outcomes Paradox” persist, but health gains may be offset in the future by increasing rates of obesity and diabetes. Recommendations focus on the adoption of the Health in All Policies framework, expanding access to health care, developing cultural sensitivity in the health care workforce, and generating and disseminating research findings on Hispanic health

L.D. Lee Solid

Mr. Solid is the retired Senior Executive of Rockwell’s Space Operations in Florida after serving over 39 years in the company’s aerospace businesses. In 1996, these businesses became part of the Boeing Company. He was responsible for overseeing all company operations at KSC and CCAS, including Space Shuttle Orbiter launch processing engineering, as well as payloads and flight systems integration. Included was the manufacture, repair and testing of the Shuttle hardware at the company’s Shuttle Logistics Depot in Cape Canaveral. Mr. Solid’s early Rockwell career was in rocket engine development. He was assigned to Cape Canaveral in 1960 as a field engineer on the Atlas launch vehicle which was being flight tested. He progressed to the company’s site manager position and served through the Apollo program in that role. In 1970, he returned to Rockwell’s Rocketdyne division to direct the company’s field engineering operations at all domestic and foreign locations. With the development of the new Space Shuttle main engine and the upcoming shuttle flights, he returned to Florida in 1980 to manage the company’s activities at the launch site. In 1990, he was selected as Vice-President and General Manager over Rockwell’s Space Shuttle business at the Kennedy Space Center. Mr Solid identifies his career high points as being a member of the Atlas-Mercury and Apollo-Saturn launch teams that put the first American (John Glenn) into Earth orbit in 1962 and the first man (Neil Armstrong) on the moon in 1969. Launching the first Space Shuttle, with its fully reusable Orbiter and SSMEs in 1981 make a close second. Mr. Solid’s many years of contribution to the Space Program has been recognized by numerous NASA and Aerospace awards. Included are 3 Public Service medals, one for Apollo and two for the Space Shuttle. He also received the prestigious Debus award for Aerospace Excellence, the ASME’s Engineering Achievement Award, the NMA’s Gold Knight Award for management, the JA’s Spirit of Achievement Award and a number of others. He has been recognized in the community for service in the fields of education technology, economic development, and space advocacy. In retirement, he continues to serve on a number of related advisory committees and boards. Mr. Solid grew up on a farm in western South Dakota. He attended the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, graduating in 1959 with a BSME. He and his wife Shirley reside in Merritt Island. They have four children and 16 grandchildren.https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-bios-2019/1068/thumbnail.jp

Medical resource use and expenditure in patients with chronic heart failure: a population-based analysis of 88 195 patients

AIMS: Heart failure (HF) is one of the diseases with greater healthcare expenditure. However, little is known about the cost of HF at a population level. Hence, our aim was to study the population-level distribution and predictors of healthcare expenditure in patients with HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a population-based longitudinal study including all prevalent HF cases in Catalonia (Spain) on 31 December 2012 (n = 88 195). We evaluated 1-year healthcare resource use and expenditure using the Health Department (CatSalut) surveillance system that collects detailed information on healthcare usage for the entire population. Mean age was 77.4 (12) years; 55% were women. One-year mortality rate was 14%. All-cause emergency department visits and unplanned hospitalizations were required at least once in 53.4% and 30.8% of patients, respectively. During 2013, a total of €536.2 million were spent in the care of HF patients (7.1% of the total healthcare budget). The main source of expenditure was hospitalization (39% of the total) whereas outpatient care represented 20% of the total expenditure. In the general population, outpatient care and hospitalization were the main expenses. In multivariate analysis, younger age, higher presence of co-morbidities, and a recent HF or all-cause hospitalization were independently associated with higher healthcare expenditure. CONCLUSIONS: In Catalonia, a large portion of the annual healthcare budget is devoted to HF patients. Unplanned hospitalization represents the main source of healthcare-related expenditure. The knowledge of how expenditure is distributed in a non-selected HF population might allow health providers to plan the distribution of resources in patients with HF.Miguel Cainzos-Achirica was funded by a research grant frorn the Spanish Society of Cardiology

Putting matter in place: measuring tradeoffs in waste disposal and recycling

Reliable information on trash disposal is crucial but becomes difficult as waste removal chains grow increasingly complex. Lack of firm data on the spatial behavior of waste hampers effective recycling strategy design. In particular, the environmental impact of electronic and household hazardous waste is poorly understood. Our study investigates waste processing in an environmental, economic, and geographic context, using novel methods to track municipal solid waste in the city of Seattle (WA). We observed the movement of 2,000 discarded items using attached active GPS sensors, recording an unprecedented spatial dataset of waste trajectories. We both qualitatively identified facilities visited along each item's trajectory, then statistical modeled characteristic transportation distance and the likelihood of ending up at a specific type of facility by product categories, place of disposal, and collection mechanism. We show that a) electronic and household hazardous waste items travel significantly longer and have more arbitrary trajectories than other types of waste and b) that existing models for waste emissions may underestimate the environmental impact of transportation by not accounting for very long trajectories