Community Economic Change and Depression Evidence From the 1980\u27s Farm Crisis

This paper examines the effect of aggregate economic conditions in communities on individual levels of depression. While the effect of economic conditions on mental health has been examined at the aggregate level and at the individual level, models including both individual and aggregate processes are necessary to differentiate contextual from individual processes impacting mental health status. Both cross-sectional and panel data from a sample of respondents representative of a Great Plains state on which data were available in 1981,1986, and1989 were used in the analysis. The cross-sectional analysis in 1989 consisted of2,485 respondents. Panel data from 916 respondents in1981-1986 and from 1,299 respondents in 1986-1989 also analyzed In both the cross-sectional and panel data there was little evidence of an effect of living in economically distressed communities on mental health independent of the relationship to the individuals\u27 economic conditions. The research found that while individuals were able to evaluate the state of the local economy with some degree of accuracy, and their perception of the local economy was related to depression, this effect was not strong enough to produce a significant relationship between aggregate economic measures and depression. Implications of these findings for understanding community climate effects in smaller communities is discussed

Asset liability modelling and pension schemes: the application of robust optimization to USS

This paper uses a novel numerical optimization technique - robust optimization - that is well suited to solving the asset-liability management (ALM) problem for pension schemes. It requires the estimation of fewer stochastic parameters, reduces estimation risk and adopts a prudent approach to asset allocation. This study is the first to apply it to a real-world pension scheme, and the first ALM model of a pension scheme to maximise the Sharpe ratio. We disaggregate pension liabilities into three components - active members, deferred members and pensioners, and transform the optimal asset allocation into the scheme’s projected contribution rate. The robust optimization model is extended to include liabilities and used to derive optimal investment policies for the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), benchmarked against the Sharpe and Tint, Bayes-Stein, and Black-Litterman models as well as the actual USS investment decisions. Over a 144 month out-of-sample period robust optimization is superior to the four benchmarks across 20 performance criteria, and has a remarkably stable asset allocation – essentially fix-mix. These conclusions are supported by six robustness checks

Asynchronous food-web pathways could buffer the response of Serengeti predators to El Niño southern oscillation

Understanding how entire ecosystems maintain stability in the face of climatic and human disturbance is one of the most fundamental challenges in ecology. Theory suggests that a crucial factor determining the degree of ecosystem stability is simply the degree of synchrony with which different species in ecological food webs respond to environmental stochasticity. Ecosystems in which all food-web pathways are affected similarly by external disturbance should amplify variability in top carnivore abundance over time due to population interactions, whereas ecosystems in which a large fraction of pathways are nonresponsive or even inversely responsive to external disturbance will have more constant levels of abundance at upper trophic levels. To test the mechanism underlying this hypothesis, we used over half a century of demographic data for multiple species in the Serengeti (Tanzania) ecosystem to measure the degree of synchrony to variation imposed by an external environmental driver, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO effects were mediated largely via changes in dry-season vs. wet-season rainfall and consequent changes in vegetation availability, propagating via bottom-up effects to higher levels of the Serengeti food web to influence herbivores, predators and parasites. Some species in the Serengeti food web responded to the influence of ENSO in opposite ways, whereas other species were insensitive to variation in ENSO. Although far from conclusive, our results suggest that a diffuse mixture of herbivore responses could help buffer top carnivores, such as Serengeti lions, from variability in climate. Future global climate changes that favor some pathways over others, however, could alter the effectiveness of such processes in the future

Low Force Icy Regolith Penetration Technology

Recent data from the Moon, including LCROSS data, indicate large quantities of water ice and other volatiles frozen into the soil in the permanently shadowed craters near the poles. If verified and exploited, these volatiles will revolutionize spaceflight as an inexpensive source of propellants and other consumables outside Earth's gravity well. This report discusses a preliminary investigation of a method to insert a sensor through such a soiVice mixture to verify the presence, nature, and concentration of the ice. It uses percussion to deliver mechanical energy into the frozen mixture, breaking up the ice and decompacting the soil so that only low reaction forces are required from a rover or spacecraft to push the sensor downward. The tests demonstrate that this method may be ideal for a small platform in lunar gravity. However, there are some cases where the system may not be able to penetrate the icy soil, and there is some risk ofthe sensor becoming stuck so that it cannot be retracted, so further work is needed. A companion project (ISDS for Water Detection on the Lunar Surface) has performed preliminary investigation of a dielectric/thermal sensor for use with this system

Revitalization of the NASA Langley Research Center's Infrastructure

The NASA Langley Research Center (Langley) was founded in 1917 as the nation's first civilian aeronautical research facility and NASA's first field center. For nearly 100 years, Langley has made significant contributions to the Aeronautics, Space Exploration, and Earth Science missions through research, technology, and engineering core competencies in aerosciences, materials, structures, the characterization of earth and planetary atmospheres and, more recently, in technologies associated with entry, descent, and landing. An unfortunate but inevitable outcome of this rich history is an aging infrastructure where the longest serving building is close to 80 years old and the average building age is 44 years old. In the current environment, the continued operation and maintenance of this aging and often inefficient infrastructure presents a real challenge to Center leadership in the trade space of sustaining infrastructure versus not investing in future capabilities. To address this issue, the Center has developed a forward looking revitalization strategy that ties future core competencies and technical capabilities to the Center Master Facility Plan to maintain a viable Center well into the future. This paper documents Langley's revitalization strategy which integrates the Center's missions, the Langley 2050 vision, the Center Master Facility Plan, and the New Town repair-by-replacement program through the leadership of the Vibrant Transformation to Advance Langley (ViTAL) Team

A latent class analysis of cannabis use products in a general population sample of adolescents and their association with paranoia, hallucinations, cognitive disorganisation and grandiosity

Adolescents have access to a wide range of cannabis products with patterns of use becoming increasingly diverse. This study aimed to identify subgroups of adolescents in the general population who use similar types of cannabis and their association with psychotic experiences. Data on cannabis use were obtained from 467 adolescents aged between 16 and 17 years. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified groups of adolescents based on the type of cannabis used in the past 12 months. Univariate analysis explored differences in socio-demographics, substance use and mental health symptoms between groups. Multivariate analysis examined associations between class membership and psychotic experiences controlling for frequency and amount of cannabis. Finally, we explored the association between motives for cannabis and class membership using multi-nominal logistic regression. LCA identified 3 classes of adolescents: (i) herbal only (47.9%); (ii) skunk only (20.8%) and (3) mixed use (31.3%). Relative to non-users, skunk only use was associated with a 2-fold increase in paranoia (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 1.29-4.63), along with, sleep disturbance and anxiety. Monthly cannabis use and consuming 2 or more joints on one occasion was associated with a 2-fold increase in hallucinations (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.0-4.8 and OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.2-3.2), but did not reach the Bonferroni corrected p-value. Expansion and conformity motives differentiated the mixed cannabis class from the herbal only class. The findings suggest that different subgroups of cannabis users exist in adolescence as defined by the type of cannabis consumed and are differentially related to psychotic experiences and motives for use.</p

A latent class analysis of cannabis use products in a general population sample of adolescents and their association with paranoia, hallucinations, cognitive disorganisation and grandiosity

Adolescents have access to a wide range of cannabis products with patterns of use becoming increasingly diverse. This study aimed to identify subgroups of adolescents in the general population who use similar types of cannabis and their association with psychotic experiences. Data on cannabis use were obtained from 467 adolescents aged between 16 and 17 years. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified groups of adolescents based on the type of cannabis used in the past 12 months. Univariate analysis explored differences in socio-demographics, substance use and mental health symptoms between groups. Multivariate analysis examined associations between class membership and psychotic experiences controlling for frequency and amount of cannabis. Finally, we explored the association between motives for cannabis and class membership using multi-nominal logistic regression. LCA identified 3 classes of adolescents: (i) herbal only (47.9%); (ii) skunk only (20.8%) and (3) mixed use (31.3%). Relative to non-users, skunk only use was associated with a 2-fold increase in paranoia (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 1.29-4.63), along with, sleep disturbance and anxiety. Monthly cannabis use and consuming 2 or more joints on one occasion was associated with a 2-fold increase in hallucinations (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.0-4.8 and OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.2-3.2), but did not reach the Bonferroni corrected p-value. Expansion and conformity motives differentiated the mixed cannabis class from the herbal only class. The findings suggest that different subgroups of cannabis users exist in adolescence as defined by the type of cannabis consumed and are differentially related to psychotic experiences and motives for use.</p

Social support moderates the relationship between stressors and task performance through self-efficacy

This study examined the relationship between social support and objective task performance in a field setting. A sample of 197 participants, mean age 23.13 years (SD 3.56) completed measures of stressors, social support, and self-efficacy prior to performance. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed significant(p < .05) main effects for stressors (R2 = .12) and social support (ΔR2 = .14) in relation to performance, in the hypothesized directions. A significant interaction (ΔR2 = .06) suggested that social support moderated (buffered) the relationship between stressors and task performance. Moderated mediation analysis demonstrated that social support was associated with increases in self-efficacy, and self-efficacy was associated with enhanced performance, but that this effect was only salient at moderate to high levels of stressors

Creative learning conversations: producing living dialogic spaces

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleBackground ‘Creative learning conversations’, are methodological devices developed in two co-participative qualitative research projects exploring creativity and educational futures at the University of Exeter in England. Sources of evidence Framed by Critical Theory, the projects, one on dance education partnership, the other on student voice and transformation, sought to open space between creativity and performativity to initiate emancipatory educational change. This was undertaken over the course of five years in English primary and secondary schools, prioritising humanising, wise creativity (Chappell, 2008; Craft, 2008). Purpose This paper re-analyses data and methodological processes to characterise and theorise creative learning conversations in terms of social spatiality and dialogue. The characteristics are: partiality, emancipation, working from the ‘bottom up’, participation, debate and difference, openness to action, and embodied and verbalised idea exchange. Main argument This re-analysis theoretically adapts Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model to situate layered engagement. Utilising Lefebvre’s (1991) conceptualisation of Lived space and Bakhtin’s (1984) work on open-ended dialogue, the paper theorises creative learning conversations as producing living dialogic spaces. Conclusions Creative learning conversations are a way of contributing to change which moves us towards an education future fit for the twenty-first century. From a living dialogic space perspective a creative learning conversation is the ongoing process without forced closure of those in the roles of University academic, teachers, artists, students co-participatively researching and developing knowledge of their ‘lived space’ together. Given traditional lethargy in the educational system as a whole commitment to changing education for better futures demands active involvement in living dialogic space, where our humanity both emerges from and guides our shared learning