2,576 research outputs found
The Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior as a conceptual guide in the explanation of children\u27s health behaviors
This study used the Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior (IMCHB) as a conceptual guide to explain the correlates of children\u27s diet and physical activity and explore the relationships of sex with their diet and physical activity of the school-aged child. A descriptive correlational study was conducted on 371 fifth-grade students and their parents. Information on the family\u27s demographics, health experience, social influence, and environmental resources was collected, as well as data on the children\u27s intrinsic motivation, cognitive appraisal, and affective response to food/physical activity. Children\u27s self-reports on diet and physical activity were collected, as were parents\u27 self-reports on health habits. Food preferences and diet self-efficacy explained the most variance in diet behavior for girls and boys. Girls scored healthier on food preferences and diet self-efficacy than did boys, but no difference was detected in their diet behavior. Girls participated in more low-intensity physical activity, but boys participated in more high-intensity physical activity than did girls. Findings provide strong support for the use of the IMCHB to explain children\u27s diet but weak support for the explanation of children\u27s physical activity. Further study of additional factors predictive of physical activity is indicated
The Prediction of Voting Behaviour in a Nuclear Energy Referendum
This report describes an application of Fishbein's model of intention formation to a study of voting choice in a nuclear energy ballot in the USA. The sample was randomly selected from the general public (N = 89). The model successfully predicted bvoting intention (multiple regression coefficient = .92) using two major variables: attitudes to the act of voting CON and subjective norms, i.e. the voter's perceptions of how the people or groups important to them (referents) would want them to vote. Both of these components contributed significantly to voting choice although the attitude was the primary determinant. The attitudes to the act of voting and the subjective norms were, in turn, well predicted from underlying beliefs, thus allowing identification of the specific issues which differentiated between those intending to vote PRO and CON on nuclear energy.
In general both groups of voters agreed on their evaluations of the possible consequences of the ballot. Further, they were both well informed about the basic issues and potential legal consequences of the proposal. What ultimately appears to have influenced the direction of their vote was their disagreement (i.e. their contrary beliefs) about the likely effects of the proposal on three major issues: the economy, the energy crisis and improvements in nuclear safety. The positions taken on these issues clearly differentiated those intending to vote PRO and CON. It should be noted, however, that the other issues about which there was considerable debate, e.g. the question of the constitutional status of the proposal, did not significantly differentiate the two groups of voters
Lookup tables to compute high energy cosmic ray induced atmospheric ionization and changes in atmospheric chemistry
A variety of events such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae may expose the
Earth to an increased flux of high-energy cosmic rays, with potentially
important effects on the biosphere. Existing atmospheric chemistry software
does not have the capability of incorporating the effects of substantial cosmic
ray flux above 10 GeV . An atmospheric code, the NASA-Goddard Space Flight
Center two-dimensional (latitude, altitude) time-dependent atmospheric model
(NGSFC), is used to study atmospheric chemistry changes. Using CORSIKA, we have
created tables that can be used to compute high energy cosmic ray (10 GeV - 1
PeV) induced atmospheric ionization and also, with the use of the NGSFC code,
can be used to simulate the resulting atmospheric chemistry changes. We discuss
the tables, their uses, weaknesses, and strengths.Comment: In press: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 6 figures,
3 tables, two associated data files. Major revisions, including results of a
greatly expanded computation, clarification and updated references. In the
future we will expand the table to at least EeV levels
Long-Run Underperformance And The Offering Price Clustering Phenomenon
The study proposes a new informational role for the offering price of an equity IPO. Offering prices are quoted either in whole prices (e.g., 11, 2.35, 15.75, etc). Using Jay R. Ritter’s sample of 1,526 IPOs issued during the period 1975 to 1984, the study examines the relation between the presence of whole price clusters and long-run underperformance. The results indicate that fractional offering prices are associated with better long-run performance.  
Cancellation of the Chiral Anomaly in a Model with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
A perturbatively renormalized Abelian Higgs-Kibble model with a chirally
coupled fermion is considered. The Slavnov identity is fulfilled to all orders
of perturbation theory, which is crucial for renormalizability in models with
vector bosons. BRS invariance, i.e. the validity of the identity, forces the
chiral anomaly to be cancelled by Wess-Zumino counterterms. This procedure
preserves the renormalizability in the one-loop approximation but it violates
the Froissart bounds for partial wave amplitudes above some energy and destroys
renormalizability from the second order in h bar onwards due to the
counterterms. (The paper has 3 figs. in postscript which are not included; send
request to the author's e-mailbox with subject: figures . The author is willing
to mail hard copies of the paper.)Comment: 13 pages, plain TeX, SI 92-1
Investor Sentiment And Close-End Country Funds?
An innovative method to estimate the duration of investor sentiment is applied to closed-end country fund returns and it finds that U.S. investor sentiment has a short life. The effects of sentiment on closed-end country fund returns are largely consistent with existing literature however, it is only apparent in daily time-series regressions. Sentiment rapidly fades at a weekly frequency and virtually disappears using monthly return observations. These results suggest that the kind of investor sentiment for country fund prices does not have a persistent component
Bench-Scale Monolith Autothermal Reformer Catalyst Screening Evaluations in a Micro-Reactor With Jet-A Fuel
Solid oxide fuel cell systems used in the aerospace or commercial aviation environment require a compact, light-weight and highly durable catalytic fuel processor. The fuel processing method considered here is an autothermal reforming (ATR) step. The ATR converts Jet-A fuel by a reaction with steam and air forming hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) to be used for production of electrical power in the fuel cell. This paper addresses the first phase of an experimental catalyst screening study, looking at the relative effectiveness of several monolith catalyst types when operating with untreated Jet-A fuel. Six monolith catalyst materials were selected for preliminary evaluation and experimental bench-scale screening in a small 0.05 kWe micro-reactor test apparatus. These tests were conducted to assess relative catalyst performance under atmospheric pressure ATR conditions and processing Jet-A fuel at a steam-to-carbon ratio of 3.5, a value higher than anticipated to be run in an optimized system. The average reformer efficiencies for the six catalysts tested ranged from 75 to 83 percent at a constant gas-hourly space velocity of 12,000 hr 1. The corresponding hydrocarbon conversion efficiency varied from 86 to 95 percent during experiments run at reaction temperatures between 750 to 830 C. Based on the results of the short-duration 100 hr tests reported herein, two of the highest performing catalysts were selected for further evaluation in a follow-on 1000 hr life durability study in Phase II
Natural relations among physical observables in the neutrino mass matrix
We find all possible relations among physical observables arising from
neutrino mass matrices that describe in a natural way the currently observed
pattern (tan_23 and tan_12 large, dm^2_Sun/dm^2_Atm and tan_13 small) in terms
of a minimum number of parameters. Natural here means due only to the relative
smallness (vanishing) of some parameters in the relevant lagrangian, without
special relations or accidental cancellations among them.Comment: 14 pages, 1 eps figur
Coulomb blockade of strongly coupled quantum dots studied via bosonization of a channel with a finite barrier
A pair of quantum dots, coupled through a point contact, can exhibit Coulomb
blockade effects that reflect an oscillatory term in the dots' total energy
whose value depends on whether the total number of electrons on the dots is
even or odd. The effective energy associated with this even-odd alternation is
reduced, relative to the bare Coulomb blockade energy for uncoupled dots, by a
factor (1-f) that decreases as the interdot coupling is increased. When the
transmission coefficient for interdot electronic motion is independent of
energy and the same for all channels within the point contact (which are
assumed uncoupled), the factor (1-f) takes on a universal value determined
solely by the number of channels and the dimensionless conductance g of each
individual channel.
This paper studies corrections to the universal value of (1-f) that result
when the transmission coefficent varies over energy scales of the size of the
bare Coulomb blockade energy. We consider a model in which the point contact is
described by a single orbital channel containing a parabolic barrier potential,
and we calculate the leading correction to (1-f) for one-channel (spin-split)
and two-channel (spin-degenerate) point contacts in the limit where the single
orbital channel is almost completely open. By generalizing a previously used
bosonization technique, we find that, for a given value of the dimensionless
conductance g, the value of (1-f) is increased relative to its value for a
zero-thickness barrier, but the absolute value of the increase is small in the
region where our calculations apply.Comment: 13 pages, 3 Postscript figure
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