Unaccompanied Homeless Youth in Illinois: 2005

This report was prepared for the Illinois Department of Human Services by Timothy P. Johnson and Ingrid Graf of the Survey Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and coordinated by Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.This document reports the findings from a study designed to (1) assess the needs of unaccompanied homeless youth (UHY) in Illinois and (2) provide statewide estimates of the number of these youth in Illinois. For the purposes of this project, an unaccompanied homeless youth was defined as an individual age 21 or younger who, at the time of data collection, was not primarily in the care of a parent or legal guardian and who lacked a safe or stable living arrangement. Wards of the state or youth who had formed stable private living arrangements did not fit our definition.This study included two main data collection efforts: (1) a representative survey of service providers in Illinois who provide assistance to unaccompanied homeless youth and (2) a representative survey of UHY currently receiving services in Illinois

Approaches to equivalence in cross-cultural and cross-national survey research

"In cross-cultural (and cross-national) survey research, the equivalence of survey questions rivals the importance of their reliability and validity. This paper presents a review of the multiple dimensions of equivalence that must be addressed when conducting comparative survey research. Available methodologies for establishing one or more forms of equivalence are also identified and the strengths and limitations of each approach are examined. It is concluded that multiple methodologies must be implemented in order to insure the cross-cultural equivalence of survey measures." (author's abstract

Small-Scale Food Animal Production and Antimicrobial Resistance: Mountain, Molehill, or Something in-between?

SummarySmall-scale food animal production is widely practiced around the globe, yet it is often overlooked in terms of the environmental health risks. Evidence suggests that small-scale food animal producers often employ the use of antimicrobials to improve the survival and growth of their animals, and that this practice leads to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that can potentially spread to humans. The nature of human-animal interactions in small-scale food animal production systems, generally practiced in and around the home, likely augments spillover events of AMR into the community on a scale that is currently unrecognized and deserves greater attention. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2116

Optically controlled spin-glasses in multi-qubit cavity systems

Recent advances in nanostructure fabrication and optical control, suggest that it will soon be possible to prepare collections of interacting two-level systems (i.e. qubits) within an optical cavity. Here we show theoretically that such systems could exhibit novel phase transition phenomena involving spin-glass phases. By contrast with traditional realizations using magnetic solids, these phase transition phenomena are associated with both matter and radiation subsystems. Moreover the various phase transitions should be tunable simply by varying the matter-radiation coupling strength.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The Role of Public Opinion Research in the Democratic Process: Insights from Politicians, Journalists, and the General Public

This study reveals the existence of a paradox in how the public views polling within the democratic process. Specifically, even though the public believes that it can influence poli­cymaking, it considers public opinion polls not as useful as other, less representative forms of public input, such as comments at town hall meetings. Analyzing data from multiple surveys conducted in the United States of America, we find no evidence for the demo­cratic representation hypothesis with respect to polling. Comparisons across stakeholders (public, journalists, and politicians) demonstrate that general perceptions of inputs into the democratic process are similar, which confirms the citizen-elite congruence hypothesis. However, unlike members of the public, experts are more likely to believe that public opin­ion polls are the optimal method by which the public can successfully inform policymak­ing, a finding consistent with the legitimization hypothesis. With respect to perceptions of politicians, we found substantial differences regarding party registration with Democrats and Independents favoring public opinion polling and Republicans preferring alternative methods (e.g., town hall meetings) of informing policymakers

Risk Factors for Homelessness and Sex Trade Among Incarcerated Women: A Structural Equation Model

Incarcerated women are among the most vulnerable and perhaps the least studied populations in the US. Significant proportions of female inmates are substance users, and many living in unstable housing conditions or being homeless. Female inmates are often at high risk of engaging in sex exchange for drugs or housing needs. While a disproportionate number of incarcerated women have experienced childhood household adversities and maltreatments, the effects of these childhood experiences on psychosocial and behavioral outcomes of this population in later life. We apply a life course perspective to examine these pathways in a sample of incarcerated women in Cook County, Illinois. Findings demonstrated lasting, but differential, effects of household adversities and childhood abuse on subsequent life risks and opportunities among these women

African American men with low-grade prostate cancer have increased disease recurrence after prostatectomy compared with Caucasian men.

PURPOSE: To explore whether disparities in outcomes exist between African American (AA) and Caucasian (CS) men with low-grade prostate cancer and similar cancer of the prostate risk assessment-postsurgery (CAPRA-S) features following prostatectomy (RP). METHODS: The overall cohort consisted of 1,265 men (234 AA and 1,031 CS) who met the National comprehensive cancer network criteria for low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer and underwent RP between 1990 and 2012. We first evaluated whether clinical factors were associated with adverse pathologic outcomes and freedom from biochemical failure (FFbF) using the entire cohort. Next, we studied a subset of 705 men (112 AA and 593 CS) who had pathologic Gleason score≤6 (low-grade disease). Using this cohort, we determined whether race affected FFbF in men with RP-proven low-grade disease and similar CAPRA-S scores. RESULTS: With a median follow-up time of 27 months, the overall 7-year FFbF rate was 86% vs. 79% in CS and AA men, respectively (P = 0.035). There was no significant difference in one or more adverse pathologic features between CS vs. AA men (27% vs. 31%; P = 0.35) or CAPRA-S score (P = 0.28). In the subset analysis of patients with low-grade disease, AA race was associated with worse FFbF outcomes (P = 0.002). Furthermore, AA race was a significant predictor of FFbF in men with low-grade disease (hazard ratio = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.08-3.72; P = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: AA race is a predictor of worse FFbF outcomes in men with low-grade disease after RP. These results suggest that a subset of AA men with low-grade disease may benefit from more aggressive treatment

Stellar and Planetary Properties of K2 Campaign 1 Candidates and Validation of 17 Planets, Including a Planet Receiving Earth-like Insolation

The extended Kepler mission, K2, is now providing photometry of new fields every three months in a search for transiting planets. In a recent study, Foreman-Mackey and collaborators presented a list of 36 planet candidates orbiting 31 stars in K2 Campaign 1. In this contribution, we present stellar and planetary properties for all systems. We combine ground-based seeing-limited survey data and adaptive optics imaging with an automated transit analysis scheme to validate 21 candidates as planets, 17 for the first time, and identify 6 candidates as likely false positives. Of particular interest is K2-18 (EPIC 201912552), a bright (K=8.9) M2.8 dwarf hosting a 2.23 \pm 0.25 R_Earth planet with T_eq = 272 \pm 15 K and an orbital period of 33 days. We also present two new open-source software packages which enable this analysis. The first, isochrones, is a flexible tool for fitting theoretical stellar models to observational data to determine stellar properties using a nested sampling scheme to capture the multimodal nature of the posterior distributions of the physical parameters of stars that may plausibly be evolved. The second is vespa, a new general-purpose procedure to calculate false positive probabilities and statistically validate transiting exoplanets.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Updated to closely reflect published version in ApJ (2015, 809, 25

Survey participation as a function of democratic engagement, trust in institutions, and perceptions of surveys

Objective: With response rates of large-scale surveys having decreased significantly over the years and rebounds seeming unlikely, many studies now examine how response rates vary with methodological design and incentives. This investigation delves into how individual-level factors shape survey participation. Specifically, we examine the influence of individuals’ democratic engagement and their trust in institutions on intent to participate in surveys, both directly and indirectly through their perceptions of surveys. Methods: We collected survey data from a probability sample of adults (N = 1343) in Mannheim, Germany, from November 2019 to March 2020. Structural equation models were estimated to test the hypothesized relationships. Results: The analyses support most, but not all, hypothesized relationships. Democratic engagement bolstered intent to participate, directly as well as indirectly through perceptions of surveys. Institutional trust, on the other hand, only influenced the outcome measure indirectly. Perceptions of surveys had a strong bearing overall effect on intent to participate. Conclusion: The study's results suggest that the response rates and larger issues related to the perceived legitimacy of public opinion and survey research might be intertwined with orientations related to people's civic and political life. The article discusses potential ways survey researchers can counteract distrust in surveys

Cultural variability in the effects of question design features on respondent comprehension

Um Charakteristika gleicher Fragen in Gesundheitsumfragen im Zusammenhang mit interkulturellen Unterschieden im Verständnis dieser Fragen zu identifizieren, analysieren die Verfasser Befragungen zum Gesundheitssystem, wobei die Befragten vier verschiedene kulturelle Subgruppen in den USA repräsentieren (weiße Nicht-Hispanics, Afroamerikaner, mexikanische Amerikaner und Puerto Ricaner) mit Hilfe des Instruments des Behaviour Coding. Untersucht werden die Auswirkungen von vier Merkmalen der Fragebogenkonstruktion auf kulturelle Schwierigkeiten beim Verständnis der Fragen. Die empirische Datenbasis bilden 13514 Antworten von 345 Befragten auf 42 Fragen. Es zeigt sich, dass das Antwortformat, die Länge der Frage sowie das Lese- und Abstraktionsniveau der Fragen einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf das Verständnis der Fragen bei den Befragten haben. Die Kultur der Befragen hatte einen moderierenden Einfluss auf die Effekte von Antwortformat, Fragenlänge und Leseniveau. Verschiedene Aspekte des Fragebogendesigns, die den Fragebogen allgemein verständlicher machen sollen, haben ebenfalls kulturspezifische Auswirkungen. (ICEÜbers