Design and Development Process for Medical Hardware and Healthcare Monitoring Devices for Spaceflight

No abstract availabl

Correlates of Poverty and Participation in Food Assistance Programs among Hispanic Elders in Massachusetts

Hispanics are a rapidly growing population in Massachusetts, but little is known about the health, nutrition, and economic situation of the elder segment of these groups. In this report, we examine factors associated with poverty and the use of food assistance programs, using data from an NIA-funded project on Hispanic elders in Massachusetts. Poverty is shown to be a major problem with differences across Hispanic subgroups. Puerto Rican and Dominican elders have lower incomes, on average, than other Hispanics—mainly Cubans, and Central and South Americans—or than non-Hispanic whites living in the same neighborhoods. Older age, lower education, and living alone are associated with poverty within this population. Limited income sources and recent immigration are also important factors. Hispanic elders are more likely to receive SSI benefits, but are much less likely to have pension income. Financial insecurity in old age among Hispanics is associated with more chronic ailment and mobility limitations. Puerto Rican and Dominican elders have the highest poverty and disability rates and report the most food insecurity. However, with the exception of the Food Stamp program, participation in food programs tends to be very low for these Hispanic elders. Given the prevalence of problems demonstrated by these groups, more attention to program outreach and adaptation for Hispanic elders is needed.

Evaluating the application of research-based guidance to the design of an emergency preparedness leaflet

UNLABELLED: Guidelines for the design of emergency communications were derived from primary research and interrogation of the literature. The guidelines were used to re-design a nuclear emergency preparedness leaflet routinely distributed to households in the local area. Pre-test measures of memory for, and self-reported understanding of, nuclear safety information were collected. The findings revealed high levels of non-receipt of the leaflet, and among those who did receive it, memory for safety advice was poor. Subjective evaluations of the trial leaflet suggested that it was preferred and judged easier to understand than the original. Objective measures of memory for the two leaflets were also recorded, once after the study period, and again one week or four weeks later. Memory for the advice was better, at all time periods, when participants studied the trial leaflet. The findings showcase evaluation of emergency preparedness literature and suggest that extant research findings can be applied to the design of communications to improve memory and understandability. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Studies are described that showcase the use of research-based guidelines to design emergency communications and provide both subjective and objective data to support designing emergency communications in this way. In addition, the research evaluates the effectiveness of emergency preparedness leaflets that are routinely distributed to households. This work is of relevance to academics interested in risk communication and to practitioners involved in civil protection and emergency preparedness

Magnetic structure of Ba(TiO)Cu4_4(PO4_4)4_4 probed using spherical neutron polarimetry

The antiferromagnetic compound Ba(TiO)Cu$_4$(PO$_4$)$_4$ contains square cupola of corner-sharing CuO$_4$ plaquettes, which were proposed to form effective quadrupolar order. To identify the magnetic structure, we have performed spherical neutron polarimetry measurements. Based on symmetry analysis and careful measurements we conclude that the orientation of the Cu$^{2+}$ spins form a non-collinear in-out structure with spins approximately perpendicular to the CuO$_4$ motif. Strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction naturally lends itself to explain this phenomenon. The identification of the ground state magnetic structure should serve well for future theoretical and experimental studies into this and closely related compounds.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Southern Sky Redshift Survey: Clustering of Local Galaxies

We use the two-point correlation function to calculate the clustering properties of the recently completed SSRS2 survey. The redshift space correlation function for the magnitude-limited SSRS2 is given by xi(s)=(s/5.85 h-1 Mpc)^{-1.60} for separations between 2 < s < 11 h-1 Mpc, while our best estimate for the real space correlation function is xi(r) = (r/5.36 h-1 Mpc)^{-1.86}. Both are comparable to previous measurements using surveys of optical galaxies over much larger and independent volumes. By comparing the correlation function calculated in redshift and real space we find that the redshift distortion on intermediate scales is small. This result implies that the observed redshift-space distribution of galaxies is close to that in real space, and that beta = Omega^{0.6}/b < 1, where Omega is the cosmological density parameter and b is the linear biasing factor for optical galaxies. We also use the SSRS2 to study the dependence of xi on the internal properties of galaxies. We confirm earlier results that luminous galaxies (L>L*) are more clustered than sub-L* galaxies and that the luminosity segregation is scale-independent. We find that early types are more clustered than late types, but that in the absence of rich clusters, the relative bias between early and late types in real space, is not as strong as previously estimated. Furthermore, both morphologies present a luminosity-dependent bias, with the early types showing a slightly stronger dependence on luminosity. We also find that red galaxies are significantly more clustered than blue ones, with a mean relative bias stronger than that seen for morphology. Finally, we find that the relative bias between optical and iras galaxies in real space is b_o/b_I $\sim$ 1.4.Comment: 43 pages, uses AASTeX 4.0 macros. Includes 8 tables and 16 Postscript figures, updated reference

Phylogenetic relationships in the subgenus Mus ( genus Mus, family Muridae, subfamily Murinae): examining gene trees and species trees

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75415/1/j.1095-8312.2005.00462.x.pd