Profiling long-term unemployment utilising the logit model : a New Zealand case study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Economics at Massey University

This study attempts to fit the logit model to a random sample of data compiled by the New Zealand Employment Service on individuals who have completed unemployment spells, over the period 1988-1997. The objective is to estimate the probability that an individual job seeker, with a certain set of personal attributes, will become long-term unemployed. The regression results are consistent with a priori expectations. However, the predictive power of the model is low, lending support to conclusions from other empirical studies that have used other approaches to modelling long-term unemployment in New Zealand. That is, the current set of personal attributes on which data arc collected in New Zealand are inadequate for modelling long-term unemployment

The impact of visual cues and lexical knowledge on the perception of a non-native consonant contrast for Colombian adults

The study investigates the impact of visual cues and lexical knowledge on the identification of a nonnative phonemic contrast. Twenty native Colombians were tested on an identification task involving 16 minimal pairs of English words, produced by four English speakers, contrasting in the presence of /b/ or /v/ in initial or medial position. The test was run in three conditions: audiovisual (AV), audio only (A) or visual only (V). Prior to the identification task, their knowledge of the lexical items was evaluated; they were also recorded while reading the words. Mean identification scores were higher for the AV than the A condition, but V and AV scores not differ. Relative to previous /b/-/v/ studies with Peninsular Spanish speakers, Colombians relied more heavily on visual cues in their identification of /b/-/v/. Although there was a trend for identification scores to be higher for known lexical items, this effect was not statistically significant. Finally, production accuracy for the /b/-/v/ contrast was not correlated with perception accuracy, but production tended to be more accurate in speakers with better lexical knowledge. The visual weighting results suggest that the degree of visual bias in speech perception may be ‘culture-specific’ rather than merely ‘language-specific’

Transition from glass to graphite in manufacture of composite aircraft structure

The transition from fiberglass reinforced plastic composites to graphite reinforced plastic composites is described. Structural fiberglass design and manufacturing background are summarized. How this experience provides a technology base for moving into graphite composite secondary structure and then to composite primary structure is considered. The technical requirements that must be fulfilled in the transition from glass to graphite composite structure are also included

Identifying characteristics of frailty in female mice using a phenotype assessment tool

Preclinical studies are important in identifying the underlying mechanisms contributing to frailty. Frailty studies have mainly focused on male rodents with little directed at female rodents. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to identify the onset and prevalence of frailty across the life span in female mice, and to determine if frailty predicts mortality. Female C57BL/6 (n = 27) mice starting at 17 months of age were assessed across the life span using a frailty phenotype, which included body weight, walking speed, strength, endurance, and physical activity. The onset of frailty occurred at approximately 17 months (1/27 mice), with the prevalence of frailty increasing thereafter. At 17 months, 11.1% of the mice were pre-frail and by 26 months peaked at 36.9%. The percentage of frail mice progressively increased up to 66.7% at 32 months. Non-frail mice lived to 29 months whereas frail/pre-frail mice lived only to 26 months (p = .04). In closing, using a mouse frailty phenotype, we are able to identify that the prevalence of frailty in female mice increases across the life span and accurately predicts mortality. Together, this frailty phenotype has the potential to yield information about the underlying mechanisms contributing to frailty.T32 AG029796 - NIA NIH HHSPublished versio

Reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Shock Through a Single Crystal of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate

Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations and the reactive force field ReaxFF were used to study shock-induced initiation in crystalline pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). In the calculations, a PETN single crystal was impacted against a wall, driving a shockwave back through the crystal in the [100] direction. Two impact speeds (4 and 3 km/s) were used to compare strong and moderate shock behavior. The primary difference between the two shock strengths is the time required to exhibit the same qualitative behaviors with the lower impact speed lagging behind the faster impact speed. For both systems, the shock velocity exhibits an initial deceleration due to onset of endothermic reactions followed by acceleration due to the onset of exothermic reactions. At long times, the shock velocity reaches a steady value. After the initial deceleration period, peaks are observed in the profiles of the density and axial stress with the strongly shocked system having sharp peaks while the weakly shocked system developed broad peaks due to the slower shock velocity acceleration. The dominant initiation reactions in both systems lead to the formation of NO_2 with lesser quantities of NO_3 and formaldehyde also produced

Structural ambiguity of the Chinese version of the hospital anxiety and depression scale in patients with coronary heart disease

Background The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is a widely used screening tool designed as a case detector for clinically relevant anxiety and depression. Recent studies of the HADS in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients in European countries suggest it comprises three, rather than two, underlying sub-scale dimensions. The factor structure of the Chinese version of the HADS was evaluated in patients with CHD in mainland China. Methods Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on self-report HADS forms from 154 Chinese CHD patients. Results Little difference was observed in model fit between best performing three-factor and two-factor models. Conclusion The current observations are inconsistent with recent studies highlighting a dominant underlying tri-dimensional structure to the HADS in CHD patients. The Chinese version of the HADS may perform differently to European language versions of the instrument in patients with CHD