136 research outputs found
Impact of School Social Support and Bullying Victimization on Psychological Distress among California Adolescents
Background and Purpose: National reports showed that over 20% of high school students were victims of bullying, which could potentially lead to psychological problems. School social support may be protective against mental distress linked with victimization. This study examined the main and moderating effects of social support from adults in schools on non-specific serious psychological distress (SPD) related to victimization among California adolescents. Methods: Utilizing the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), we analyzed a representative sample of 2,799 adolescents aged 12-17 years old. Logistic regression analyses were conducted modeling the odds of SPD in relation to school social support and victimization. Results: Adolescents who were victimized were twice as likely to have SPD compared to non-victims. Higher level of social support from adults in schools was protective against SPD, but did not buffer the effect of bullying exposure. Discussion: Findings from the present study suggested that adult support from schools can help with studentsā psychological problems but does not appear to prevent the psychological consequences of victimization. Additional intervention is needed, above and beyond social support, to prevent victimization and its psychological consequences
Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Needs of Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Rural-Urban Comparison in Delaware, USA.
Background: Older adults in rural areas have unique transportation barriers to accessing medical care, which include a lack of mass transit options and considerable distances to health-related services. This study contrasts non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) service utilization patterns and associated costs for Medicaid middle-aged and older adults in rural versus urban areas. Methods: Data were analyzed from 39,194 NEMT users of LogistiCare-brokered services in Delaware residing in rural (68.3%) and urban (30.9%) areas. Multivariable logistic analyses compared trip characteristics by rurality designation. Results: Rural (37.2%) and urban (41.2%) participants used services more frequently for dialysis than for any other medical concern. Older age and personal accompaniment were more common and wheel chair use was less common for rural trips. The mean cost per trip was greater for rural users (difference of $2910 per trip), which was attributed to the greater distance per trip in rural areas. Conclusions: Among a sample who were eligible for subsidized NEMT and who utilized this service, rural trips tended to be longer and, therefore, higher in cost. Over 50% of trips were made for dialysis highlighting the need to address prevention and, potentially, health service improvements for rural dialysis patients
Hungry for Respect: Discrimination Among Adults Using Emergency Food Services
Objectives: We examined how adults using emergency food services report discrimination and how these reports may be associated with well-being.
Methods: Data come from a survey (n=318) and from five focus groups of adults using emergency food services, conducted between 2003-2004. The survey included measures derived from the Everyday Discrimination Scale and the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Focus groups were analyzed with content analysis.
Results: The survey data suggest that everyday discrimination was associated with the CES-D, conditional on covariates. Focus group data are consistent with the survey results and suggest several avenues for future research, including how some individuals may forgo access to food and medications in order to protect their dignity in the face of discrimination.
Conclusions: Qualitative and quantitative data converge into a similar theme - discrimination may be an important factor associated with well-being
From data to decisions: understanding information flows within regulatory water quality monitoring programs
Most countries maintain regulatory requirements for testing of drinking water supplies to guide treatment procedures and ensure safe water delivery to consumers. It is unclear, however, if water quality data are always used effectively, particularly in low-resource settings. Efforts to improve the use of water quality data will benefit from a comprehensive understanding of existing systems for managing and sharing information. This study evaluates the methods used to organize, analyze, and transmit drinking water quality data among 26 water supplier or surveillance institutions and two regulatory agencies in six countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Following extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection, we developed data flow diagrams to map formal and informal water quality networks. We found high levels of similarities between the information systems established by different institutions operating under different regulatory structures. We determined that the key barriers to information flows were the limited aggregation and analysis of data and the poor enforcement of data sharing requirements. Our results suggest that broad reforms are necessary to improve the use of these water quality data to manage water safety. These measures could include strengthening enforcement of testing and reporting, building staff capacity for managing and using data, and integrating collection of water quality data with other information systems
Characterizing the Optical Variability of Bright Blazars: Variability-based Selection of Fermi Active Galactic Nuclei
We investigate the use of optical photometric variability to select and identify blazars in large-scale time-domain
surveys, in part to aid in the identification of blazar counterparts to the ā¼30% of Ī³ -ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL
catalog still lacking reliable associations. Using data from the optical LINEAR asteroid survey, we characterize the
optical variability of blazars by fitting a damped random walk model to individual light curves with two main model
parameters, the characteristic timescales of variability Ļ , and driving amplitudes on short timescales Ļ . Imposing
cuts on minimum Ļ and Ļ allows for blazar selection with high efficiency E and completeness C. To test the
efficacy of this approach, we apply this method to optically variable LINEAR objects that fall within the several arcminute error ellipses of Ī³ -ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog. Despite the extreme stellar contamination at the shallow depth of the LINEAR survey, we are able to recover previously associated optical counterparts to Fermi active galactic nuclei with E ā„ 88% and C = 88% in Fermi 95% confidence error ellipses having semimajor axis r < 8'. We find that the suggested radio counterpart to Fermi source 2FGL J1649.6+5238 has optical variability consistent with other Ī³ -ray blazars and is likely to be the Ī³ -ray source. Our results suggest that the variability of the non-thermal jet emission in blazars is stochastic in nature, with unique variability properties due to the effects of relativistic beaming. After correcting for beaming, we estimate that the characteristic timescale of blazar variability is ā¼3 years in the rest frame of the jet, in contrast with the ā¼320 day disk flux timescale observed in quasars. The variability-based selection method presented will be useful for blazar identification in time-domain optical surveys and is also a probe of jet physics
A lower to middle Eocene astrochronology for the Mentelle Basin (Australia) and its implications for the geologic time scale
The geologic time scale for the Cenozoic Era has been notably improved over the last decades by virtue of integrated stratigraphy, combining high-resolution astrochronologies, biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy with high-precision radioisotopic dates. However, the middle Eocene remains a weak link. The so-called āEocene time scale gapā reflects the scarcity of suitable study sections with clear astronomically-forced variations in carbonate content, primarily because large parts of the oceans were starved of carbonate during the Eocene greenhouse. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 369 cored a carbonate-rich sedimentary sequence of Eocene age in the Mentelle Basin (Site U1514, offshore southwest Australia). The sequence consists of nannofossil chalk and exhibits rhythmic clay content variability. Here, we show that IODP Site U1514 allows for the extraction of an astronomical signal and the construction of an Eocene astrochronology, using 3-cm resolution X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) core scans. The XRF-derived ratio between calcium and iron content (Ca/Fe) tracks the lithologic variability and serves as the basis for our U1514 astrochronology. We present a 16 million-year-long (40-56 Ma) nearly continuous history of Eocene sedimentation with variations paced by eccentricity and obliquity. We supplement the high-resolution XRF data with low-resolution bulk carbon and oxygen isotopes, recording the long-term cooling trend from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM ā ca. 56 Ma) into the middle Eocene (ca. 40 Ma). Our early Eocene astrochronology corroborates existing chronologies based on deep-sea sites and Italian land sections. For the middle Eocene, the sedimentological record at U1514 provides a single-site geochemical backbone and thus offers a further step towards a fully integrated Cenozoic geologic time scale at orbital resolution
Family planning, antenatal and delivery care: cross-sectional survey evidence on levels of coverage and inequalities by public and private sector in 57 low- and middle-income countries.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the role of the private sector in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We used Demographic and Health Surveys for 57 countries (2000-2013) to evaluate the private sector's share in providing three reproductive and maternal/newborn health services (family planning, antenatal and delivery care), in total and by socio-economic position. METHODS: We used data from 865 547 women aged 15-49, representing a total of 3 billion people. We defined 'met and unmet need for services' and 'use of appropriate service types' clearly and developed explicit classifications of source and sector of provision. RESULTS: Across the four regions (sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East/Europe, Asia and Latin America), unmet need ranged from 28% to 61% for family planning, 8% to 22% for ANC and 21% to 51% for delivery care. The private-sector share among users of family planning services was 37-39% across regions (overall mean: 37%; median across countries: 41%). The private-sector market share among users of ANC was 13-61% across regions (overall mean: 44%; median across countries: 15%). The private-sector share among appropriate deliveries was 9-56% across regions (overall mean: 40%; median across countries: 14%). For all three healthcare services, women in the richest wealth quintile used private services more than the poorest. Wealth gaps in met need for services were smallest for family planning and largest for delivery care. CONCLUSIONS: The private sector serves substantial numbers of women in LMICs, particularly the richest. To achieve universal health coverage, including adequate quality care, it is imperative to understand this sector, starting with improved data collection on healthcare provision
The destruction and recreation of the X-ray corona in a changing-look Active Galactic Nucleus
We present the drastic transformation of the X-ray properties of the active
galactic nucleus 1ES 1927+654, following a changing-look event. After the
optical/UV outburst the power-law component, produced in the X-ray corona,
disappeared, and the spectrum of 1ES 1927+65 instead became dominated by a
blackbody component ( eV). This implies that the X-ray corona,
ubiquitously found in AGN, was destroyed in the event. Our dense day
long X-ray monitoring shows that the source is extremely variable in the X-ray
band. On long time scales the source varies up to dex in
days, while on short timescales up to dex in hours. The
luminosity of the source is found to first show a strong dip down to , and then a constant increase in luminosity to levels
exceeding the pre-outburst level 300 days after the optical event
detection, rising up asymptotically to .
As the X-ray luminosity of the source increases, the X-ray corona is recreated,
and a very steep power-law component () reappears, and
dominates the emission for 0.3-2 keV luminosities , days after the beginning of the event.
We discuss possible origins of this event, and speculate that our observations
could be explained by the interaction between the accretion flow and debris
from a tidally disrupted star. Our results show that changing-look events can
be associated with dramatic and rapid transformations of the innermost regions
of accreting SMBHs.Comment: ApJL in pres
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