Derailed by the COVID-19 Economy? Older Adults' Paid Work by Intersections of Age, Gender, Race-Ethnicity, and Class

This paper addresses the uneven employment effects on older Americans (Boomers and Genxers, ages 50-75) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on monthly CPS data from January through December 2020 (IPUMS) with an intersectional approach, we first chart shifts in employment and non-employment for population subgroups defined by age, gender and race/ethnicity, including explanations for not working (unemployment, retired, disabled, not in the workforce for other reasons – NILF-other). We then examine uneven transitions --monthly individual-level shifts out of and into paid work for population subgroups, considering also disparities by educational level. We find increases in proportions unemployed, especially for women in their 50s, as well as increases in the proportions reporting they are NILF-Other, especially for Asian and Hispanic women, with small increases for Asian and Hispanic men as well. There is little change in age-graded reports of being retired, regardless of gender or race/ethnicity, though there are education-level effects.

Relativistic and QED corrections for the ground state lithiumlike ionization energies

The ground state ionization energies of Z ≤ 10 lithiumlike ions are calculated using fully correlated Gaussian wavefunctions. Leading-order relativistic corrections are evaluated, while QED corrections are established with small uncertainties by directly calculating the Araki-Sucher energy and expanding the three-electron Bethe logarithm in 1/Z. The non-relativistic α6 level shifts have also been calculated, and we have used these energies to recommend ionization energies, which include estimates of the influence of the relativistic portion of the α6 energy. The results emphasize the importance of the direct computation of the complete α6 correction, but also the need for new, higher accuracy experimental ionization limits.

DFT calculation for the electronic properties and quantum capacitance of pure and doped Zr2CO2 as electrode of supercapacitors

Defect and doping are effective methods to modulate the physical and chemical properties of materials. In this report, we investigated the structural stability, electronic properties and quantum capacitance (Cdiff) of Zr2CO2 by changing the dopants of Si, Ge, Sn, N, B, S and F in the substitutional site. The doping of F, N, and S atoms makes the system undergo the semiconductor-to-conductor transition, while the doping of Si, Ge, and Sn maintains the semiconductor characteristics. The Cdiff of the doped systems are further explored. The B-doped system can be used as cathode materials, while the systems doped by S, F, N, Sn atoms are promising anode materials of asymmetric supercapacitors, especially for the S-doped system. The improved Cdiff mainly originates from Fermi-level shifts and Fermi-Dirac distribution by the introduction of the dopant. The effect of temperature on Cdiff is further explored. The result indicates that the maximum Cdiff of the studied systems gradually decreases with the increasing temperature. Our investigation can provide useful theoretical basis for designing and developing the ideal electrode materials for supercapacitors.

"Devil's stairs", Poisson's Statistics, and Patient Sorting via Variabilities for Oxygenation: All from Arterial Blood Gas Data

This report deals with arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) for healthy adults. A comparably small data set (20 persons) holds 3-minute records of SaO2. The sample rate was 200 Hz. The charts have the looks of a "devil's stairs." A few (from 1 to 10) detectable oxygenation levels form the stair's treads, more or less long. "The risers" have two types (up and down), and all have virtually the same height, about 1 %. The inter-level shifts ( 0 to 42 switches per record) turned out a rare event at the actual sample rate. The number of switchings meets the Poisson distribution. There were found three visibly varied intensities for the switch-overs within the data set. Histograms also show the co-existing of no fewer than three subsets into the data set. The subsets differ by the intensity of switch-overs, amounts of possible levels, relative frequencies of most probable levels (modes), etcetera. In short, those all are diverse variability quantifiers. The higher variability subset has about 25 %, the lower one - 45%.

Retrospective economic judgments predict individual-level changes in vote preference in the US

While many studies have investigated what predicts citizens’ vote preferences, less is known about what predicts change in citizens’ vote preferences over time. This paper focuses on the role of judgments about national economy in the recent past (i.e., “sociotropic economic retrospections”). Two longitudinal studies show that sociotropic economic retrospections (along with partisanship, ideology, and whether incumbent is running for re-election) at a given time point predict within-person changes in vote choice over time. Furthermore, cross-lagged panel analyses found that sociotropic economic retrospections and political preferences may have reciprocal effects on each other. Together, these results illustrate the temporal dimension of economic voting by suggesting that sociotropic economic retrospections not only predict votes at single points in time, but also individual-level shifts in vote preference over time. As such, the association between sociotropic economic retrospections and vote preference is more dynamic than past literature suggests.

First-Principles Calculations of the Structural, Electronic and Optical Properties of Yttrium-Doped SnO2

We use FP-LAPW method to study structural, electronic, and optical properties of the pure and Y-doped SnO2. The results show that by Y doping of SnO2 the band gaps are broadened, and still direct at Γ-point. For pure SnO2 material, the obtained values of the direct band gap are 0.607 eV for GGA-PBE and 2.524 eV for GGATB-mBJ, respectively. This later is in good agreement with the experimental data and other theoretical results. The Fermi level shifts into the valence band and exhibits p-type semiconductor character owing mainly from the orbital 4d-Y. Additionally, the calculated optical properties reveal that all concentrations are characterized by low reflectivity and absorption via wavelength λ (nm) in the visible light and near-infrared (NIR) ranges, which leads to a redshift in the optical transparency.

Characteristics of visits and predictors of admission from a paediatric emergency room in Saudi Arabia

Background The Emergency Repartment (ER) is one of the most used areas in healthcare institutions. Problems with over utilisation and overcrowding have been reported worldwide. This study aims at examining the characteristics of paediatric ER visits, the rate of hospital admissions and its associated predictors at King Fahd Hospital of the University in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a retrospective, medical record-based study. Variables included gender, age group, nationality, complaints, Triage level, shifts and seasons. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequencies/percentages. P-values were obtained through a Chi-Squared test while unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were estimated by binary logistic regression, where admission was considered as the outcome. Results The total number of paediatric patients included was 46,374, and only 2.5% were admitted. Males comprised 55.4% while females comprised 44.6%. The most common age group were toddlers, and 92.4% of the total sample were Saudis. The most common complaint was fever (26.9%) followed by respiratory symptoms (24.9%). Only 7 patients (0.02%) were classified as triage I (Resuscitation), and most were triage IV (Less urgent) (71.0%). Most visits occurred during the winter months. Adjusted ORs showed that neonates had higher odds of admission (OR = 3.85, 95%CI = 2.57–5.76). Moreover, those presenting with haematological conditions showed an OR of 65.49 (95%CI = 47.85–89.64), followed by endocrine conditions showing an OR of 34.89 (95%CI = 23.65–51.47). Triage I had a very high odds of admission (OR = 19.02, 95%CI = 2.70–133.76), whereas triage V was associated with a very low odds of admission (OR = 0.30, 95%CI = 0.23–0.38). Conclusions A low rate of hospital admission was found in comparison with other rates worldwide. This was mostly attributed to an alarmingly high number of non-urgent ER visits. This further emphasises the problem with improper use of ER services, as these cases should be more appropriately directed towards primary healthcare centres. Further studies to examine the impact of prioritising patients in the ER based on the identified predictors of hospital admission, in addition to the standard triage system, are suggested.

Green Revolution: An Innovation for Environmental Pollution in Changing Climate of World

Urbanization, agriculture, industrial work and greenhouse effect are the leading causes of the climatic changes all over the world. The impacts of climatic change include losses of biodiversity, rise of sea level, shifts in weather pattern, changes in fresh water supply and an increase in harsh / extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts as well as glaciers melting and various health impacts on living organisms. It is a key concern that has been impacting human health, plants as well as animals. The concept of green revolution is based on plantation activities, increasing aforestation, decreasing deforestation, overgrazing etc. and such processes enable to protect and benefit the economy, habitat, people and planet. Plants use CO2 and other toxic materials which can persist in the environment. The findings of this study showed that plantation activities should be considered on large scale for monitoring of environmental quality. As plants act as natural lungs of Universe and release oxygen providing good quality of air. In order to mitigate problems regarding climatic changes, we need to minimize the different types of environmental pollutants and to maximize the plantation activities to overcome the climatic changes all over the world.