The study aims to provide an initial depiction of youth aging out of institutional care in China. Services for children cared in state child welfare institutes have been improving in the past decades in China. Lately, there is increasing consensus about the need for further understanding and alleviating challenges faced by youth who are aging out of the institutional care and transitioning to adulthood. Programs aimed at providing transitional services and support for these youth have emerged. However, research on the wellbeing of youth aging out of institutional care in China has been virtually non-existent. The study used survey data from 65 youth in one state child welfare institute to examine the characteristics and wellbeing of aging out foster youth, including their socio-demographic characteristics, independent living skills, sources of stress, coping mechanisms, behavioral problems, and social support. The youth faced financial difficulties and challenges in career planning and employment activities. They reported future self-expectations and economic hardships as major stress sources, and often referred to withdrawal as an anti-stress coping strategy. They were also identified with prevalent problematic behaviors and viewed social welfare agencies and friends as major sources of social support. This study shed light on the profile of youth aging out of institutional care in China. The results indicated that the youth reported unmet needs that require policy and practice attention. The findings are useful in informing social policies and interventions on developing support services for the youth transition to adulthood and independent living.

Little attention has been paid to the special tasks facing the many unskilled in-home workers who serve the frail elderly. With the assistance of the Community Care Training Project at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, the authors studied the needs in-home workers have for interpersonal skills. A typology of problematic interpersonal situations is presented, along with suggestions for training, assessment, and supervision of clients and workers.

The University of Colorado Advanced GNSS Multipath Model integrates 3D structure models, electromagnetic ray-tracing algorithms, antenna pattern measurements, and detailed receiver tracking loop models to simulate code multipath errors. This article presents results for three environments -a semi-urban rooftop, an F-18 aircraft, and the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower. Model accuracy is evaluated on the basis of multipath error statistics as well as time history amplitude and frequency content. In general, 1-s error statistics for all scenarios match the experimental data to within 15 cm, and time history comparisons often show good agreement in terms of amplitude and temporal variability. Frequency content is compared on the basis of a cross-correlation metric, with values of 0.57 or better for at least 67% of the data points. We also demonstrate the application of the modeling tools for the evaluation of additional antenna placements, reflector identification, and the characterization of key multipath signal properties.

This paper develops code multipath error budgets for land-based Joint Precision

ObjectivesOut-of-sample forecasts are used to evaluate the predictive adequacy of a previously published national model of the relationship between smoking behavior and real per capita health care expenditure using state level aggregate data. In the previously published analysis, the elasticities between changes in state adult current smoking prevalence and mean cigarette consumption per adult current smoker and healthcare expenditures were 0.118 and 0.108 This new analysis provides evidence that the model forecasts out-of-sample well. MethodsOut-of-sample predictive performance was used to find the best specification of trend variables and the best model to bridge a break in survey data used in the analysis. Monte-Carlo simulation was used to calculate forecast intervals for the effect of changes in smoking behavior on expected real per capita healthcare expenditures. OPEN ACCESSCitation: Lightwood J, Anderson S, Glantz SA (2020) Predictive validation and forecasts of shortterm changes in healthcare expenditure associated with changes in smoking behavior in the United States. PLoS ONE 15(1): e0227493. https://doi. SAG and as a consulting agreement with SA. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The decreases of 5% each year. Given the limitations of time series modelling in a relatively short time series, the effect of changes in smoking behavior may occur over several years, even though the model contains only one lag for the explanatory variables. ConclusionReductions in smoking produce substantial savings in real per capita healthcare expenditure in short to medium term. A 5% relative drop in smoking prevalence (about a 0.87% reduction in absolute prevalence) combined with a 5% drop in consumption per remaining smoker (about 16 packs/year) would be followed by a $31.5 billion reduction in healthcare expenditure (in 2014 dollars).