Rural water districts in Illinois

Research was conducted on the legal-organization, the economic and the spatial aspects of rural water systems. With encouragement from subsidized federal government credit, rural water systems serving farmers, nonfarm residents in the open country and residents of towns under 10,000 people have been developed to meet the demands for a dependable quality domestic water supply. The 59 districts financed in part by the Farmers Home Administration, USDA, and serving only farmers and nonfarm rural residence customers in Illinois were the objects of the research. In general, these systems serve 24,000 customers and maintain 4,200 miles of line. They are located in the southern, the west-central, and the east-central regions of Illinois. The systems received financial assistance from the federal government in the form of construction grants and/or low interest loans authorized initially in 1954. The systems are generally owned and operated by "water supply districts," a special unit of local government and have to comply with all operating procedures and regulations required of public water supplies under Illinois Environmental Protection Agency authority. In analyzing the costs of rural water service, districts with greater volume and/or higher user density generally had lower operating costs. The median number of users reported was 278. In 1980 dollars, the per user average outlay for operating costs and debt retirement was approximately $16.00 per month. Only 22 percent of rural water district users were farmers. Consumption levels averaged 4.64 thousand gallons per month at an average price of$5.77. The demand for rural water service was inelastic over much of the relevant range of observations. Little evidence was discovered supporting the contention that rural water service is a major force in the shift of agricultural land to nonfarm residential use.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Increasing Influenza Vaccination Rates Among Long-Term Care Facility Health Care Workers

Seasonal influenza is a serious public health problem that is responsible for a significant number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and death. Influenza is of particular concern for individuals 65 years of age and older living in long-term care facilities. Historically health care workers working in long-term care facilities have had the lowest influenza vaccination rates compared to other health care facilities. Despite numerous efforts to increase health care worker vaccination rates, vaccination rates remain low. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to understand long-term care facility health care workers\u27 knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward influenza vaccination with the aim of increasing vaccination rates by 5% from the previous influenza season. Methods included health care worker interviews and an educational toolkit with targeted themes identified from the interview data from two participating long-term care facilities. Results identified several key areas for education. Preliminary post-intervention data demonstrated an increase in influenza vaccination rates for both long-term care facilities from the previous influenza season. Conclusion: Based on feedback from health care workers who participated in the intervention, education is clearly important and should be a priority in facilities with low health care worker vaccination rates. Ensuring health care workers have easy access to getting vaccinated at their place of employment is a method to ensure access is convenient

Tumor growth instability and the onset of invasion

Motivated by experimental observations, we develop a mathematical model of chemotactically directed tumor growth. We present an analytical study of the model as well as a numerical one. The mathematical analysis shows that: (i) tumor cell proliferation by itself cannot generate the invasive branching behaviour observed experimentally, (ii) heterotype chemotaxis provides an instability mechanism that leads to the onset of tumor invasion and (iii) homotype chemotaxis does not provide such an instability mechanism but enhances the mean speed of the tumor surface. The numerical results not only support the assumptions needed to perform the mathematical analysis but they also provide evidence of (i), (ii) and (iii). Finally, both the analytical study and the numerical work agree with the experimental phenomena.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, revtex

Transient obstructive hydrocephalus due to intraventricular hemorrhage: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND: Acute transient obstructive hydrocephalus is rare in adults. We describe a patient with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) who experienced the delayed development of acute transient hydrocephalus. CASE REPORT: A 33-year-old man with a previously diagnosed Spetzler-Martin Grade 5 arteriovenous malformation presented with severe headache, which was found to be due to IVH. Forty hours after presentation he developed significant obstructive hydrocephalus due to the thrombus migrating to the cerebral aqueduct, and a ventriculostomy placement was planned. However, shortly thereafter his headache began to improve spontaneously. Within 4 hours after onset the headache had completely resolved, and an interval head CT scan revealed resolution of hydrocephalus. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with IVH, acute obstructive hydrocephalus can develop at any time after the ictus. Though a delayed presentation of acute but transient obstructive hydrocephalus is unusual, it is important to be aware of this scenario and ensure that deterioration secondary to thrombus migration and subsequent obstructive hydrocephalus do not occur

Continuous measurements of greenhouse gases and atmospheric oxygen at the Namib Desert atmospheric observatory

A new coastal background site has been established for observations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the central Namib Desert at Gobabeb, Namibia. The location of the site was chosen to provide observations for a data-poor region in the global sampling network for GHGs. Semi-automated continuous measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, atmospheric oxygen, and basic meteorology are made at a height of 21 m a.g.l., 50 km from the coast at the northern border of the Namib Sand Sea. Atmospheric oxygen is measured with a differential fuel cell analyzer (DFCA). Carbon dioxide and methane are measured with an early-model cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS); nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide are measured with an off-axis integrated cavity output spectrometer (OA-ICOS). Instrument-specific water corrections are employed for both the CRDS and OA-ICOS instruments in lieu of drying. The performance and measurement uncertainties are discussed in detail. As the station is located in a remote desert environment, there are some particular challenges, namely fine dust, high diurnal temperature variability, and minimal infrastructure. The gas handling system and calibration scheme were tailored to best fit the conditions of the site. The CRDS and DFCA provide data of acceptable quality when base requirements for operation are met, specifically adequate temperature control in the laboratory and regular supply of electricity. In the case of the OA-ICOS instrument, performance is significantly improved through the implementation of a drift correction through frequent measurements of a reference cylinder

Lifetime of 19Ne*(4.03 MeV)

The Doppler-shift attenuation method was applied to measure the lifetime of the 4.03 MeV state in 19Ne. Utilizing a 3He-implanted Au foil as a target, the state was populated using the 20Ne(3He,alpha)19Ne reaction in inverse kinematics at a 20Ne beam energy of 34 MeV. De-excitation gamma rays were detected in coincidence with alpha particles. At the 1 sigma level, the lifetime was determined to be 11 +4, -3 fs and at the 95.45% confidence level the lifetime is 11 +8, -7 fs.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Exponential Distribution of Locomotion Activity in Cell Cultures

In vitro velocities of several cell types have been measured using computer controlled video microscopy, which allowed to record the cells' trajectories over several days. On the basis of our large data sets we show that the locomotion activity displays a universal exponential distribution. Thus, motion resulting from complex cellular processes can be well described by an unexpected, but very simple distribution function. A simple phenomenological model based on the interaction of various cellular processes and finite ATP production rate is proposed to explain these experimental results.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Lifetimes of states in 19Ne above the 15 O + alpha breakup threshold

The 15O(alpha,gamma)19Ne reaction plays a role in the ignition of Type I x-ray bursts on accreting neutron stars. The lifetimes of states in 19Ne above the 15O + alpha threshold of 3.53 MeV are important inputs to calculations of the astrophysical reaction rate. These levels in 19Ne were populated in the 3He(20Ne,alpha)19Ne reaction at a 20Ne beam energy of 34 MeV. The lifetimes of six states above the threshold were measured with the Doppler shift attenuation method (DSAM). The present measurements agree with previous determinations of the lifetimes of these states and in some cases are considerably more precise