Teaching Index Numbers to economists

Economic statistics are frequently reported in the form of index numbers. This article considers how the field of Index Numbers should be approached in the teaching of a general economic degree. While the topic finds a natural home in statistics modules, it is emphasised that the area can also be referred to in the teaching of other areas of economics. It is also emphasised that the differences between Index Numbers theory and the practice of compiling economic statistics such as inflation can help students gain a better understanding of applied economic statistics. Methods for assessing learning in the area are also considered and available material to support teaching is also summarised

Quasi-Two-Dimensional Dynamics of Plasmas and Fluids

In the lowest order of approximation quasi-twa-dimensional dynamics of planetary atmospheres and of plasmas in a magnetic field can be described by a common convective vortex equation, the Charney and Hasegawa-Mirna (CHM) equation. In contrast to the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation, the CHM equation admits "shielded vortex solutions" in a homogeneous limit and linear waves ("Rossby waves" in the planetary atmosphere and "drift waves" in plasmas) in the presence of inhomogeneity. Because of these properties, the nonlinear dynamics described by the CHM equation provide rich solutions which involve turbulent, coherent and wave behaviors. Bringing in non ideal effects such as resistivity makes the plasma equation significantly different from the atmospheric equation with such new effects as instability of the drift wave driven by the resistivity and density gradient. The model equation deviates from the CHM equation and becomes coupled with Maxwell equations. This article reviews the linear and nonlinear dynamics of the quasi-two-dimensional aspect of plasmas and planetary atmosphere starting from the introduction of the ideal model equation (CHM equation) and extending into the most recent progress in plasma turbulence.U. S. Department of Energy DE-FG05-80ET-53088Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of JapanFusion Research Cente

33rd New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference: October 8, 9 and 10, 1937, New York City

Excursion A-2: A Geological Traverse from the Hudson River to Long Island Sound; Excursion B-3: Paleontological Trip to the New Jersey Coastal Plain; Excursion C-1: Progressive Metamorphism of the Hudson River Series; Excursion C-2: Glacial Geology of Long Island; Excursion C-3: Engineering Projects in New York City

Drug–drug interactions in pediatric oncology patients

BackgroundDrug–drug interactions (DDIs) can negatively affect pharmacotherapy. However, pediatric DDI studies are scarce. We undertook an exploratory study to investigate prevalence and clinical relevance of DDIs between cytostatic and noncytostatic drugs in outpatient pediatric oncology patients.ProcedureAfter informed consent and inclusion, the following information was collected: currently prescribed noncytostatic and cytostatic drugs, comorbidities, and use of over‐the‐counter (OTC) drugs, complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs), and dietary supplements. All medication was screened for DDIs according to two databases: Micromedex® Solutions and the Dutch drug database G‐Standard. The researcher presented DDIs with an associated potential for adverse outcome and a proposal for intervention to three independent experts. If the experts considered a DDI to be potentially clinically relevant and requiring intervention, the physician was notified.ResultsSeventy‐three patients were included (median age 8.9 years). A total of 67 different DDIs were counted (66 in Micromedex® Solutions, 14 in G‐Standard, and 13 DDIs in both databases). The medication reviews resulted in 35 interventions related to 11 different DDIs. The majority of DDIs concerned noncytostatic drugs (25/35) and one third occurred between cytostatic and noncytostatic drugs (10/35). The use of QTc‐interval‐prolonging drugs resulted in one intervention. The use of OTC drugs, CAM, or dietary supplements did not lead to DDIs.ConclusionsThis study resulted in a selection of 11 potentially clinically relevant DDIs for 73 outpatients in our pediatric oncology department. Interventions were formulated in close collaboration between physicians and clinical pharmacists. Future research should focus on assessing DDIs concerning QTc‐interval prolongation.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137518/1/pbc26410_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137518/2/pbc26410.pd

Price dispersion: the case of pasta

Scopo della ricerca è indagare la possibilità di utilizzare scanner data sugli acquisti di pasta per costruire indici dei prezzi spaziali bilaterali e multilaterali utilizzando un approccio binario nella loro costruzione.The aim of our research is to explore the possibility of utilizing scanner data on pasta purchases to build bilateral and multilateral spatial price indexes, taking a binary approach in the latter.1 Pasta plays a major role in the Italian diet. Historically, pasta consumption was mainly concentrated in the Southern regions of the country but today pasta is perhaps the product most representative of the eating habits of the Italians. The range of pasta producers runs from firms of longstanding tradition (some of them mainly directed towards local markets, such as Mastromauro in Puglia) to well known international brands (such as Barilla and De Cecco). The marked increase in pasta prices over the last two years has aroused great interest, but with little focus on spatial price diversity. This study stems from the availability of an extremely detailed panel dataset (Nielsen data) on values and quantities of pasta purchased. This data was produced by the use of bar-code scanning at retail outlets and thus includes information which provides weights at an elementary level. The use of scanner data to construct price indexes is not new in literature and there is a widespread consensus on the advantages of this approach in achieving more representative indexes. Average prices (unit values) show a marked spatial price variability: even when only considering the five bestselling products, regional prices vary greatly. The paper is set out as follows: Sect. 2 provides a description of the pasta scanner dataset and briefly looks for price variability; in Sect. 3 the requirements of comparability and representativity in the case of pasta are discussed; Sect. 4 deals with the methods and formulas chosen to obtain indexes for the regional comparisons of prices; Sect. 5 shows empirical results; in Sect. 6 a brief conclusion and suggestions for future work are given

Kinetics of a Network of Vortex Loops in He II and a Theory of Superfluid Turbulence

A theory is developed to describe the superfluid turbulence on the base of kinetics of the merging and splitting vortex loops. Because of very frequent reconnections the vortex loops (as a whole) do not live long enough to perform any essential evolution due to the deterministic motion. On the contrary, they rapidly merge and split, and these random recombination processes prevail over other slower dynamic processes. To develop quantitative description we take the vortex loops to have a Brownian structure with the only degree of freedom, which is the length $l$ of the loop. We perform investigation on the base of the Boltzmann type kinetic equation for the distribution function $n(l)$ of number of loops with length $l$. By use of the special ansatz in the collision integral we have found the exact power-like solution to kinetic equation in the stationary case. This solution is not (thermodynamically) equilibrium, but on the contrary, it describes the state with two mutual fluxes of the length (or energy) in space of sizes of the vortex loops. The term flux means just redistribution of length (or energy) among the loops of different sizes due to reconnections. Analyzing this solution we drew several results on the structure and dynamics of the vortex tangle in the turbulent superfluid helium. In particular, we evaluated the mean radius of the curvature and the full rate of the reconnection events. We also studied the evolution of the full length of vortex loops per unit volume-the so-called vortex line density. It is shown this evolution to obey the famous Vinen equation. The properties of the Vinen equation from the point of view of the developed approach had been discussed.Comment: 34 pages, 9 Postscript figures, [aps,preprint,12pt]{revtex4

Heavy quark supermultiplet excitations

Lorentz covariant wave functions for meson and baryon supermultiplets are simply derived by boosting $SU(2)_J$ representations corresponding to multiquark systems at rest.Comment: 12 pages (Revtex), UTAS-PHYS-93-4

Muon capture by a proton in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory

The matrix element for muon capture by a proton is calculated to O(p^3) within heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory using the new O(p^3) Lagrangian of Ecker and Mojzis. External nucleon fields are renormalized using the appropriate definition of the wave function renormalization factor Z_N. Our expression for Z_N differs somewhat from that found in existing literature, but is the one which is consistent with the Lagrangian we use and the one which ensures, within our approach, the nonrenormalization of the vector coupling as required by the conserved vector current. Expressions for the standard muon capture form factors are derived and compared to experimental data and we determine three of the coefficients of the Ecker - Mojzis Lagrangian, namely, b_7, b_{19}, and b_{23}.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, using revte