Insurance - Federal Regulation - Authority of Federal Trade Commission to Regulate False Advertising by Insurance Companies as Affected by the McCarran-Ferguson Act

Petitioner, the FTC, issued cease and desist orders prohibiting respondent health and accident insurance companies, doing business in interstate commerce, from disseminating allegedly false and deceptive advertising through the medium of local agents. These orders, issued pursuant to the FTC act, sought to proscribe such activity both in states that had statutes prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices and in states that did not. The Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Sixth Circuits concluded that the FTC had no authority to regulate such advertising in states which had prohibitory legislation. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, affirmed per curiam. The state insurance legislation in this case precludes regulation by the FTC because of the provision in the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 which allows FTC regulation of insurance only to the extent that such business is not regulated by State law .... Federal Trade Commission v. National Casualty Co., 357 U.S. 560 (1958)

Frequency-dependent polarizabilities of alkali atoms from ultraviolet through infrared spectral regions

We present results of first-principles calculations of the frequency-dependent polarizabilities of all alkali atoms for light in the wavelength range 300-1600 nm, with particular attention to wavelengths of common infrared lasers. We parameterize our results so that they can be extended accurately to arbitrary wavelengths above 800 nm. This work is motivated by recent experiments involving simultaneous optical trapping of two different alkali species. Our data can be used to predict the oscillation frequencies of optically-trapped atoms, and particularly the ratios of frequencies of different species held in the same trap. We identify wavelengths at which two different alkali atoms have the same oscillation frequency.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

State-insensitive bichromatic optical trapping

We propose a scheme for state-insensitive trapping of neutral atoms by using light with two independent wavelengths. In particular, we describe the use of trapping and control lasers to minimize the variance of the potential experienced by a trapped Rb atom in ground and excited states. We present calculated values of wavelength pairs for which the 5s and 5p_{3/2} levels have the same ac Stark shifts in the presence of two laser fields.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Accurate determination of electric-dipole matrix elements in K and Rb from Stark shift measurements

Stark shifts of potassium and rubidium D1 lines have been measured with high precision by Miller et al [1]. In this work, we combine these measurements with our all-order calculations to determine the values of the electric-dipole matrix elements for the 4p_j-3d_j' transitions in K and for the 5p_j-4d_j' transitions in Rb to high precision. The 4p_1/2-3d_3/2 and 5p_1/2-4d_3/2 transitions contribute on the order of 90% to the respective polarizabilities of the np_1/2 states in K and Rb, and the remaining 10% can be accurately calculated using the relativistic all-order method. Therefore, the combination of the experimental data and theoretical calculations allows us to determine the np-(n-1)d matrix elements and their uncertainties. We compare these values with our all-order calculations of the np-(n-1)d matrix elements in K and Rb for a benchmark test of the accuracy of the all-order method for transitions involving nd states. Such matrix elements are of special interest for many applications, such as determination of magic wavelengths in alkali-metal atoms for state-insensitive cooling and trapping and determination of blackbody radiation shifts in optical frequency standards with ions.Comment: 5 page

Energy Loss of Leading Hadrons and Direct Photon production in Evolving Quark-Gluon Plasma

We calculate the nuclear modification factor of neutral pions and the photon yield at high p_T in central Au-Au collisions at RHIC (\sqrt{s}=200 GeV) and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC (\sqrt{s}=5500 GeV). A leading-order accurate treatment of jet energy loss in the medium has been convolved with a physical description of the initial spatial distribution of jets and a (1+1) dimensional expansion. We reproduce the nuclear modification factor of pion R_{AA} at RHIC, assuming an initial temperature T_i=370 MeV and a formation time \tau_i=0.26 fm/c, corresponding to dN/dy=1260. The resulting suppression depends on the particle rapidity density dN/dy but weakly on the initial temperature. The jet energy loss treatment is also included in the calculation of high p_T photons. Photons coming from primordial hard N-N scattering are the dominant contribution at RHIC for p_T > 5 GeV, while at the LHC, the range 8<p_T<14 GeV is dominated by jet-photon conversion in the plasma.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures. Discussions and references added. New figure includind photon dat

Magic wavelengths for the np-ns transitions in alkali-metal atoms

Extensive calculations of the electric-dipole matrix elements in alkali-metal atoms are conducted using the relativistic all-order method. This approach is a linearized version of the coupled-cluster method, which sums infinite sets of many-body perturbation theory terms. All allowed transitions between the lowest ns, np_1/2, np_3/2 states and a large number of excited states are considered in these calculations and their accuracy is evaluated. The resulting electric-dipole matrix elements are used for the high-precision calculation of frequency-dependent polarizabilities of the excited states of alkali-metal atoms. We find magic wavelengths in alkali-metal atoms for which the ns and np_1/2 and np_3/2 atomic levels have the same ac Stark shifts, which facilitates state-insensitive optical cooling and trapping.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Distribution of Legumes along Gradients of Slope and Soil Electrical Conductivity in Pastures

Legumes establish and persist on backslope landscape positions but fail on summits and toeslopes in southeastern Iowa pastures, suggesting that these pastures be managed site specifically. Visual delineation of landscape positions, however, can be difficult, and char- acterization of spatial variability through soil sampling is expensive. Creation of digital elevation models (DEM) and apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) mapping are inexpensive alternatives to de- scribing field conditions. Our objective was to examine the relationships of DEM-derived slope, soil ECa, and legume distribution in pastures.We examined these relationships across four 1.4-ha pastures. Each pasture was divided into 0.46-ha plots that were assigned one of three stocking treatments: continuous, rotational, and nongrazed. We found that legumes, as a percentage of pasture cover,were greatest at 15 to 20% slopes and intermediate values of soil ECa. The absolute ECa value at which legumes were maximized varied by plot within each stocking system and year ECa was measured. When ECa was standardized by pasture and year, however, a nonlinear response curve explained 23 to 42% of the variation of legume cover across the plots. Grazing reduced competition from smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss.) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L). These grasses dominated at 0 to 8% slopes and where ECa was either low or high in value. We concluded that slope and soil ECa data are useful in identifying sites where legumes are successful in pastures and showed potential for use in site-specific management of pastures

Plant species richness in relation to pasture position, management, and scale

The objective of this research was to describe how landscape position, grazing management, and scale affected overall plant species richness and species richness per functional group in temperate pastures located in the central United States. The effects and interactions of summit, backslope, and toeslope positions and continuous, rotational, and nongrazed stocking systems on species richness were examined at sample scales of 0.18 m2 and 4.5 m2. Landscape position explained 40–63% of species richness variation at 0.18 m2 compared to 3–26% at 4.5 m2 for overall, perennial, perennial grass, vegetative-spreading grass, perennial herb, and perennial N2-fixing herb (legume) functional groups. Grazing management, in contrast, explained 22–35% of species richness variation for overall, perennial, annual–biennial, perennial grass, and perennial bunchgrass functional groups at 0.18 m2 compared to 30–43% of their variation at 4.5 m2. Landscape position and stocking system mostly did not interact. Overall species richness averaged 11.7, 14.3, and 10.3 on summits, backslopes, and toeslopes, respectively, and 14.8, 12.9, and 8.7 within the continuous, rotational, and nongrazed systems, respectively, at the 4.5 m2-scale. Backslope positions supported more species than summits and toeslopes regardless of scale, with differences that appeared related to total vegetation production and aboveground competition. Continuously and rotationally stocked pastures also supported more species than nongrazed pastures, effects that were consistent across functional types and scales. Increased scale enabled detection of a greater number of species per unit area but reduced the percentage of species richness variation explained by pasture position and management

Effects of Nitrogen Fertilization on Biomass Yield and Quality in Large Fields of Established Switchgrass in Southern Iowa, USA

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a potential biofuel crop in the midwestern United States. The objective of this experiment was to test the effect of nitrogen application on biomass dry matter yield and fiber and mineral concentrations in large field plots in Lucas and Wayne counties in southern Iowa. Two established switchgrass fields with a previous history of limited management were evaluated from 1998 through 2002. Nitrogen was applied in the spring at rates of 0, 56, 112, and 224 kg N ha−1, and a single biomass harvest was made in autumn. Biomass production averaged across locations and N levels increased by 3.6 mg ha−1 between 1998 and 2002 to 6.5 mg ha−1. Nitrogen improved yields, with the response declining as N levels increased. The highest yield throughout the experiment was 8.5 mg ha−1 at the Lucas location in 2002. Changes in fiber and mineral concentrations did not follow any trend over years but were likely due to differences in harvest date among years. Nitrogen fertilization had no meaningful effect on the quality of the biofuel produced. This study clearly shows that nitrogen application and proper agronomic management can substantially increase the yield of established switchgrass fields over time without affecting the quality of the feedstock. As this experiment was conducted in large plots using commercial farm machinery, the results should be broadly applicable to real world situations