PRODUCER SERVICES: AN ENGINE FOR HIGH-WAGE JOB GROWTH

Producer services providers are firms that sell services primarily to the business community rather than to individuals and households. Many producer services businesses are classified in the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Service (PSTS) industry. Accounting firms, consultants, and computer design services are prominent examples of PSTS businesses that are worth studying for three reasons: 1. SUPPORT OF OTHER INDUSTRIES: PSTS industries supply the broader business community, making them a critical segment of the economy. 2. RAPID HIGH WAGE JOB GROWTH: Many PSTS industries are rapidly growing and pay high wages. The producer services sector, in fact, is the principal source of high-wage job growth in our evolving service economy. 3. STEM ASSOCIATION: PSTS industries employ high numbers of STEM workers, itself a critical segment of the economy. By2022 over 40% of the jobs in top STEMoccupations are expected to be in producer service industries1. This report highlights the performance of the PSTS sector in the nation and Nebraska over the last decade and explores whether the state of Nebraska has captured a significant share of sector employment. The report updates of 2015, 2017, and 2019 reports on the same topic authored by Brock Thompson, Eric Thompson, Uyen Tran, and Kalana Jayanetti. The current report covers a period before the recession caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic

Sales Capture Patterns among Nebraska Counties

Sales capture, the share of local spending power that is captured by area businesses, is an important measure of economic activity. Greater sales capture, which is typically measured using data on local taxable sales, creates multiple benefits for the economy. 1. EMPLOYMENT: Greater sales capture means more employment in retailers, wholesalers, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses subject to sales tax. 2. TAX REVENUE: Taxable sales are an important part of the tax base of many city governments. 3. QUALITY OF LIFE: Retail and hospitality (restaurants, lodging, amusement, and recreation) businesses account for a significant share of taxable sales. These industries are also crucial to the quality of life. Communities with more hospitality and retail options are more enjoyable places to live, and may be better able to attract or retain the population. This report uses county-level taxable sales data from the Nebraska Department of Revenue to calculate sales capture, using a measure called a “pull factor.” The value of the pull factor is found by dividing county per capita taxable sales by the state average per capita taxable sales. The state average represents the expected taxable sales in a county, given its population. The Taxable Sales Measure This report utilizes 2019 data. This is the most recent data available for a year that was not impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Data for 2019 also more fully captures online retailing. Specifically, the taxation of online retailing changed significantly in Nebraska during 2017 and 2018. Prior to those changes, online retailers were not required to collect Nebraska sales tax if they did not have a physical presence in Nebraska. By June 2018, however, most online retailers were required to collect sales tax for purchases occurring in the state of Nebraska. A final reason to use data for a recent year like 2019 is the rapid growth in online shopping. Taxable sales data from the Nebraska Department of Revenue also provide an appropriate measure of sales. A significant share of taxable sales in Nebraska occurs in industries such as retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and leisure and hospitality industries. These industries primarily reflect the spending patterns of household consumers, and as a result reflect the quality of life. At the same time, the sales of intermediate manufactured goods are excluded from taxable sales in Nebraska. This is appropriate for the current analysis. Manufacturing activity is an important component of the local economy but is not a focus for sales capture analysis

Four Poems by Toshiko Hirata

Translations of Is It February? Is It March? Is It November Again? and Is It December Again

Topological Chaos in a Three-Dimensional Spherical Fluid Vortex

In chaotic deterministic systems, seemingly stochastic behavior is generated by relatively simple, though hidden, organizing rules and structures. Prominent among the tools used to characterize this complexity in 1D and 2D systems are techniques which exploit the topology of dynamically invariant structures. However, the path to extending many such topological techniques to three dimensions is filled with roadblocks that prevent their application to a wider variety of physical systems. Here, we overcome these roadblocks and successfully analyze a realistic model of 3D fluid advection, by extending the homotopic lobe dynamics (HLD) technique, previously developed for 2D area-preserving dynamics, to 3D volume-preserving dynamics. We start with numerically-generated finite-time chaotic-scattering data for particles entrained in a spherical fluid vortex, and use this data to build a symbolic representation of the dynamics. We then use this symbolic representation to explain and predict the self-similar fractal structure of the scattering data, to compute bounds on the topological entropy, a fundamental measure of mixing, and to discover two different mixing mechanisms, which stretch 2D material surfaces and 1D material curves in distinct ways.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Smith’s Humean Criticism of Hume’s Account of the Origin of Justice

Adam Smith criticizes David Hume\u27s account of the origin of and continuing adherence to the rule of law for being not sufficiently Humean. Hume explained that adherence to the rule of law originated in the self-interest to restrain self-interest. According to Smith, Hume does not pay enough attention to the passions of resentment and admiration, which have their source in the imagination. Smith offers a more naturalistic and evolutionary account of the psychological preconditions of the establishment and morality of justice than Hume had. Smith severs the intimate connection that Hobbes and Hume made between justice and property

Optimal MRI sequences for 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in evaluation of biochemically recurrent prostate cancer.

BackgroundPET/MRI can be used for the detection of disease in biochemical recurrence (BCR) patients imaged with 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET. This study was designed to determine the optimal MRI sequences to localize positive findings on 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET of patients with BCR after definitive therapy. Fifty-five consecutive prostate cancer patients with BCR imaged with 68Ga-PSMA-11 3.0T PET/MRI were retrospectively analyzed. Mean PSA was 7.9 ± 12.9 ng/ml, and mean PSA doubling time was 7.1 ± 6.6 months. Detection rates of anatomic correlates for prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive foci were evaluated on small field of view (FOV) T2, T1 post-contrast, and diffusion-weighted images. For prostate bed recurrences, the detection rate of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) imaging for PSMA-positive foci was evaluated. Finally, the detection sensitivity for PSMA-avid foci on 3- and 8-min PET acquisitions was compared.ResultsPSMA-positive foci were detected in 89.1% (49/55) of patients evaluated. Small FOV T2 performed best for lymph nodes and detected correlates for all PSMA-avid lymph nodes. DCE imaging performed the best for suspected prostate bed recurrence, detecting correlates for 87.5% (14/16) of PSMA-positive prostate bed foci. The 8-min PET acquisition performed better than the 3-min acquisition for lymph nodes smaller than 1 cm, detecting 100% (57/57) of lymph nodes less than 1 cm, compared to 78.9% (45/57) for the 3-min acquisition.ConclusionPSMA PET/MRI performed well for the detection of sites of suspected recurrent disease in patients with BCR. Of the MRI sequences obtained for localization, small FOV T2 images detected the greatest proportion of PSMA-positive abdominopelvic lymph nodes and DCE imaging detected the greatest proportion of PSMA-positive prostate bed foci. The 8-min PET acquisition was superior to the 3 min acquisition for detection of small lymph nodes

Terminal Moraine Remnants of the Trail Creek Glacier Northeast of Sun Valley, Idaho

This optional excursion is 8 miles on paved road from the center of Ketchum (Main Street and Sun Valley Road traffic light), northeast through Sun Valley along the Trail Creek Road (fig. 1). A short walk of 10 minutes takes you to the crests of two moraines of very different ages. Here we view and discuss calcareous soils developed into the deposits, the pretty weathering-rinds developed on the sandstone cobbles, and ages of Pinedale and Bull Lake advances. During the Quaternary, an extensive system of mountain glaciers accumulated in the Pioneer and Boulder Mountains and flowed down valleys emanating from the ranges (Evenson and others, 1982, Pearce and others, 1988). An ice field several miles across accumulated in the Trail Creek Summit area and contributed ice to both the northeast-flowing Summit Creek glacier and to south-flowing Trail Creek glacier (fig. 2). Despite barroom talk in Sun Valley and Ketchum, we find no evidence that the resort towns or the Mt. Baldy ski hill were glaciated during the last ice ages. Rather, the glacier of closest approach was the Trail Creek glacier that advanced down valley to about elevation 1,950 m (6,400 ft), where Wilson Creek flows into Trail Creek, about 10 km (6 mi) northeast of the Sun Valley Inn. The remnants of the two terminal moraines are best seen on the spur at the confluence of Wilson Creek and Trail Creek (fig. 3). From the road, facing northeast, the moraines appear as low ridges sloping 12º from the walls of Trail Creek Canyon down to Wilson Creek Canyon. Crest of the upper moraine stands 55 m higher than the lower moraine. The 12º crestal slope down into Wilson Creek, and low position in the valley indicate that this was the terminus of the two glacial advances. Furthermore, only outwash sand and gravel terraces occur below this area; no till or erratics are observed on the canyon walls down valley