The Need for Higher Minimum Staffing Standards in U.S. Nursing Homes.

Many U.S. nursing homes have serious quality problems, in part, because of inadequate levels of nurse staffing. This commentary focuses on two issues. First, there is a need for higher minimum nurse staffing standards for U.S. nursing homes based on multiple research studies showing a positive relationship between nursing home quality and staffing and the benefits of implementing higher minimum staffing standards. Studies have identified the minimum staffing levels necessary to provide care consistent with the federal regulations, but many U.S. facilities have dangerously low staffing. Second, the barriers to staffing reform are discussed. These include economic concerns about costs and a focus on financial incentives. The enforcement of existing staffing standards has been weak, and strong nursing home industry political opposition has limited efforts to establish higher standards. Researchers should study the ways to improve staffing standards and new payment, regulatory, and political strategies to improve nursing home staffing and quality

Graph-Facilitated Resonant Mode Counting in Stochastic Interaction Networks

Oscillations in a stochastic dynamical system, whose deterministic counterpart has a stable steady state, are a widely reported phenomenon. Traditional methods of finding parameter regimes for stochastically-driven resonances are, however, cumbersome for any but the smallest networks. In this letter we show by example of the Brusselator how to use real root counting algorithms and graph theoretic tools to efficiently determine the number of resonant modes and parameter ranges for stochastic oscillations. We argue that stochastic resonance is a network property by showing that resonant modes only depend on the squared Jacobian matrix $J^2$ , unlike deterministic oscillations which are determined by $J$. By using graph theoretic tools, analysis of stochastic behaviour for larger networks is simplified and chemical reaction networks with multiple resonant modes can be identified easily.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Radiometer requirements for Earth-observation systems using large space antennas

Requirements are defined for Earth observation microwave radiometry for the decade of the 1990's by using large space antenna (LSA) systems with apertures in the range from 50 to 200 m. General Earth observation needs, specific measurement requirements, orbit mission guidelines and constraints, and general radiometer requirements are defined. General Earth observation needs are derived from NASA's basic space science program. Specific measurands include soil moisture, sea surface temperature, salinity, water roughness, ice boundaries, and water pollutants. Measurements are required with spatial resolution from 10 to 1 km and with temporal resolution from 3 days to 1 day. The primary orbit altitude and inclination ranges are 450 to 2200 km and 60 to 98 deg, respectively. Contiguous large scale coverage of several land and ocean areas over the globe dictates large (several hundred kilometers) swaths. Radiometer measurements are made in the bandwidth range from 1 to 37 GHz, preferably with dual polarization radiometers with a minimum of 90 percent beam efficiency. Reflector surface, root mean square deviation tolerances are in the wavelength range from 1/30 to 1/100

Nanoplasmonic near-field synthesis

The temporal response of resonances in nanoplasmonic structures typically converts an incoming few-cycle field into a much longer near-field at the spot where non-linear physical phenomena including electron emission, recollision and high-harmonic generation can take place. We show that for practically useful structures pulse shaping of the incoming pulse can be used to synthesize the plasmon-enhanced field and enable single-cycle driven nonlinear physical phenomena. Our method is demonstrated for the generation of an isolated attosecond pulse by plasmon-enhanced high harmonic generation. We furthermore show that optimal control techniques can be used even if the response of the plasmonic structure is not known a priori.Comment: 6 page

Automation\u27s Impact on Industrial Safety

Automation has been variously described as a diabolical scheme of management, as a second industrial revolution, and as merely the next step in the slow evolution away from the sweat shops of the past. None of these definitions is completely wrong and none is completely right. As with most concepts that threaten to change existing social and economic patterns, its appraisal depends largely on how it will affect the one making the appraisal. Its importance in law lies chiefly in its impact on safety standards

Book Review

Reviewing Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Freedom to Travel, Dodd, Mead & Company, 195

Foreword

As the Chair of the Organizing Committee for the inaugural East Coast Seminar of the Canadian Petroleum Law Foundation, I am pleased to mark the publication of the papers presented at that Seminar in this special publication of the Dalhousie Law Journal

The development of a stepped frequency microwave radiometer and its application to remote sensing of the Earth

The design, development, application, and capabilities of a variable frequency microwave radiometer are described. This radiometer demonstrated the versatility, accuracy, and stability required to provide contributions to the geophysical understanding of ocean and ice processes. A closed-loop feedback method was used, whereby noise pulses were added to the received electromagnetic radiation to achieve a null balance in a Dicke switched radiometer. Stability was achieved through the use of a constant temperature enclosure around the low loss microwave front end. The Dicke reference temperature was maintained to an absolute accuracy of 0.1 K using a closed-loop proportional temperature controller. A microprocessor based digital controller operates the radiometer and records the data on computer compatible tapes. This radiometer exhibits an absolute accuracy of better than 0.5 K when the sensitivity is 0.1 K. The sensitivity varies between 0.0125 K and 1.25 K depending upon the bandwidth and integration time selected by the digital controller. Remote sensing experiments were conducted from an aircraft platform and the first radiometeric mapping of an ocean polar front; exploratory experiments to measure the thickness of lake ice; first discrimination between first year and multiyear ice below 10 GHz; and the first known measurements of frequency sensitive characteristics of sea ice