CONTAMINANT RESIDUES IN SANDHILL CRANES KILLED UPON STRIKING POWERLINES IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA

In 1989 and 1990, 58 sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were collected along the central Platte River in Nebraska during a study of mortality caused by powerline impact. Brains were assayed for acetylcholinesterase activity; gut contents were analyzed for residues of 25 organophosphate and 6 carbamate compounds; and livers were analyzed for 20 inorganics (including lead, mercury, and boron) and 22 organochlorine chemicals. Brain acetylcholinesterase activities appeared to be within normal ranges, and no measurable organophosphate or carbamate residues were found in the gut contents of 5 birds with the lowest brain enzyme activities. Heptachlor epoxide, oxychlordane. p,p\u27 -DDE, and hexachlorobenzene were detected in livers. Inorganics were generally below concern levels and were similar to levels found in a previous study of greater sandhill cranes in the Rocky Mountain population. Applications of these data to other investigations of contaminants in sandhill cranes are also discussed

Factors Affecting Outsourcing for Information Technology Services in Rural Hospitals: Theory and Evidence

As health information technology becomes more prevalent for most healthcare facilities, hospitals across the nation are choosing between performing this service in-house and outsourcing to a technology firm in the health industry. This paper examines factors affecting the information technology (IT) outsource decision for various hospitals. Using 2004 data from the American Hospital Association, logistic regression models find that governmental ownership and a proxy variable for hospitals that treat more severe injuries positively impact the probability of outsourcing for IT services.Health Information Technology, Outsourcing, Hospital, Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, I12, C140,

Verifications Of The Kalman Conjecture For Irrational Transfer Functions

The sufficient conditions for the Kalman conjecture to be satisfied given by Fannin and Rushing [1] are relaxed in such a way as to allow their approach to be applied to irrational transfer functions. Specific results for a class of systems containing transportation lag are presented. © 1975, IEEE. All rights reserved

Applying a Hybrid Methodology for Measuring the Economic Contribution of the Food and Fiber System to the Louisiana Economy (Bulletin #886)

This publication provides a new approach to identifying the economic contribution of agriculture to Louisiana. Both state- and parish-level contributions from food and fiber are included.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1009/thumbnail.jp

Toward More Meaningful Laboratory Experiences in Digital Signal Processing and Digital Control

Digital Signal Processing and Digital Control Are of Utmost Importance for Electrical Engineering Students, for They Are Present in Many Aspects of Today\u27s Technical World. Complex Topics Like These Should Not Be Introduced into a Curriculum as a Crash Program but Taken as Steps in an Evolutionary Process. a Successful Example of This Evolutionary Process is Well Underway at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Copyright © 1979 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc

Magnetization of rotating ferrofluids: the effect of polydispersity

The influence of polydispersity on the magnetization is analyzed in a nonequilibrium situation where a cylindrical ferrofluid column is enforced to rotate with constant frequency like a rigid body in a homogeneous magnetic field that is applied perpendicular to the cylinder axis. Then, the magnetization and the internal magnetic field are not longer parallel to each other and their directions differ from that of the applied magnetic field. Experimental results on the transverse magnetization component perpendicular to the applied field are compared and analyzed as functions of rotation frequency and field strength with different polydisperse Debye models that take into account the polydispersity in different ways and to a varying degree.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics

Orchestrating Volunteer Orientation: Introducing the O.B.O.E. Model

Volunteers generally come to their new role with varying levels of knowledge about the organization. An effective orientation program introduces the volunteers to the organization as a whole and to their specific job responsibilities. Orientation can be beneficial in assuring that volunteers have accurate information regarding the organization\u27s purpose, programs, policies, and expectations. The volunteer orientation model (O.B.O.E.) can be adapted to fit any Extension program or non-profit volunteer organization. Divided into four main topics, the orientation program is easily presented in a 90-minute session. Orientation topics of the O.B.O.E. model include: an Opening, Background, Organizational safeguards, and Evaluation

Volunteer Recruitment Packets: Tools for Expanding Volunteer Involvement

Extension agents must become proficient volunteer recruiters. The 2003 Kentucky Volunteer Administration Academy developed a volunteer recruitment packet as a tool to be used by Extension professionals, staff, and volunteers. The recruitment packet includes major components that introduce Extension to potential volunteers. Thirteen customized volunteer recruitment packets were developed based upon programmatic need and request frequency. Additional packets can be developed based upon the needs of the program and volunteers. Recruitment packets have been distributed and used in a variety of ways that extend recruitment and marketing efforts to volunteers who are engaged and supervised by the agent

Hair of the Dog: Obtaining Samples From Coyotes and Wolves Noninvasively

Canids can be difficult to detect and their populations difficult to monitor. We tested whether hair samples could be collected from coyotes (Canis latrans) in Texas, USA and gray wolves (C. lupus) in Montana, USA using lure to elicit rubbing behavior at both man-made and natural collection devices. We usedmitochondrial and nuclearDNA to determine whether collected hair samples were from coyote, wolf, or nontarget species. Both coyotes and wolves rubbed on man-made barbed surfaces but coyotes in Texas seldom rubbed on hanging barbed surfaces. Wolves in Montana showed a tendency to rub at stations where natural material collection devices (sticks and debris) were present. Time to detection was relatively short (5 nights and 4 nights for coyotes and wolves, respectively) with nontarget and unknown species comprising approximately 26% of the detections in both locations. Eliciting rubbing behavior from coyotes and wolves using lures has advantages over opportunistic genetic sampling methods (e.g., scat transects) because it elicits a behavior that deposits a hair sample at a fixed sampling location, thereby increasing the efficiency of sampling for these canids. Hair samples from rub stations could be used to provide estimates of abundance, measures of genetic diversity and health, and detection–nondetection data useful for cost-effective population monitoring

Eigenstate–Specific Temperatures in Two–Level Paramagnetic Spin Lattices

Increasing interest in the thermodynamics of small and/or isolated systems, in combination with recent observations of negative temperatures of atoms in ultracold optical lattices, has stimulated the need for estimating the conventional, canonical temperature Tconvc of systems in equilibrium with heat baths using eigenstate-specific temperatures (ESTs). Four distinct ESTs—continuous canonical, discrete canonical, continuous microcanonical, and discrete microcanonical—are accordingly derived for two-level paramagnetic spin lattices (PSLs) in external magnetic fields. At large N, the four ESTs are intensive, equal to Tconvc, and obey all four laws of thermodynamics. In contrast, for N \u3c 1000, the ESTs of most PSL eigenstates are non-intensive, differ from Tconvc, and violate each of the thermodynamic laws. Hence, in spite of their similarities to Tconvc at large N, the ESTs are not true thermodynamic temperatures. Even so, each of the ESTs manifests a unique functional dependence on energy which clearly specifies the magnitude and direction of their deviation from Tconvc; the ESTs are thus good temperature estimators for small PSLs. The thermodynamic uncertainty relation is obeyed only by the ESTs of small canonical PSLs; it is violated by large canonical PSLs and by microcanonical PSLs of any size. The ESTs of population-inverted eigenstates are negative (positive) when calculated using Boltzmann (Gibbs) entropies; the thermodynamic implications of these entropically induced differences in sign are discussed in light of adiabatic invariance of the entropies. Potential applications of the four ESTs to nanothermometers and to systems with long-range interactions are discussed