42,654 research outputs found
Occupational fatalities amongst farm workers in Ireland, 1992 – 2008
working paperBackground: Whilst occupational fatalities amongst farm workers have been studied
internationally little research has been published concerning farm fatalities or the
demography farm fatalities in Ireland.
Aims 1) To establish the incidence of farm fatalities during the 1992 – 2009 period in
Ireland, 2) to explore the changing age profile of those experiencing fatal injuries on farms in Ireland.
Methods: An official dataset containing the details of every fatal farm accident during the 1992 – 2009 period is used to evaluate changes in the number and age profile of farm
fatalities in Ireland.
Results: There were 304 deaths on farms during the 1992 – 2009 period in Ireland. The
average number of annual fatalities is declining having fallen by 16% from 18 to 16 per year during this time. The fatality rate has however increased from 15 to 22 per 100,000 workers. This has been driven by a reduction in the number of workers employed on farms and, it is hypothesised, rapid ageing of the farm workforce. The demographic
profile of those killed on farms changed significantly over the period. There are fewer deaths amongst younger cohorts. Older farmers, those over 55 years of age, now account for the vast majority of all fatal accidents.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the changing nature of fatal farm incidents over the 1993 – 2009 period in Ireland. The increasing number of fatalities amongst older farmers suggests that Ireland’s Farm Safety Partnership needs to place greater emphasis of raising awareness amongst older farmers of fatality risks
High fat diet causes rebound weight gain
Acknowledgements This work was funded by a grant from Action Medical Research (SP4581). We are grateful to the animal house staff for looking after the animals.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
What long-run returns can investors expect from the stock market?
This article analyzes how macroeconomic fundamentals and high price-earnings ratios on stocks will affect long-run returns. The first section reviews the stock market's recent performance and describes how investors and analysts have reacted to this performance. The second section shows how macroeconomic trends imply that long-run returns will remain close to their 10 percent historical average. The third section analyzes the long-run relationship between price-earnings ratios and returns. The section shows that high price-earnings ratios are consistent with lower long-run returns, and argues returns may have declined because the stock market is perceived as less risky.Stock market ; Stocks ; Stock - Prices
Helicopter transmission testing at NASA Lewis Research Center
The helicopter has evolved into a highly valuable air mobile vehicle for both military and civilian needs. The helicopter transmission requires advanced studies to develop a technology base for future rotorcraft advances. A joint helicopter transmission research program between the NASA Lewis Research Center and the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command has existed since 1970. Program goals are to reduce weight and noise and to increase life and reliability. The current experimental activities at Lewis consist of full-scale helicopter transmission testing, a base effort in gearing technology, and a future effort in noise reduction technology. The experimental facilities at Lewis for helicopter transmission testing are described. A description of each of the rigs is presented along with some significant results and near-term plans
The Online Laboratory: Conducting Experiments in a Real Labor Market
Online labor markets have great potential as platforms for conducting
experiments, as they provide immediate access to a large and diverse subject
pool and allow researchers to conduct randomized controlled trials. We argue
that online experiments can be just as valid---both internally and
externally---as laboratory and field experiments, while requiring far less
money and time to design and to conduct. In this paper, we first describe the
benefits of conducting experiments in online labor markets; we then use one
such market to replicate three classic experiments and confirm their results.
We confirm that subjects (1) reverse decisions in response to how a
decision-problem is framed, (2) have pro-social preferences (value payoffs to
others positively), and (3) respond to priming by altering their choices. We
also conduct a labor supply field experiment in which we confirm that workers
have upward sloping labor supply curves. In addition to reporting these
results, we discuss the unique threats to validity in an online setting and
propose methods for coping with these threats. We also discuss the external
validity of results from online domains and explain why online results can have
external validity equal to or even better than that of traditional methods,
depending on the research question. We conclude with our views on the potential
role that online experiments can play within the social sciences, and then
recommend software development priorities and best practices
Prader-Willi syndrome: are there population differences?
A 15 1/2-year-old black female with features consistent with the Prader-Willi syndrome is reported. This is the second case report of a black individual and the first case of a black female with the Prader-Willi syndrome. There is an apparent paucity of blacks reported with this condition. Whether this difference is a true difference or represents under-reporting is not known. We urge reporting of individuals representing other racial groups with this disorder and suggest population studies to determine the incidence as well as the true population difference in the Prader-Willi syndrome
Associated Insects Reared from Galls of Saperda Inornata (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) on Trembling Aspen in Michigan
The poplar gall Saperda, Saperda inornata Say, is a common pest of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx, in Michigan forests. Through its egg-laying activities and larval feeding, this insect causes wood defects and tree mortality (Graham et al., 1963). While studying natural populations of this insect (Grimble and Knight, 1970), we collected many galls and found through rearing and dissection that they harbor a large and varied insect fauna
Relative Flux Calibration of Keck HIRES Echelle Spectra
We describe a new method to calibrate the relative flux levels in spectra
from the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck-I telescope. Standard data
reduction techniques that transfer the instrument response between HIRES
integrations leave errors in the flux of 5 - 10%, because the effective
response varies. The flux errors are most severe near the ends of each spectral
order, where there can be discontinuous jumps. The source of these errors is
uncertain, but may include changes in the vignetting connected to the optical
alignment. Our new flux calibration method uses a calibrated reference spectrum
of each target to calibrate individual HIRES integrations. We determine the
instrument response independently for each integration, and hence we avoid the
need to transfer the instrument response between HIRES integrations. The
procedure can be applied to any HIRES spectrum, or any other spectrum. While
the accuracy of the method depends upon many factors, we have been able to flux
calibrate a HIRES spectrum to 1% over scales of 200 A that include order joins.
We illustrate the method with spectra of Q1243+3047 towards which we have
measured the deuterium to hydrogen abundance ratio.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, submitted to PAS
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