An information approach to the dynamics in farm income: implications for farmland markets

The valuation of farmland is a perennial issue for agricultural policy, given its importance in the farm investment portfolio. Despite the significance of farmland values to farmer wealth, prediction remains a difficult task. This study develops a dynamic information measure to examine the informational content of farmland values and farm income in explaining the distribution of farmland values over time

Rotator and extender ferroelectrics: Importance of the shear coefficient to the piezoelectric properties of domain-engineered crystals and ceramics

The importance of a high shear coefficient d15 (or d24) to the piezoelectric properties of domain-engineered and polycrystalline ferroelectrics is discussed. The extent of polarization rotation, as a mechanism of piezoelectric response, is directly correlated to the shear coefficient. The terms "rotator" and "extender" are introduced to distinguish the contrasting behaviors of crystals such as 4mm BaTiO3 and PbTiO3. In "rotator" ferroelectrics, where d15 is high relative to the longitudinal coefficient d33, polarization rotation is the dominant mechanism of piezoelectric response; the maximum longitudinal piezoelectric response is found away from the polar axis. In "extender" ferroelectrics, d15 is low and the collinear effect dominates; the maximum piezoelectric response is found along the polar axis. A variety of 3m, mm2 and 4mm ferroelectrics, with various crystal structures based on oxygen octahedra, are classified in this way. It is shown that the largest piezoelectric anisotropies d15/d33 are always found in 3m crystals; this is a result of the intrinsic electrostrictive anisotropy of the constituent oxygen octahedra. Finally, for a given symmetry, the piezoelectric anisotropy increases close to ferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transitions; this includes morphotropic phase boundaries and temperature induced polymorphic transitions.Comment: accepted in J. Appl. Phy

The United States Chiropractic Workforce: An alternative or complement to primary care?

UnlabelledBackgroundIn the United States (US) a shortage of primary care physicians has become evident. Other health care providers such as chiropractors might help address some of the nation's primary care needs simply by being located in areas of lesser primary care resources. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the distribution of the chiropractic workforce across the country and compare it to that of primary care physicians.MethodsWe used nationally representative data to estimate the per 100,000 capita supply of chiropractors and primary care physicians according to the 306 predefined Hospital Referral Regions. Multiple variable Poisson regression was used to examine the influence of population characteristics on the supply of both practitioner-types.ResultsAccording to these data, there are 74,623 US chiropractors and the per capita supply of chiropractors varies more than 10-fold across the nation. Chiropractors practice in areas with greater supply of primary care physicians (Pearson's correlation 0.17, p-value < 0.001) and appear to be more responsive to market conditions (i.e. more heavily influenced by population characteristics) in regards to practice location than primary care physicians.ConclusionThese findings suggest that chiropractors practice in areas of greater primary care physician supply. Therefore chiropractors may be functioning in more complementary roles to primary care as opposed to an alternative point of access

Classical Region of a Trapped Bose Gas

The classical region of a Bose gas consists of all single-particle modes that have a high average occupation and are well-described by a classical field. Highly-occupied modes only occur in massive Bose gases at ultra-cold temperatures, in contrast to the photon case where there are highly-occupied modes at all temperatures. For the Bose gas the number of these modes is dependent on the temperature, the total number of particles and their interaction strength. In this paper we characterize the classical region of a harmonically trapped Bose gas over a wide parameter regime. We use a Hartree-Fock approach to account for the effects of interactions, which we observe to significantly change the classical region as compared to the idealized case. We compare our results to full classical field calculations and show that the Hartree-Fock approach provides a qualitatively accurate description of classical region for the interacting gas.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; updated to include new results with interaction

Population-level factors associated with maternal mortality in the United States, 1997–2012

Abstract Background In contrast to peer nations, the United States is experiencing rapid increases in maternal mortality. Trends in individual and population-level demographic factors and health trends may play a role in this change. Methods We analyzed state-level maternal mortality for the years 1997–2012 using multilevel mixed-effects regression grouped by state, using publicly available data including whether a state had adopted the 2003 U.S. Standard Certificate of Death, designed to simplify identification of pregnant and recently pregnant decedents. We calculated the proportion of the increase in maternal mortality attributable to specific factors during the study period. Results Maternal mortality was associated with higher population prevalence of obesity and high school non-completion among women of childbearing age; these factors explained 31.0% and 5.3% of the attributable increase in maternal mortality during the study period, respectively. Among delivering mothers, prevalence of diabetes (17.0%), attending fewer than 10 prenatal visits (4.9%), and African American race (2.0%) were also associated with higher maternal mortality, as was time-varying state adoption of the 2003 death certificate (31.1%). Conclusions Our findings indicate that, in addition to better case ascertainment of maternal deaths, adverse changes in chronic diseases, insufficient healthcare access, and social determinants of health represent identifiable risks for maternal mortality that merit prompt attention in population-directed interventions and health policies.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145432/1/12889_2018_Article_5935.pd

Hospitals during recession and recovery: Vulnerable institutions and quality at risk

For generations, American hospitals have been considered recession-proof, but there is reason to believe the current economic crisis is an exception. Hospitals have shown declining financial margins and decreased admissions. The severe recession has adversely affected many hospitals' finances, creating a risk of closure and constraining plans for expansion. We believe there is also a risk of harming clinical quality, through decreased staffing that may limit the momentum of the hospital quality movement, especially in fiscally vulnerable institutions. We consider ways the federal government could aid hospitals by promoting hospital quality while providing employment. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2010;5:302–305. © 2010 Society of Hospital Medicine.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77425/1/654_ftp.pd

Quantum metrology with Bose-Einstein condensates

We show how a generalized quantum metrology protocol can be implemented in a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate of n atoms, achieving a sensitivity that scales better than 1/n and approaches 1/n^(3/2) for appropriate design of the condensate

TB88: Descriptive and Comparative Studies of Maine Lakes

This is a descriptive and comparative study of 17 lakes in Maine. The major objectives of this study are (1) to characterize the pelagial zone of the lakes physically, chemically, and biologically, (2) to assess bacterial pollution, (3) to compare the lakes to each other and classify them trophically, and (4) to compare the lakes to others in different geographic regions.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_techbulletin/1117/thumbnail.jp