The Role of Physicians in the Production of Hospital Output

The purpose of this paper is to present estimates of production functions for hospitals in which a measure of the level of physician input is utilized. Since no data on the total number of hours worked by non-salaried physicians is available for a large sample of U.S. hospitals, alternative measures of physician input had to be constructed. As these measures are somewhat imperfect, the results I obtain should be considered tentative and preliminary.

Coralline algal Mg-O bond strength as a marine <i>p</i>CO₂ proxy

Past ocean acidification recorded in the geological record facilitates the understanding of rates and influences of contemporary &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; enrichment. Most pH reconstructions are made using boron, however there is some uncertainty associated with vital effects and isotopic fractionation. Here we present a new structural proxy for carbonate chemistry; Mg-O bond strength in coralline algae. Coralline algae were incubated in control (380 μatm &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), moderate (750 μatm&lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), and high (1000 μatm &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;) acidification conditions for 24 months. Raman spectroscopy was used to determine skeletal Mg-O bond strength. There was a positive linear relationship between &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentration and bond strength mediated by positional disorder in the calcite lattice when accounting for seasonal temperature. The structural preservation of the carbonate chemistry system in coralline algal high-Mg calcite represents an alternative approach to reconstructing marine carbonate chemistry. Significantly, it also provides an important mechanism for reconstructing historic atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; concentrations

Complicating Practice with Success: Service-Learning Perspectives at a Research-Intensive University

Although extant research has demonstrated the benefits of servicelearning for students and the greater community, faculty involvement in service-learning at research-intensive universities remains a challenge. In order to critically explore faculty perceptions of service-learning and to challenge everyday understandings, this study utilizes politically attentive relational constructionism to analyze faculty focus groups. Findings constructed service-learning as facilitating student success, but constrained by self-defined practice. Based on this analysis, transformative possibilities around the perception, practice, and institutionalization of service-learning emerge. Combined, these findings extend research on service-learning by highlighting a research-intensive university as a unique context and proposing ways to overcome service-learning challenges. This study provides pragmatic suggestions for service learning and university administration such as the need for greater administrative support, university-wide buy-in, and the need to reflexively review faculty understanding–and practice–of service-learning

The worldwide costs of marine protected areas

Declines in marine harvests, wildlife, and habitats have prompted calls at both the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the 2003 World Parks Congress for the establishment of a global system of marine protected areas (MPAs). MPAs that restrict fishing and other human activities conserve habitats and populations and, by exporting biomass, may sustain or increase yields of nearby fisheries. Here we provide an estimate of the costs of a global MPA network, based on a survey of the running costs of 83 MPAs worldwide. Annual running costs per unit area spanned six orders of magnitude, and were higher in MPAs that were smaller, closer to coasts, and in high-cost, developed countries. Models extrapolating these findings suggest that a global MPA network meeting the World Parks Congress target of conserving 20–30% of the world’s seas might cost between $5 billion and$19 billion annually to run and would probably create around one million jobs. Although substantial, gross network costs are less than current government expenditures on harmful subsidies to industrial fisheries. They also ignore potential private gains from improved fisheries and tourism and are dwarfed by likely social gains from increasing the sustainability of fisheries and securing vital ecosystem services

The Use of Reading Guides as a Teaching Method for Mathematics Word Problem Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of reading guides as a teaching method for word problem comprehension. Attitudes toward mathematics were also examined. A quasi-experimental, nonrandomized, pretest-posttest, treatment group design was used for the investigation. The sample consisted of 40 students (two classes) taught by the same instructor and was equated in terms of mathematics levels, ages, and IQ scores. One treatment group used reading guides to comprehend mathematics word problems. The other treatment group utilized a general approach to comprehend the same set of problems. The students were pretested on a word problem comprehension test based on word problems used in the study. Each form consisted of five sets of fifteen statements sequenced in the literal, interpretive, and applied orders. Attitudes toward mathematics were also pretested on the mathematics section of the Estes Attitude Scales (Secondary Form). The instructor presented twenty-one word problems throughout the investigation. One treatment group received instruction using reading guides designed by the researcher. The other treatment group received instruction using a general approach to solving the same set of problems. Upon completion of the eight week treatment period, students were posttested. A one-tailed t-test for independent means was used to analyze the data at a .05 level of significance. The results indicated that overall mean posttest scores were not significantly different between the reading guide and general approach groups for word problem comprehension. This was also the case when the scores were analyzed in terms of sex differences. Analysis of posttest scores for the attitude toward mathematics inventory revealed a significant gain in attitude for those students who were instructed using reading guides. Recommendations for classroom use of reading guides as well as suggestions for future research were given

Authoring Organizational Tensions Within the Roman Catholic Church: Women Religious Organize for Themselves

For centuries women religious have faced an uncomfortable tension with the all-male hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. This tension is underscored today by the Vatican’s 2008 assessment and subsequent investigation of women religious in the US. Considering this tension-filled context, this study is concerned with the ways in which women religious organize around, alongside, and in some cases against the Church while also supporting the same beliefs and values as the Church. Specifically, this study recognizes NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice as a unique organizational site operating at the intersection of religion, politics, and authority, and explores how women religious and staff at NETWORK frame organizational tension and construct and stabilize authority for the purpose of their ministry. Embracing a tension-centered approach, along with the lenses of authority/authoring and alternative organizing, this study aimed to contribute to theory by exploring the organizational implications of subunits (i.e., women religious) of larger institutions (i.e., the Roman Catholic Church) authoring new tensions. To do so, this dissertation project relied on the qualitative methods of interviews, varying degrees of participant-observation, and document analysis, and engaged a manual approach to data analysis. The findings revealed how staff and sisters associated with NETWORK framed tension and manifested authority through their work, as well as how their organizing efforts have historically authored tension(s) within the institution of Church. First, NETWORK identified tension around three central tensional nodes, framed as dualisms, namely: Catholic/secular; all-male hierarchy of the Church/laity; and religious convent/society. In response to tension, NETWORK discursively constructed a third space, or a space between opposite poles wherein tension can be united in creative ways (Janssens & Steyaert, 1999). NETWORK’s third space is named sister spirit, and it allows staff and sisters to redefine the situation and be productive within the tension. Next, the manifestation of authority happened on two separate levels: the individual, or micro-level (i.e., Catholic sisters who associate with NETWORK) and the organizational, or meso-level (i.e., NETWORK as an organization). At the individual level Catholic sisters leveraged the support of their religious communities as a means of collective construction of authority in order to dissent from the Catholic Church. At the organizational level, NETWORK invoked authority through the Gospel, as an authoritative text brought to life through their work in engaging politics as an avenue for change. Finally, NETWORK’s organizing efforts of have authored tensions within the institution of the Church through NETWORK’s foundational feminist agenda and its Catholic identity. This study contributes to theory on tension and authority/authoring by explicitly recognizing the ways tension engenders authoring, and advances theory on the construction and stabilization of authority in third space. Additionally, this work responds to requests for theory development around duality relationships, suggesting the process of constructing third space via trialectics as a strategy to manage tension inherent in dualities. Methodologically, this project contributes to scholarship by introducing the strategic application of authority construction to qualitative data analysis and expands on manual procedures for data analysis through the use of whiteboarding during specific moments of the analysis process. Practical contributions identify third space as a strategically ambiguous form of alternative organizing that may be ideal for other religious or spiritual social change organizations. In addition, the use of religious or spiritual guiding principles, when organizationally appropriate, may offer stability and energy for staff facing a variety of organizational tensions

Theoretical study of the charge transport through C60-based single-molecule junctions

We present a theoretical study of the conductance and thermopower of single-molecule junctions based on C60 and C60-terminated molecules. We first analyze the transport properties of gold-C60-gold junctions and show that these junctions can be highly conductive (with conductances above 0.1G0, where G0 is the quantum of conductance). Moreover, we find that the thermopower in these junctions is negative due to the fact that the LUMO dominates the charge transport, and its magnitude can reach several tens of micro-V/K, depending on the contact geometry. On the other hand, we study the suitability of C60 as an anchoring group in single-molecule junctions. For this purpose, we analyze the transport through several dumbbell derivatives using C60 as anchors, and we compare the results with those obtained with thiol and amine groups. Our results show that the conductance of C60-terminated molecules is rather sensitive to the binding geometry. Moreover, the conductance of the molecules is typically reduced by the presence of the C60 anchors, which in turn makes the junctions more sensitive to the functionalization of the molecular core with appropriate side groups.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Growth, mortality and recruitment of commercially important fishes and penaeid shrimps in Indonesian waters

Population dynamics, Stock assessment, Commercial species, Shrimp fisheries, Arafura Sea, Indonesia, Penaeus merguiensis

MAXIMS: a computer program for estimating the food consumption of fishes from diel stomach contents data and population parameters

MAXIMS (Computer file), Food consumption, Stomach content, Population characteristics, Computer programmes Pisces

End-stage Renal Disease and Economic Incentives: The International Study of Health Care Organization and Financing

End-stage renal disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, is a debilitating, costly, and increasingly common medical condition. Little is known about how different financing approaches affect ESRD outcomes and delivery of care. This paper presents results from a comparative review of 12 countries with alternative models of incentives and benefits, collected under the International Study of Health Care Organization and Financing, a substudy within the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study. Variation in spending per ESRD patient is relatively small and is correlated with overall per capita health care spending. Between-country variations in spending are reduced using an input price parity index constructed for this study. Remaining differences in costs and outcomes do not seem strongly linked to differences in incentives embedded in national programs.