The measurement of farm size and the meaning of part-time farming: the AARES countries

This paper examines what, precisely, is meant by a 'farm', the criteria for the inclusion of individual farms in a statistical register and the resulting enumerations and average sizes of farms in published statistics. Alternative measures of farm size are examined and a relatively novel measure of average farm size proposed to cope with the possibly uncertain population of farms. This is illustrated with reference to data relating to the AARES countries and to the UK. Finally the meaning of the expression 'part-time' as applied to farmers or farms is examined, with a call for great clarity in its use.Farm, Agricultural holding, Farm size, Averages, Part-time farming, Industrial Organization,

Privacy and Accountability in Black-Box Medicine

Black-box medicine—the use of big data and sophisticated machine learning techniques for health-care applications—could be the future of personalized medicine. Black-box medicine promises to make it easier to diagnose rare diseases and conditions, identify the most promising treatments, and allocate scarce resources among different patients. But to succeed, it must overcome two separate, but related, problems: patient privacy and algorithmic accountability. Privacy is a problem because researchers need access to huge amounts of patient health information to generate useful medical predictions. And accountability is a problem because black-box algorithms must be verified by outsiders to ensure they are accurate and unbiased, but this means giving outsiders access to this health information. This article examines the tension between the twin goals of privacy and accountability and develops a framework for balancing that tension. It proposes three pillars for an effective system of privacy-preserving accountability: substantive limitations on the collection, use, and disclosure of patient information; independent gatekeepers regulating information sharing between those developing and verifying black-box algorithms; and information-security requirements to prevent unintentional disclosures of patient information. The article examines and draws on a similar debate in the field of clinical trials, where disclosing information from past trials can lead to new treatments but also threatens patient privacy

The manufacture of monosodium phosphate from wet process acid by amine extraction

Monosodium phosphate (NaH₂PO₄) may be prepared from a mixture of phosphoric acid and sodium chloride on the principle that an amine in organic solution can extract the elements of hydrochloric acid (HCl). This is possible because amines are more selective for hydrochloric than for phosphoric acid. If wet process phosphoric acid is used, the impurities must be separated in some way from the final product. The work described here involves a study of the distribution of phosphoric acid itself, and the impurities trivalent iron and sulphate, between aqueous solutions and kerosene solut ions of the commercial amine Amberlite LA-1. In a countercurrent extraction process, approximately twenty theoretical stages would be needed to reduce the iron concentration to the food grade level. Sulphate is held in the organic phase. Monosodium phosphate can be recovered by stripping the organic phase with a sodium chloride solution. An attempt was made to explain the extraction of phosphoric and sulphuric acids from a mixture. It was found that amine extraction followed a pattern similar to that of gas adsorption, and a modified BET equation gave a fair but not highly accurate fit of the distribution data

The manufacture of monosodium phosphate from wet process acid by amine extraction

Monosodium phosphate (NaH₂PO₄) may be prepared from a mixture of phosphoric acid and sodium chloride on the principle that an amine in organic solution can extract the elements of hydrochloric acid (HCl). This is possible because amines are more selective for hydrochloric than for phosphoric acid. If wet process phosphoric acid is used, the impurities must be separated in some way from the final product. The work described here involves a study of the distribution of phosphoric acid itself, and the impurities trivalent iron and sulphate, between aqueous solutions and kerosene solut ions of the commercial amine Amberlite LA-1. In a countercurrent extraction process, approximately twenty theoretical stages would be needed to reduce the iron concentration to the food grade level. Sulphate is held in the organic phase. Monosodium phosphate can be recovered by stripping the organic phase with a sodium chloride solution. An attempt was made to explain the extraction of phosphoric and sulphuric acids from a mixture. It was found that amine extraction followed a pattern similar to that of gas adsorption, and a modified BET equation gave a fair but not highly accurate fit of the distribution data

Two new species of Dennyus (Collodennyus) chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera: Menoponidae) from swiftlets (Apodiformes: Apodidae)

Journal ArticleThe new species Dennyus (Collodennyus) mimirogerorum from the Papuan swiftlet, Aerodramus papuensis (Rand), from Papua New Guinea and D. (C.) bartoni from the Philippine swiftlet, A. mearnsi (Oberholser), from the Philippines are described and illustrated. The genetic distinctiveness of these two species from other close relatives is also evaluated using mitochondrial DNA sequences

Revision of the chewing louse genus Formicaphagus (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from Neotropical Antbirds and Gnateaters (Aves: Passeriformes)

Journal ArticleExamination of specimens of the 15 recognized species of Formicaphagus resulted in 6 new synonymies: F. laemostictus, F. latifrons, and F. peruvianus are junior synonyms of F. picturatus; F. huilae of F. angustifrons; and F. bolivianus and F. thoracicus of F. minutus. Two new species are described from material collected by the junior author in Peru: F. arnoldi (type host Conopophaga ardesiaca) and F. donpetersi (type host Conopophaga peruviana); these are the first louse species described from hosts in the family Conopophagidae, the gnateaters

Two new species of Dennyus (Ctenodennyus) lice (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from swiftlets (Apodiformes: Apodidae)

Journal ArticleTo date, only a single species of Dennyus (Ctenodennyus) has been described, this being D. (C.) spiniger Ewing from Cypseloides niger borealis (Kennedy), the northern black swift in North America. Through extensive collecting of lice by the junior author from swiftlets and through a loan of Bishop Museum material, we have obtained a small number of lice representing 2 new species of this subgenus. Here we redescribe D. spiniger and describe and illustrate these 2 new species

Cummingsia micheneri, a new species of Mallophaga (Trimenoponidae) from a Venezuelan mouse-opossum (Marsupialia)

The previously recognized species of chewing louse, Cummingsia intermedia Werneck (Mallophaga: Trimenoponidae), is redescribed and illustrated. A new species, C. micheneri, is described and illustrated for lice from a Venezuelan mouse-opossum, Marmosa dryas [= Gracilinanus dryas] (Marsupialia: Didelphidae); this material had earlier been misidentified as C. intermedia. Additionally, we discuss identification of these two closely related species and indicate characters that are useful in distinguishing them from all other known species of Cummingsia. A key is provided for the 10 recognized species of the genus

Review of the genus Saemundssonia Timmerman (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from the Alcidae (Aves: Charadriiformes), including a new species and new host records

Journal ArticleWe describe the new species Saemundssonia boschi recently collected from Least Auklets {Aethia pusilla (Pallas)) in Alaska and review the 11 names previously applied to Saemundssonia Timmermann species from alcids. Saemundssonia procax (Kellogg and Chapman) is relegated to a new junior synonym of S. grylle (O. Fabricius). along with the previously recognized junior synonym S. megacephalus (Denny). The nine previously described valid species are redescribed and illustrated and four new host records are documented from alcids. Finally, a key is provided for the identification of the ten recognized species of alcid Saemundssonia