Who Lives on the Wrong Side of the Environmental Tracks? Evidence from the EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators Model

This study analyzes the social and economic correlates of air pollution exposure in U.S. cities using a unique dataset created as a by-product of the EPA’s Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators model and finds evidence of disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards in communities with higher concentrations of lower-income people and people of color. We improve on previous studies of environmental inequality in three ways. First, where previous studies focus on the proximity to point sources and the total mass of pollutants released, our measure of toxic exposure reflects atmospheric dispersion and chemical toxicity. Second, we analyze the data at a fine level of geographic resolution. Third, we control for substantial regional variations in pollution, allowing us to identify exposure differences both within cities and between cities. We combine 1998 data on toxicity-adjusted exposure to air pollution with 1990 Census block group data for urbanized areas. We find that blacks tend to live both in more polluted cities in the U.S. and in more polluted neighborhoods within cities. Hispanics live in less polluted cities on average, but they live in more polluted areas within cities. We find an extremely consistent income-pollution gradient, with lower income people significantly more exposed. Our findings highlight the importance of controlling for interregional variation in pollution levels in studies of the demographic correlates of pollution.

Variation in Organic Standards Prior to the National Organic Program

Interest in establishing nationally uniform certification, labeling, and management standards for organic products grew out of concern that the existence of multiple standards led to consumer and supply chain confusion about, and lack of confidence in, these products. The National Organic Program Final Rule, issued in December 2000, is the result of this interest. We analyze the certification system that was in place prior to the new national rule to evaluate the extent of differences between certification standards and how the national rule is likely to impact the market for organic products. Our analysis suggests that most differences among US certification standards were minor. Also, the most important impacts of the national standard may be in facilitating trade in ingredients and products certified by different certifiers, increasing buyer confidence, and facilitating exports. However, the national rule may decrease the ability of organic certifiers and consumers to place differing emphasis on the multiple goals of organic production and may decrease the flexibility of organic standards to respond to changing market conditions, including new technologies.organic agriculture, organic certification standards, organic labeling, organic market, Agribusiness, Marketing,

Market Power in Direct Marketing of Fresh Produce: Community Supported Agriculture Farms

CSA farms establish a loyal customer base and, potentially, market power. A new empirical industrial organization (NEIO) approach and survey data from Northeast CSA farms are used to determine whether CSA farms have market power and the extent to which they exercise their market power. Results suggest CSA farms exert about two percent of their potential monopoly power.Community Supported Agriculture; New Empirical Industrial Organization; Market Power; Fresh Produce; Organic Agriculture

Toward A Formal Definition of Task Representation

This paper addresses the issue of how tasks within an organizational context should be represented from the perspective of a single decision maker. Based on a previous paper (Hackathorn, 1981), this paper presents a formal ism for task representation based on recent work in the Knowledge Representation area. The formalism is called Simple Associative Network (SAN). The implications of this formalism result in the discussion of several issues, such as: (a) the nature of task occurrence, (b) handling multiple task types of a task occurrence, (c) means and goals as a specialization of task types, and (d) control structures among task types

The Effect of Lifting the Blindfold From Civil Juries Charged with Apportioning Damages in Modified Comparative Fault Cases: An Empirical Study of the Alternatives

Focuses on a study on the effect of lifting the blindfold from civil juries charged with apportioning damages in modified comparative fault cases. Historical background on comparative fault in the United States; Origin of blindfolding; Comparison of blindfold modified comparative fault verdicts with sunshine verdicts; Conclusions

Seeing is believing; or is it? An emperical study of computer simulations as evidence.

Relying on the old adage, seeing is believing, we conclude that the jury may give undue weight to an animated reconstruction of the accident .... It would be an inordinately difficult task for the plaintiff to counter, by cross-examination or otherwise, the impression that a computerized depiction of the accident is necessarily more accurate than an oral description of how the accident occurred. Because the expert\u27s conclusion would be graphically depicted in a moving and animated form, the viewing of the computer simulation might more readily lead the jury to accept the data and premises underlying the defendant\u27s expert\u27s opinion... than it might if the jury were forced to evaluate the expert\u27s opinion in the light of the testimony of all of the witnesses, as generally occurs in such cases

Numerical analysis of the photo-dissociation/radical oxidation of formaldehyde by ultraviolet light in a photolytic reactor.

http://archive.org/details/numericalanalysi00fettNAN

Semiclassical wave functions and energy levels of Bose-condensed gases in spherically symmetric traps

The WKB-approximation for the Bogoliubov-equations of the quasi-particle excitations in Bose-gases with condensate is worked out in the case of spherically symmetric trap potentials on the basis of the resulting quantization rule. The excitation spectrum is calculated numerically and also analytically in certain limiting cases. It is found that the energy levels of a Bohr-Sommerfeld type quantization may be considerably shifted when the classical turning point gets close to the surface of the condensate.Comment: 4 pages Latex, 1 ps-fil

Quantum electrodynamics near anisotropic polarizable materials: Casimir-Polder shifts near multilayers of graphene

In a recent paper, we formulated a theory of nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics in the presence of an inhomogeneous Huttner-Barnett dielectric. Here we generalize the formalism to anisotropic materials and show how it may be modified to include conducting surfaces. We start with the derivation of the photon propagator for a slab of material and use it to work out the energy-level shift near a medium whose conductivity in the direction parallel to the surface far exceeds that in the direction perpendicular to the surface. We investigate the influence of the anisotropy of the material's electromagnetic response on the Casimir-Polder shifts, both analytically and numerically, and show that it may have a significant impact on the atom-surface interaction, especially in the nonretarded regime, i.e., for small atom-surface separations. Our results for the energy shift may be used to estimate the Casimir-Polder force acting on quantum objects close to multilayers of graphene or graphite. They are particularly important for the case of trapped cold molecules whose dispersive interactions with surfaces often fall within the nonretarded regime where the anisotropy of the material strongly influences the Casimir-Polder force. We also give a formula for the change in the spontaneous decay rate of an excited atom or molecule near an anisotropically conducting surface

Dimensions of Internet Commerce Trust

Trust is a central construct and plays a critical role in understanding Internet consumer behavior. This research seeks to directly address the subject of Internet Commerce Trust (ICT) by developing a valid, reliable, and generalizable scale to measure this multifaceted subject. Two separate studies reveal a common five-factor structure. These dimensions are labeled (1) Certification, (2) Resources and Capabilities, (3) Shopping Method, (4) Reliability, and (5) Communication Viability. An accurate measurement of ICT will serve as a viable control factor in future studies of Internet consumer behaviors, segmentation analyses, and in marketing strategy research