A Copernican View of Health Care Antitrust

Sage and Hammer use the analogy of Copernican astronomy to suggest that understanding the dramatic change wrought by managed care requires a conceptual reorientation regarding the meaning of competition in health care and its appropriate legal and regulatory oversight. Both share the belief that misperceiving the world limits potential for technical and social progress

Consumer Perceptions and Coping Strategies of Consumers Committed to Eating Local in Michigan (USA)

American consumers are presented with an increasing number of reasons to buy and eat local food products. One refers to the importance of the origin of the products they purchase. A second, and closely related reason, refers to being concerned about the food miles, or the distance foods have traveled from where they are grown or raised, to where they are purchased or consumed. If the act of "eating local" is often presented as beneficial and virtuous (for example, health, environment, community development and civic responsibility), it also embodies obstacles such as the time and sometimes skills required for both shopping and preparation. Such obstacles often discourage many from buying local fresh produce. This paper draws on the results of several focus groups with consumers in Michigan who are committed to eating local. The paper offers insights into how these consumers cope or balance their commitment to eating local with the constraints they face on buying and preparing local food. ...French Abstract : Les consommateurs des Etats-Unis sont de plus en plus incités à acheter et consommer des produits locaux. L'une des raisons est l'importance de l'origine des produits que l'on achète. Une autre raison est celle de la préoccupation par rapport aux " food miles " c'est à dire la distance parcourue par les produits entre la production et l'achat. Si le fait de consommer local est souvent présenté comme vertueux (pour la santé, l'environnement, le développement local ou la responsabilité sociale), il présente des obstacles tels que le temps passé et les compétences nécessaires pour les achats et la préparation. De tels obstacles peuvent décourager l'achat des produits locaux. Cet article présente les résultats de plusieurs focus groups avec des consommateurs du Michigan impliqués dans l'achat de produits locaux. Il permet de comprendre quelles sont les stratégies de coping utilisées par les consommateurs pour concilier leur engagement et les contraintes auxquelles ils doivent faire face lors de l'achat ou de la préparation des produits.LOCAL FOOD; CONSUMPTION; COPING STRATEGIES; CONSOMMATION; PRODUITS LOCAUX; STRATEGIES DE COPING

Using A Nameserver to Enhance Control System Efficiency

The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) control system uses a nameserver to reduce system response time and to minimize the impact of client name resolution on front-end computers. The control system is based on the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS), which uses name-based broadcasts to initiate data communication. By default, when EPICS process variables (PV) are requested by client applications, all front-end computers receive the broadcasts and perform name resolution processing against local channel name lists. The nameserver is used to offload the name resolution task to a single node. This processing, formerly done on all front-end computers, is now done only by the nameserver. In a control system with heavily loaded front-end computers and high peak client connection loads, a significant performance improvement is seen. This paper describes the name server in more detail, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of making name resolution a centralized service.Comment: ICALEPCS 200

The Nature of Nearby Counterparts to Intermediate Redshift Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies II. CO Observations

We present the results of a single-dish beam-matched survey of the three lowest rotational transitions of CO in a sample of 20 local (D < 70 Mpc) Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies (LCBGs). These ~L*, blue, high surface brightness, starbursting galaxies were selected with the same criteria used to define LCBGs at higher redshifts. Our detection rate was 70%, with those galaxies having Lblue<7e9 Lsun no detected. We find the H2 masses of local LCBGs range from 6.6e6 to 2.7e9 Msun, assuming a Galactic CO-to-H2 conversion factor. Combining these results with our earlier HI survey of the same sample, we find that the ratio of molecular to atomic gas mass is low, typically 5-10%. Using a Large Velocity Gradient model, we find that the average gas conditions of the entire ISM in local LCBGs are similar to those found in the centers of star forming regions in our Galaxy, and nuclear regions of other galaxies. Star formation rates, determined from IRAS fluxes, are a few solar masses per year, much higher per unit dynamical mass than normal spirals. If this rate remains constant, the molecular hydrogen depletion time scales are short, 10-200 Myr.Comment: accepted for publication in the ApJ (vol 625

Evolutionary Physiology: The extent of C4 and CAM photosynthesis in the Genera Anacampseros and Grahamia of the Portulacaceae

The Portulacaceae is one of the few terrestrial plant families known to have both C(4) and Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) species. There may be multiple origins of the evolution of CAM within the Portulacaceae but the only clear evidence of C(4) photosynthesis is found in members of the genus Portulaca. In the Portulaca, CAM succulent tissue is overlaid with the C(4) tissue in a unique fashion where both pathways are operating simultaneously. Earlier reports have shown that the clade containing the genera Anacampseros and Grahamia may also contain C(4) photosynthetic species similar to the Portulaca, which would indicate multiple origins of C(4) photosynthesis within the family. The aim of the present study was to ascertain the true photosynthetic nature of these genera. An initial survey of the carbon isotope composition of the Anacampseros ranged from -12.6 per thousand to -24.0 per thousand, indicating very little CAM activity in some species, with other values close to the C(4) range. Anacampseros (=Grahamia) australiana which had been previously identified as a C(4) species had a carbon isotope composition value of -24.0 per thousand, which is more indicative of a C(3) species with a slight contribution of CAM activity. Other Anacampseros species with C(4)-like values have been shown to be CAM plants. The initial isotope analysis of the Grahamia species gave values in the range of -27.1 per thousand to -23.6 per thousand, placing the Grahamia species well towards the C(3) photosynthetic range. Further physiological studies indicated increased night-time CO(2) uptake with imposition of water stress, associated with a large diurnal acid fluctuation and a marked increased phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity. This showed that the Grahamia species are actually facultative CAM plants despite their C(3)-like carbon isotope values. The results indicate that the Grahamia and Anacampseros species do not utilize the C(4) photosynthetic pathway. This is the first to identify that the Grahamia species are facultative CAM plants where CAM can be induced by water stress. This work supports earlier physiological work that indicates that this clade containing Anacampseros and Grahamia species comprises predominantly facultative CAM plants. This report suggests there may be only one clade which contains C(4) photosynthetic members with CAM-like characteristics