Non-Market Valuation and the Household

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implications of the collective model of household behavior for the methods used to estimate the economic value of non-marketed environmental resources. The effects of public good and risk are considered, along with revealed and stated preference methods. To the extent the collective framework is adopted, then recover of individual preferences from household behavior requires distinguishing how preference and within household income allocations affect choices.

Nurse telephone triage in out of hours primary care: a pilot study

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Benefit Transfer as Preference Calibration

This paper proposes and illustrates the use of a new approach to benefit transfer for the non-market valuation of environmental resources. It treats transfer as an identification problem that requires assessing whether available benefit estimates permit the parameters of a preference function to be identified. The transfer method proposed uses these identifying restrictions to calibrate preference parameters and bases the benefit estimates on that preference function. The approach is illustrated using travel cost, hedonic and contingent valuation estimates, as well as combinations of estimates. It has three potential advantages over conventional practice: (1) it allows multiple, potentially overlapping estimates of the benefits of an improvement in environmental quality to be combined consistently; (2) it assures the transferred estimates of the benefits attributed to a proposed change can never exceed income; and (3) it provides a set of additional "outputs" that offer plausibility checks of the benefit transfers.

Integrated out-of-hours care arrangements in England: observational study of progress towards single call access via NHS Direct and impact on the wider health system

Objectives: To assess the extent of service integration achieved within general practice cooperatives and NHS Direct sites participating in the Department of Health’s national “Exemplar Programme” for single call access to out-of-hours care via NHS Direct. To assess the impact of integrated out-of-hours care arrangements upon general practice cooperatives and the wider health system (use of emergency departments, 999 ambulance services, and minor injuries units). Design: Observational before and after study of demand, activity, and trends in the use of other health services. Setting: Thirty four English general practice cooperatives with NHS Direct partners (“exemplars”) of which four acted as “case exemplars”. Also 10 control cooperatives for comparison. Main Outcome Measures: Extent of integration achieved (defined as the proportion of hours and the proportion of general practice patients covered by integrated arrangements), patterns of general practice cooperative demand and activity and trends in use of the wider health system in the first year. Results: Of 31 distinct exemplars 21 (68%) integrated all out-of-hours call management by March 2004. Nine (29%) established single call access for all patients. In the only case exemplar where direct comparison was possible, cooperative nurse telephone triage before integration completed a higher proportion of calls with telephone advice than did NHS Direct afterwards (39% v 30%; p<0.0001). The proportion of calls completed by NHS Direct telephone advice at other sites was lower. There is evidence for transfer of demand from case exemplars to 999 ambulance services. A downturn in overall demand for care seen in two case exemplars was also seen in control sites. Conclusion: The new model of out-of-hours care was implemented in a variety of settings across England by new partnerships between general practice cooperatives and NHS Direct. Single call access was not widely implemented and most patients needed to make at least two telephone calls to contact the service. In the first year, integration may have produced some reduction in total demand, but this may have been accompanied by shifts from one part of the local health system to another. NHS Direct demonstrated capability in handling calls but may not currently have sufficient capacity to support national implementation

Harvester Guidance Control System

A guidance control system for a harvester or like machinery includes a steering linkage operatively connected to at least one ground engaging wheel. Harvester steering is controlled through the linkage by either an operator controlled steering wheel or a sensor responsive self-steering mechanism. The sensor responsive self-steering mechanism includes a guide assembly pivotally mounted to the harvester. The guide assembly includes a pair of laterally spaced, cooperating tines that define a path therebetween for plants being harvested. A sensor positioned on each tine senses the position of plants as they are harvested. A control circuit is responsive to the sensors to selectively impart movement to the steering linkage to self-steer the harvester. The control circuit includes a main valve controlled by the operator controlled steering wheel and a secondary valve controlled by the sensors. An auxiliary feed line leads from the main valve to the secondary valve. When the operator utilizes the steering wheel control, an interrupter blocks hydraulic flow through the auxiliary line from the main valve to the secondary valve. Thus, operator controlled steering input overrides the sensor responsive self-steering for maximum safety. The guidance control system also eliminates harvester wander back and forth across a row by substantially preventing overcompensation by the sensor responsive self-steering

Fluorine in Milk, Plant Foods, and Foods Cooked in Fluorine Containing Water

This item is part of the Agricultural Experiment Station archive. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information, please email CALS Publications at [email protected]

The Quality of Arizona Irrigation Water

This item is part of the Agricultural Experiment Station archive. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information, please email CALS Publications at [email protected]

Automated Harvesting of Burley Tobacco II. Evaluation of System Performance

A prototype system for fully automated harvesting of burley tobacco has been developed and tested. Three years of field testing has shown that mechanical losses associated with the system were only slightly higher than via conventional methods. The system performed reliably at a sustained harvesting rate of approximately 1.4 ha/day (3.4 acre/day), while indicating that a rate of 2 ha/day (5 acre/day) should be easily achievable. The system is operated by two workers and reduces conventional labor requirement by approximately 80-85%

Automated Harvesting of Burley Tobacco I. System Development

A fully automated system for harvesting and handling mature buriey tobacco has been developed. This article identifies the operations essential to this harvesting concept and describes the development of the mechanisms by which they were accomplished. The system detaches, inverts and places mature plants into portable holders for air curing under waterproof covering without requiring any manual handling of the crop. Manual labor currently required to harvest buriey tobacco would be reduced by 80-85% and the system would eliminate the drudgery associated with manual handling. The harvesting system has an approximate capacity of 1.4 to 2.0 ha/day (3.5 to 5.0 ac/day) and is operated by two workers

Indigenous Health and Socioeconomic Status in India

BACKGROUND: Systematic evidence on the patterns of health deprivation among indigenous peoples remains scant in developing countries. We investigate the inequalities in mortality and substance use between indigenous and non-indigenous, and within indigenous, groups in India, with an aim to establishing the relative contribution of socioeconomic status in generating health inequalities. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Cross-sectional population-based data were obtained from the 1998–1999 Indian National Family Health Survey. Mortality, smoking, chewing tobacco use, and alcohol use were four separate binary outcomes in our analysis. Indigenous status in the context of India was operationalized through the Indian government category of scheduled tribes, or Adivasis, which refers to people living in tribal communities characterized by distinctive social, cultural, historical, and geographical circumstances. Indigenous groups experience excess mortality compared to non-indigenous groups, even after adjusting for economic standard of living (odds ratio 1.22; 95% confidence interval 1.13–1.30). They are also more likely to smoke and (especially) drink alcohol, but the prevalence of chewing tobacco is not substantially different between indigenous and non-indigenous groups. There are substantial health variations within indigenous groups, such that indigenous peoples in the bottom quintile of the indigenous-peoples-specific standard of living index have an odds ratio for mortality of 1.61 (95% confidence interval 1.33–1.95) compared to indigenous peoples in the top fifth of the wealth distribution. Smoking, drinking alcohol, and chewing tobacco also show graded associations with socioeconomic status within indigenous groups. CONCLUSIONS: Socioeconomic status differentials substantially account for the health inequalities between indigenous and non-indigenous groups in India. However, a strong socioeconomic gradient in health is also evident within indigenous populations, reiterating the overall importance of socioeconomic status for reducing population-level health disparities, regardless of indigeneity