Wealth Inequality Trends in Industrializing New England: New Evidence and Tests of Competing Hypotheses

This paper assembles new data and new methods for studying wealth inequality trends in industrializing America. Records of household heads from the census matched with real and personal property tax records for Massachusetts reveal that the Theil entropy measure of inequality approximately doubled over the period from 1820 to 1910, a gain that was divided about evenly between the antebellum and the postbellum periods. A surge between 1870 and 1900 dominated the growth in inequality following the Civil War. Decompositions of changes in the Theil entropy measure reveal that during both periods, inequality was increasing due to the shift of the population out of rural areas and agriculture into urban areas where wealth was less equally distributed. But the increases in inequality were also due to increasing inequality within population groups. Between 1870 and 1910, inequality was growing within occupations, age groups, and the native-born population. Proposed labor market explanations, including sectoral shift that led to higher wages in non-agricultural relative to agricultural sectors, biased technological change, and immigration are inconsistent with the fact that inequality between occupational groups was declining in the last decades of the century. Wealth accumulation patterns by age are also inconsistent with the hypothesis of child default on responsibilities for old age care, at least during the second half of the nineteenth century. To explain the salient facts, we are led to propose a new explanation based on luck, rents and entrepreneurship.

The Impact of a Clinical Mentor Program on Patient Outcomes

The increasing complexity of patient care requires an expert nurse to navigate the hospital stay, yet today\u27s workforce brings a declining supply of seasoned nurses, creating a patient need/nurse expertise gap. The clinical mentor role was developed to bridge this gap and create a safety net, using expert nurses, relieved of a patient assignment, to provide oversight for quality patient care. Results reported elsewhere showed improvements in failure to rescue and pressure ulcers six months before and after implementation. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term impact of this new care model over the subsequent three years on these nurse-sensitive indicators, and to explore the process by which patient outcomes were affected. A mixed-method embedded descriptive design made use of quantitative secondary data analysis of outcome measure data, along with qualitative situational analysis of data from 25 clinical mentor interviews. Results showed that failure to rescue maintained the initial gain post implementation, but did not decrease (or increase) further over the study period. Medical surgical unit hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU) and fall rates showed statistically significant improvement over time; Intensive care unit HAPUs did not significantly change. Qualitative mentor interviews validated their affect on these patient outcomes as well as on staff nurse growth and development, practice improvement, patient satisfaction, error prevention and the development of effective communication. To identify problems or gaps in care, mentors looked for congruency between what they noted in report or chart checks with what they found on rounds when assessing the patient. Eleven themes emerged to describe the processes used to affect patient outcomes, which, when analyzed as a whole, were categorized into three areas of focus: improving effective communication, real time teaching, and taking the time for deeper, expert assessment and evaluation of patient situations. The study added to the general knowledge of expert/non-expert practice and the effect of a unit-based catalyst or guide on patient outcomes

Rapid recurrence and radiographic progression of sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma

© 2017 Sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma (sRCC) is an aggressive variant of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) that has a significantly lower overall survival. Even after prompt surgical extirpation, this histologic variant progresses rapidly. We present a case of an early recurrence and rapid progression of sRCC despite successful radical resection

Sharing responsibility for trade-related emissions based on economic benefits

Industrial Ecolog

Access to infrastructure services: Global trends and drivers

Infrastructure services are essential to human development. Yet, the drivers of service access at a global scale remain largely unexplored. This paper presents trends and global patterns in access to water, sanitation, electricity, and telephony services. Using a panel data set from 1990 to 2010, we empirically explore plausible determinants of access rates to key infrastructure services. Although per-capita GDP is correlated with access rates, access still varies significantly at comparable income levels. Much of this variation is explained by differences in population density. Access levels are higher for urban areas and highest for water, followed by sanitation, electricity, and telephony

The Tallest in the World: Native Americans of the Great Plains in the Nineteenth Century

Historians often portray Native Americans as merely unfortunate victims of European disease and aggression, with lives in disarray that followed the arrival of Columbus and other explorers or conquerors. The data we analyze on human stature show, in contrast, that some Native Americans such as the equestrian Plains nomads, were remarkably ingenious and adaptive in the face of exceptional demographic stress. Using anthropometric data originally collected by Franz Boas, we show that the Plains nomads were tallest in the world during the mid-nineteenth century. We link this extraordinary achievement to a rich and varied diet, modest disease loads other than epidemics, a remarkable facility at reorganization following demographic disasters, and egalitarian principles of operation. The analysis provides a useful mirror for understanding the health of Euro-Americans.

Evidence for the existence of powder sub-populations in micronized materials : Aerodynamic size-fractions of aerosolized powders possess distinct physicochemical properties

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Purpose: To investigate the agglomeration behaviour of the fine ( 12.8 µm) particle fractions of salmeterol xinafoate (SX) and fluticasone propionate (FP) by isolating aerodynamic size fractions and characterising their physicochemical and re-dispersal properties. Methods: Aerodynamic fractionation was conducted using the Next Generation Impactor (NGI). Re-crystallized control particles, unfractionated and fractionated materials were characterized for particle size, morphology, crystallinity and surface energy. Re-dispersal of the particles was assessed using dry dispersion laser diffraction and NGI analysis. Results: Aerosolized SX and FP particles deposited in the NGI as agglomerates of consistent particle/agglomerate morphology. SX particles depositing on Stages 3 and 5 had higher total surface energy than unfractionated SX, with Stage 5 particles showing the greatest surface energy heterogeneity. FP fractions had comparable surface energy distributions and bulk crystallinity but differences in surface chemistry. SX fractions demonstrated higher bulk disorder than unfractionated and re-crystallized particles. Upon aerosolization, the fractions differed in their intrinsic emission and dispersion into a fine particle fraction (< 5.0 µm). Conclusions: Micronized powders consisted of sub-populations of particles displaying distinct physicochemical and powder dispersal properties compared to the unfractionated bulk material. This may have implications for the efficiency of inhaled drug deliveryPeer reviewe

The femoral insertions of the anteromedial and posterolateral bundles of the anterior cruciate ligament: a radiographic evaluation

The aim of this radiographic study was to visualize the femoral insertion sites of the anteromedial (AM) and posterolateral (PL) bundle of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on lateral radiographs in different angles of knee flexion to gain better understanding for arthroscopic femoral tunnel placement in ACL double bundle reconstruction. Four fresh cadaveric knees with an intact ACL were dissected to isolate the AM and PL bundle of the ACL. We obtained lateral radiographs of each knee over the range of 0°–90° flexion in 30° increments after painting the bundles with a radiopaque tantalum powder. The center of the radiographically marked femoral insertion was defined for each bundle on the lateral roentgenogram. We analyzed the relationship of knee flexion and the projection of the relative position of the femoral insertion sites of both bundles of the ACL on the lateral roentgenogram. The centre of the PL bundle visualized more anterior and distal than the centre of the AM bundle with the knee held in 90° flexion. The centers of the AM and PL bundle were horizontally aligned when the knee was flexed over 90°. The resulting images allow a radiographic description of the femoral insertion sites of both bundles in different angles of knee flexion. It is essential to be aware of the degree of knee flexion when drilling the femoral tunnels

India's just energy transition: political economy challenges across states and regions

To comply with international climate targets, India will eventually need to phase out coal-fired power plants and substantially increase the use of solar-PV and wind power. Winners and losers of this transformation will not be distributed equally across the country, which potentially holds severe implications for the feasibility of the transformation. In an effort to understand political economy constraints from adversely impacted key societal groups, we discuss how Indian states would be affected in terms of distributional implications for households, industrial competitiveness and employment. We examine the effects of phasing-out of energy subsidies and carbon pricing (USD 40 per ton CO2) on household incomes. We likewise analyze employment effects of ramping-up renewables and phasing-out of coal-fired power plants. Finally, we assess the impacts of carbon pricing on key industries. Our findings suggest that adverse impacts are strongly concentrated in Eastern, less wealthy, coal- mining states, which would face employment losses with pressure on poor households and energy intensive industries. Employment creation through deployment of renewables would, however, be more dispersed across India's Western and Central states. Complementary policies, such as recycling carbon tax revenues, will be necessary to avoid deepening regional disparities and increase acceptance from adversely impacted regions. Industrial Ecolog

Carbon supported CdSe nanocrystals

Insights to the mechanism of CdSe nanoparticle attachment to carbon nanotubes following the hot injection method are discussed. It was observed that the presence of water improves the nanotube coverage while Cl containing media are responsible for the shape transformation of the nanoparticles and further attachment to the carbon lattice. The experiments also show that the mechanism taking place involves the right balance of several factors, namely, low passivated nanoparticle surface, particles with well-defined crystallographic facets, and interaction with an organics-free sp2 carbon lattice. Furthermore, this procedure can be extended to cover graphene by quantum dots.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure