Interstate Differences in Insured Unemployment: Some Recent Evidence

Recent panel data is used to reconsider the determinants of interstate differences in the ratio of insured to total unemployment. We conclude that previous research on the influence of replacement rates, duration of jobless spells and female labor force participation is robust, but find that political affiliations and attitudes could be more important, and unionization rates less important, than once believed.insured unemployment, work norms, replacement rates, unionization

Wealth Accumulation and Activity Choice Evolution Among Amazonian Forest Peasant Households

This paper examines investment and livelihood decisions among forest peasant households in the Amazonian floodplain. A dynamic household model of multiple asset accumulation and activity choice under risk and credit constraints is developed by incorporating natural resource use and human capital evolution. Asset portfolios and sectoral incomes are estimated and then simulated to investigate the endowment and lifecycle dependency as well as the convergence/divergence of asset accumulation and corresponding activity choices. Physical asset endowment (especially land) and different human capital evolutions across activities help to explain forest peasants' livelihood choices, distinctive asset portfolios, and divergent income outcomes over the lifecycle.

Smoothing Income against Crop Flood Losses in Amazonia: Rain Forest or Rivers as a Safety Net

This article examines the role of ex post labor supply in smoothing income in response to crop losses caused by large floods among riverine households in the Peruvian Amazon, where rich environmental endowments permit a variety of resource extractive activities and coping responses. The paper finds that households respond to crop losses primarily by intensifying fishing effort not by relying on gathering of non-timber forest products, hunting, or asset liquidation. This ex post labor adjustment helps to smooth total income against small crop losses but less well against large crop losses. Both relatively non-poor households with better fishing capital and poor young households with a physical labor advantage employ this natural insurance in rivers.

Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico: A Legal and Practical Analysis

Each year, a large area of the Gulf of Mexico is seasonally depleted of life-giving oxygen. Called hypoxia, the phenomenon threatens to bring about a collapse of the Gulf’s marine ecosystem. A voluntary regime is working to address this threat, and has set a year 2015 goal of considerably reducing the size of the Gulf hypoxic area to less than 5,000 square kilometers by 2015. Implementation of this goal will entail an estimated reduction in nitrogen loading to the Gulf of at least thirty percent. This note analyzes the conceptual transformation of this voluntary regime into a regulatory one. Because the Clean Water Act only permits regulation of “point sources” of pollution, a term that specifically exempts agricultural run-off, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not implement Mississippi River Basin nutrient reductions through direct federal regulation of agricultural non-point sources of pollution. However, a regulatory regime for the Mississippi River watershed, implemented through a pollution trading program, would give state and federal agencies leverage to effectively “bargain” for non-point source reductions. This note analyzes the Clean Water Act to concludes that the statute does confer upon the EPA discretionary authority to develop and implement such a regulatory regime to restore those waters of the Gulf of Mexico affected by Gulf hypoxia. It proceeds to apply practical analysis to conclude that the agency should exercise this authority. Nonetheless, it illustrates the lack of clarity in the law regarding EPA authority over ocean waters, and recommends Congressional action

Results of Millikan Library Forced Vibration Testing

This report documents an investigation into the dynamic properties of Millikan Library under forced excitation. On July 10, 2002, we performed frequency sweeps from 1 Hz to 9.7 Hz in both the East-West (E-W) and North-South (N-S) directions using a roof level vibration generator. Natural frequencies were identified at 1.14 Hz (E-W fundamental mode), 1.67 Hz (N-S fundamental mode), 2.38 Hz (Torsional fundamental mode), 4.93 Hz (1st E-Wovertone), 6.57 Hz (1st Torsional overtone), 7.22 Hz (1st N-S overtone), and at 7.83 Hz (2nd E-Wovertone). The damping was estimated at 2.28% for the fundamental E-W mode and 2.39% for the N-S fundamental mode. On August 28, 2002, a modal analysis of each natural frequency was performed using the dense instrumentation network located in the building. For both the E-W and N-S fundamental modes, we observe a nearly linear increase in displacement with height, except at the ground floor which appears to act as a hinge. We observed little basement movement for the E-W mode, while in the N-S mode 30% of the roof displacement was due to basement rocking and translation. Both the E-W and N-S fundamental modes are best modeled by the first mode of a theoretical bending beam. The higher modes are more complex and not well represented by a simple structural system

Drug/Alcohol Use and the Impact of Peer Influence

BACKGROUND: Peer groups have been shown to be a critical factor in influencing virtually every area of adolescent and young adult life. Peer influence has been recognized as a significant factor in lifestyle choices; particularly associated with risk-taking. The purpose of this study to measured the association between peer influence and drug/alcohol use among 18 and 19 year old youth. The Theory of Reasoned Action, Social Network Theory, and Peer Cluster Theory were used as the frameworks for this study. METHODOLOGY: The study consisted of eighty (N=80), male and female participants recruited from Flint, Michigan. Flyers were posted at local churches in Genesee County. Participants' perception of peer influence in relationship to drug/alcohol use behavior was measured using a 19 item self administered questionnaire. Variables used to determine if a correlation existed between peer influence and drug/alcohol use were age, ethnicity, education, family environment, stressful life events. RESULTS: Education, family environment, and stressful life events showed no significant correlation between peer influence and drug alcohol use among the study population. However, the correlation between age and ethnicity proved to be stronger determinants in their relationship to peer influence and drug/alcohol use. CONCLUSION: Results of the study indicate an increase of peer influence with drug/alcohol use among 18 year old participants. According to the data African American youth showed a higher percentage of drug/alcohol use associated with peer influence than Caucasian and Multi-racial groups.Master'sSchool of Health Professions and Studies: Health EducationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117680/1/Bradford.pd

This Fearful Slaughter: The Impact of Civil War Deaths on Rochester, New York

The American Civil War brought about death on an unmatched scale. While scholarly estimates vary and range from 620,000-850,000 wartime male deaths, the understanding of the significance of these deaths and how they impacted society varies as well. Civil War deaths destroyed the antebellum concept of the “good death” and created new societal norms and practices. This thesis studies these changes by examining periodicals from the city of Rochester and noting how the newspapers report about the death, carnage, and sickness during the war. How frequently graphic accounts of the battlefield deaths occur and how prevalent calls for aid for sick, wounded, and dying soldiers appear in these papers suggest the immense importance and significance the increased number of deaths had on the city. The antebellum version of the “good death” had to change as the Civil War made it impossible for most soldiers to depart in that manner. As Rochesterians sought to understand this new form of death and dying, they created aid societies, periodicals dedicated to helping the sick and wounded, and published elaborate accounts of how the fallen died so as to help the bereaved better cope with not only the loss of their loved ones but also the loss of their conceptions of a good death. They struggled to build a new idea of what a good death was as the casualty reports poured in. Finally, by the conclusion of the war and with time for the nation to heal, monuments and memorialization of the fallen could try to make up for the aspects of the antebellum “good death” that had proved impossible to adhere by during the conflict

Detection of the 13CO(J=6-5) Transition in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 253

We report the detection of 13CO(J=6-5) emission from the nucleus of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 with the redshift (z) and Early Universe Spectrometer (ZEUS), a new submillimeter grating spectrometer. This is the first extragalactic detection of the 13CO(J=6-5) transition, which traces warm, dense molecular gas. We employ a multi-line LVG analysis and find ~ 35% - 60% of the molecular ISM is both warm (T ~ 110 K) and dense (n(H2) ~ 10^4 cm^-3). We analyze the potential heat sources, and conclude that UV and X-ray photons are unlikely to be energetically important. Instead, the molecular gas is most likely heated by an elevated density of cosmic rays or by the decay of supersonic turbulence through shocks. If the cosmic rays and turbulence are created by stellar feedback within the starburst, then our analysis suggests the starburst may be self-limiting.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter

Effects of the higher partial waves and relativistic terms on the accuracy of the calculation of the hypertriton electroproduction

We have investigated the accuracies of calculations made by omitting the higher partial waves of nuclear wave functions and the elementary relativistic terms in the hypertriton electroproduction. We found that an accurate calculation would still be obtained if we used at least three lowest partial waves with isospin T = 0. Furthermore, we found that the omission of the relativistic terms in the elementary process amplitude could lead to a large deviation from the full calculation. We also present the cpu-times required to calculate the cross sections. For future consideration the use of these lowest partial waves is suggested, since the calculated cross section deviates only about 0.17 nb/sr (approximately 4%), at most, from the full calculation, whereas the cpu-time is reduced by a factor of 60. Comparison of our result with the available experimental data supports these findings.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Nucl. Phys.