Income inequality: a tale of two cycles?

Building on previous work, this paper documents the changes in income inequality that have occurred over the past 20 years, right up until the late 1990s. In particular, we are interested in whether or not the path of inequality in the most recent economic cycle differed from that observed in the 1980s. The robustness of the results is investigated using innovative statistical techniques, in an attempt to identify whether or not the observed changes represent real increases or decreases in inequality or whether they can be attributed simply to sampling variation between years. Finally, some preliminary results are presented which attempt to identify some of the reasons underlying the observed trends in income inequality, with a particular focus on the role of the labour market.

Junior Recital-Taylor Clark

This recital is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Music in Music Performance. Taylor Clark is a student of Anne Francis Bayless.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/music_programs/1012/thumbnail.jp

Exploratory Look Into the Impact of Race on Response Dynamics While Categorizing Stereotypical Black Names and Stereotypical White Names Via Mouse Movements

Exploratory Look Into the Impact of Race on Response Dynamics While Categorizing Stereotypical Black Names and Stereotypical White Names Via Mouse Movement

Using GIS to Evaluate the Effects of Flood Risk on Residential Property Values

Annually, flooding causes more property damage in the United States than any other type of natural disaster. One of the consequences of continued urbanization is the tendency for floodplains to expand, increasing flood risks in the areas around urban streams and rivers. Hedonic modeling techniques can be used to estimate the relationship between residential housing prices and flood risks. One weakness of hedonic modeling has been incomplete controls for locational characteristics influencing a given property. In addition, relatively primitive assumptions have been employed in modeling flood risk exposures. We use GIS tools to provide more accurate measures of flood risks, and a more thorough accounting of the locational features in the neighborhood. This has important policy implications. Once a complete hedonic model is developed, the reduction in property value attributed to an increase in flood risks can, under certain circumstances, be interpreted as the household’s willingness to pay for the reduction of flood risk. Willingness to pay estimates can in turn be used to guide policymakers as they assess community-wide benefits from flood control projects

The distance and neutral environment of the massive stellar cluster Westerlund 1

The goal of this study is to determine a distance to Westerlund 1 independent of the characteristics of the stellar population and to study its neutral environment, using observations of atomic hydrogen. The HI observations are taken from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey to study HI absorption in the direction of the HII region created by the members of Westerlund 1 and to investigate its environment as observed in the HI line emission. A Galactic rotation curve was derived using the recently revised values for the Galactic centre distance of $R_\odot = 7.6$ kpc, and the velocity of the Sun around the Galactic centre of $\Theta_\odot = 214$ km s$^{-1}$. The newly determined rotation model leads us to derive a distance of $3.9\pm 0.7$ kpc to Westerlund 1, consistent with a location in the Scutum-Crux Arm. Included in this estimate is a very careful investigation of possible sources of error for the Galactic rotation curve. We also report on small expanding HI features around the cluster with a maximum dynamic age of 600,000 years and a larger bubble which has a minimum dynamic age of 2.5 million years. Additionally we re-calculated the kinematic distances to nearby HII regions and supernova remnants based on our new Galaxic rotation curve. We propose that in the early stages of the development of Wd 1 a large interstellar bubble of diameter about 50 pc was created by the cluster members. This bubble has a dynamic age similar to the age of the cluster. Small expanding bubbles, with dynamical ages $\sim 0.6$ Myr are found around Wd 1, which we suggest consist of recombined material lost by cluster members through their winds.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Do Call-Backs Help Patients Post Stroke

Aim and Objective: To determine if the implementation of a post-discharge call-back intervention for patients discharged home from the hospital after stroke was associated with a decrease in 30-day readmissions and improved patient satisfaction. Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States (American Stroke Association, 2015). Several studies have examined various post-discharge interventions, including a call to the patient and/or family after their return home, to determine the benefit to patients, if any (Zolfaghari, Mousavifar, Pedram & Haghani (2012). Understanding and anticipating patient needs and removing barriers post-stroke may decrease readmission rates as well as increase patient satisfaction with their hospital experience. Design: A retrospective chart review examining pre-and post-intervention scores for patient satisfaction and 30-day readmissions for stroke patients who received post-discharge call backs from registered nurses (RNs). Methods: The principal investigator gathered data points from the Stroke Coordinator to assess patient satisfaction utilizing Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. The principal investigator collected re-admission and demographic data from the Electronic Medical Record (EMR). Findings: Overall pooled patient satisfaction scores improved from 73.6 percentile in the pre-intervention, to 78.8 percentile in the post-intervention. This number was not statistically significant, but an overall increase was nonetheless noted. Readmission rates declined slightly, 3.3% to 2.7 %, but again there was no statistical significance. Desired p-value was \u3c0.05 for this quality improvement project. Conclusion: Although not statistically significant, an overall improvement in patient satisfaction was noted, as well as an overall decrease in readmission rates, suggesting that a call-back intervention could benefit patients in their transition after stroke. Recommended future steps for this quality improvement project include creating stream-lined electronic data collection tools for call-backs to enable ongoing monitoring of compliance and further explore quality improvement measures

Alien Registration- Clark, Gertrude (Fort Fairfield, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/35738/thumbnail.jp

Front Matter

Front Matte

Letter from the Editor

Welcome to our inaugural issue from Editor-in-Chief Angela Clark-Taylor, Ph.D

DISTRIBUTION OF EASTERN HEMLOCK, TSUGA CANADENSIS, IN EASTERN KENTUCKY AND THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INVASION BY THE HEMLOCK WOOLLY ADELGID, ADELGES TSUGAE

The hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive non-native insect, is threatening eastern hemlock in Kentucky. This study examined three techniques to map the distribution of eastern hemlock using decision trees, remote sensing, and species distribution modeling. Accuracy assessments showed that eastern hemlock was best modeled using a decision tree without incorporating satellite radiance. Using the distribution from the optimal model, risk maps for susceptibility to hemlock woolly adelgid infestation were created using two species distribution models. Environmental variables related to dispersal were used to build the models and their contributions to the models assessed. The models showed similar spatial distributions of eastern hemlock at high risk of infestation