Expected Wages and Other Labor Market Factors Affecting the Labor Force Decisions of Nurses in the State of Iowa

The Iowa Department of Public Health has undertaken several independent projects to evaluate various aspects of the labor environment affecting Iowa healthcare over the recent past.  This research expands upon the results of these efforts to estimate the effects of a number of wage and nonwage factors on nurses’ decisions regarding where and how much to employment to seek within the nursing sector.  Utilizing data collected through Department of Public Health surveys, average county-level wages for Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, and unlicensed practitioners (nursing assistants) are estimated.  Estimated county-level wages for each group are then matched with information on each county’s health care demand environment to estimate the influence of wage and type of employing firm upon nurses’ joint decisions regarding place of work and place of residence.  Finally, average county wage estimates are combined with individual nurse data for 13 counties in North-central Iowa to evaluate the extent to which personal characteristics affect the labor-force decisions of RNs.employment; Wages; income; labor-force; nurse

Landscapes of War Permanently Altered Topography Is One of the Casualties of War, but Battlefields Can Also Be of Collateral Value

But the rationale for creating battlefield parks has changed over the past 100 years, as have attitudes about battlefield conservation with a related emphasis on the physical landscapes themselves, leading to their management for multiple, layered assets through principles of constructive conservation. Existing battlefield parks provide perhaps the longest-standing examples of the evolution of landscapes of war toward generators of multiple ecosystem benefits. Moving from battlefield parks that, in some cases, have not seen warfare for hundreds of years, we examined landscapes of more recent conflict and considered the future collateral values that could be attained by establishing parks at conflict sites along international borders. The evolution of warfare suggests that current and future wars are unlikely to be restricted to well-defined battlefields that can later be set aside as protected landscapes

[Introduction to] Collateral Values: The Natural Capital Created by Landscapes of War.

This book explores the unanticipated benefits that may arise after wars and conflicts, showing how the preservation of battlefields and the establishment of borderlands can create natural capital in the former landscapes of war. The editors call this Collateral Value, in contrast to the collateral damage that war inflicts upon infrastructure, natural capital, and human capital. The book includes case studies recounting successes and failures, opportunities and risks, and ambitious proposals. The book is organized in two sections. The first visits U.S., English, and French battlefield sites dating from medieval England to World War I. The second explores borderlands located on several continents, established to end or prevent conflict. Both of these can create value beyond their original purpose, by preserving natural areas and restoring biodiversity. Among the topics covered are: · Registering English Battlefields · Old forts and new amenities in the Southern Plains of the U.S. · Verdun, France, and the conservation of WWI cultural and natural heritage · Conservation lessons learned in the Cordillera del Condor Corridor of the Andes mountains · Korea’s DMZ and its nature preserve · Wakhan National Park, a mountainous buffer area between Afghanistan and Pakistan The book examines state-of-the-art applications of landscape ecology, including methods for change detection, connectivity analysis, and the quantification of ecosystem services. Also included is a chapter on a creative proposal for “Guantánamo 2.0,” which would transform the Gitmo detention facility into a peace park and ecological research center. A concluding chapter appraises the past, present, and future of Collateral Values. Collateral Values: The Natural Capital Created by Landscapes of War benefits a broad audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and practicing professionals.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1369/thumbnail.jp

Consumer understanding of nutrition and health claims: sources of evidence

Provided that they are scientifically substantiated, nutrition and health (NH) claims linked to food products can help consumers make well-informed food choices. The new European legislation on NH claims made on foods entered into force on 19 January 2007. The law sets out conditions for their use, establishes a system for their scientific evaluation, and will create European lists of authorised claims. An important aspect of this proposed legislation is that it states, in article 5.2, ‘the use of nutrition and health claims shall only be permitted if the average consumer can be expected to understand the beneficial effects expressed in the claim'. The present review examines consumer understanding of NH claims from a consumer science perspective. It focuses on the type of data and information that could be needed to provide evidence that the average consumer adequately understands a particular NH claim. After exploring several different methodologies, it proposes a case-specific approach using a stepwise procedure for assessing consumer understanding of a NH clai

Determination of the Spawning Season of Bigmouth Sleeper in Puerto Rico by Examination of Gonad Maturation and Reproductive Hormone Cycles

Bigmouth sleepers, Gobiomorus dormitor, are diadromous fish that have potential for hatchery production as both food and sport fish and for conservation purposes. Understanding of bigmouth sleeper maturation and seasonal hormone cycling are necessary in order to realize hatchery production. Therefore, seasonal trends in gonadosomatic index (GSI) and plasma vitellogenin, estradiol, progesterone and total testosterone concentrations were examined in wild and captive populations in Puerto Rico during the presumed spawning season. The spawning season for wild river populations of bigmouth sleepers was protracted over several months, but peaks in male testosterone (6.5 ng/mL) and female vitellogenin (11.3 ng/mL), estradiol (3.3 ng/mL), and GSI (9.5—12.0%) demonstrated that the bigmouth sleeper spawning season occurred primarily in July and August in southwestern Puerto Rico. Captive female broodstock held in shallow hatchery ponds demonstrated accelerated maturation, presumably due to warmer water temperatures in the ponds. Therefore, induced and natural spawning attempts using captive female bigmouth sleeper broodstock should be conducted from June through July. However, advanced gonadal maturation and increased testosterone production in captive males was minimal. Hence, induced spawning for captive rearing purposes should use wild broodstock captured during the peak of the natural spawning season in July and August

Performance of PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG urinary biomarkers in prediction of biopsy outcome in the Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS).

BackgroundFor men on active surveillance for prostate cancer, biomarkers may improve prediction of reclassification to higher grade or volume cancer. This study examined the association of urinary PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG (T2:ERG) with biopsy-based reclassification.MethodsUrine was collected at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months in the multi-institutional Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS), and PCA3 and T2:ERG levels were quantitated. Reclassification was an increase in Gleason score or ratio of biopsy cores with cancer to ≥34%. The association of biomarker scores, adjusted for common clinical variables, with short- and long-term reclassification was evaluated. Discriminatory capacity of models with clinical variables alone or with biomarkers was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and decision curve analysis (DCA).ResultsSeven hundred and eighty-two men contributed 2069 urine specimens. After adjusting for PSA, prostate size, and ratio of biopsy cores with cancer, PCA3 but not T2:ERG was associated with short-term reclassification at the first surveillance biopsy (OR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.0-1.7, p = 0.02). The addition of PCA3 to a model with clinical variables improved area under the curve from 0.743 to 0.753 and increased net benefit minimally. After adjusting for clinical variables, neither marker nor marker kinetics was associated with time to reclassification in subsequent biopsies.ConclusionsPCA3 but not T2:ERG was associated with cancer reclassification in the first surveillance biopsy but has negligible improvement over clinical variables alone in ROC or DCA analyses. Neither marker was associated with reclassification in subsequent biopsies

The Remote Observatories of the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA)

We describe the remote facilities operated by the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) , a consortium of colleges and universities in the US partnered with Lowell Observatory, the Chilean National Telescope Allocation Committee, and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. SARA observatories comprise a 0.96 m telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona; one of 0.6 m aperture on Cerro Tololo, Chile; and the 1 m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain. All are operated using standard VNC or Radmin protocols communicating with on-site PCs. Remote operation offers considerable flexibility in scheduling, allowing long-term observational cadences difficult to achieve with classical observing at remote facilities, as well as obvious travel savings. Multiple observers at different locations can share a telescope for training, educational use, or collaborative research programs. Each telescope has a CCD system for optical imaging, using thermoelectric cooling to avoid the need for frequent local service, and a second CCD for offset guiding. The Arizona and Chile telescopes also have fiber-fed echelle spectrographs. Switching between imaging and spectroscopy is very rapid, so a night can easily accommodate mixed observing modes. We present some sample observational programs. For the benefit of other groups organizing similar consortia, we describe the operating structure and principles of SARA, as well as some lessons learned from almost 20 years of remote operations