Dispersal of Rhagoletis cerasi in commercial cherry orchards: Efficacy of soil covering nets for cherry fruit fly control

Demand for organic cherries offers producers a premium price to improve their commercial viability. Organic standards require that producers find alternatives to pesticides. Soil treatments to control the European cherry fruit fly Rhagoletis cerasi (L.)(Diptera: Tephrididae) appear to be an attractive option. However, soil treatments can only be effective if the migration of flies is low, because mature flies may migrate from near-by trees for oviposition. To examine the general potential of soil treatments and to understand the dispersal and flight behaviour of R. cerasi within orchards, experiments using netting to cover the soil were conducted in two orchards with different pest pressure during two years. The netting reduced flight activity by 77% and fruit infestation by 91%. The data showed that the flies have a dispersal of less than 5 m within orchards, which is very low. The low thresholds for tolerance for infested fruit in the fresh market creates a strong economic incentive for control, therefore, soil covering is a promising strategy for controlling R. cerasi in commercial orchards

Physicians' Practice of Dispensing Medicines: A Qualitative Study

Objectives: The physical act of giving medication to patients to administer away from a health care setting, dispensing, is normally performed by pharmacists. Dispensing of medication by physicians is a neglected patient safety issue, and having observed considerable variation in practice, the lead author sought to explore this issue further. A literature review yielded zero articles pertaining to this, so an exploratory study was commenced. The qualitative arm, relating to junior physicians' experience of, and training in, dispensing, is reported here. Methods: Focus groups were conducted to explore the beliefs, ideas, and experiences of physicians-in-training pertaining to dispensing of medication. These were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were thematically analyzed using the grounded theory. Results: The emergency department was the most common site of dispensing. No formal training in dispensing had been received. Informal training was variable in content and utility. The physicians felt that dispensing was part of their role. Conclusions: Despite being expected to dispense, and the patient safety issues involved in giving drugs to patients to use at home, physicians do not feel that they have been trained to undertake this task. These findings from 1 hospital raise questions about thewider quality and safety of this practic

Ready and Able: Addressing Labor Market Needs and Building Productive Careers for People with Disabilities through Collaborative Approaches

The report describes market-driven practices that increase hiring, retention, promotion and accommodation of people with disabilities through partnerships with employers.Approaches profiled in the research include: collaborations between major national employers and public sector agencies; models that focus on an industry or occupational sector; private and "alternative" staffing services that place people with disabilities; partnerships that expand opportunities for college students and graduates with disabilities; and local and regional hubs that connect people with disabilities and employers. The research also profiles two organizations where lead disability and employment partnerships act as catalysts

Vortex simulations of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability

A vortex technique capable of calculating the Rayleigh–Taylor instability to large amplitudes in inviscid, incompressible, layered flows is introduced. The results show the formation of a steady‐state bubble at large times, whose velocity is in agreement with the theory of Birkhoff and Carter. It is shown that the spike acceleration can exceed free fall, as suggested recently by Menikoff and Zemach. Results are also presented for instability at various Atwood ratios and for fluids having several layers

Intertemporal State Budgeting

This study presents intertemporal budgeting as of 1999 for all 50 U.S.states. Intertemporal state budgeting compares the present value of a state's projected receipts with the present value of its projected expenditures (exclusive of interest payments)plus the current value of its net debt (liabilities minus assets). Our projections start with the 1999 U.S.Census Bureau's State Government Finances survey of receipts,expenditures,and debt.We group these highly detailed data into a framework that is consistent with the National Income and Product Account accounts. The 1999 Census data are the latest available.To project total receipts and expenditures for years beyond 1999,we first form average 1999 receipts and expenditures by age and sex using relative age-and sex-specific receipts and expenditure profiles.We estimate these profiles the Current Population Survey and the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Next we grow these averages using an assumed growth rate in labor productivity. Finally,year-and state-specific age-sex population estimates are multiplied by projected average receipts and expenditures by age and sex in that year to form that year's total projected state-specific receipts and expenditures.We form our year-age-sex-and state-specific population projections using the 2001 Social Security Administration 's projection of the total U.S. population by age and sex in conjunction with the 1995 Census projections on state-specific age-sex population shares. Our base-case results use a 3 percent real discount rate and assume a 1.5 percent real productivity growth rate.They show a great range of state intertemporal imbalances. When measured as a share of (scaled by) the present value of projected expenditures, imbalances range from positive 48 percent in Alaska to negative 19 percent in Vermont. These and other findings proved to be very robust to changes in productivity and discount rates as well as changes in demographic assumptions. State official liabilities are not good proxies for their intertemporal imbalances.Indeed, the correlation between scaled state intertemporal imbalances and gross state debt scaled by state income is essentially zero.The corresponding correlation based on net state debt is negative. Given this, it's not surprising that we find very little correspondence between the ranking of the states based on their intertemporal budget imbalances and the credit ratings published by either Moody's or Standard and Poor's. Our user-friendly program for calculating intertemporal state budget imbalances (the difference between a)the present value of