The taste of place: local and regional foods transform the Northeast

Northeast farmers and consumers cooperating to make agriculture survive.Agriculture - New England ; Farm produce - New England

Balanced networks of spiking neurons with spatially dependent recurrent connections

Networks of model neurons with balanced recurrent excitation and inhibition produce irregular and asynchronous spiking activity. We extend the analysis of balanced networks to include the known dependence of connection probability on the spatial separation between neurons. In the continuum limit we derive that stable, balanced firing rate solutions require that the spatial spread of external inputs be broader than that of recurrent excitation, which in turn must be broader than or equal to that of recurrent inhibition. For finite size networks we investigate the pattern forming dynamics arising when balanced conditions are not satisfied. The spatiotemporal dynamics of balanced networks offer new challenges in the statistical mechanics of complex systems

Nurses' retention and hospital characteristics in New South Wales, CHERE Discussion Paper No 52

Nursing shortages are commonly observed features of hospital systems in Australia, Europe and the United States. To date there has been very little research on the effects of hospital characteristics on the retention of the nursing staff. In this paper we match individual data on registered nurses (RNs) working in the public sector in NSW in 1996 to the hospital in which they work. We analyze the annual retention probability for these RNs using the nurses? personal characteristics as well as the characteristics of the hospitals. It is found that the type of hospital per se does not help explain the retention probability of the nurses employed in the premise but the hospital characteristics do. Hospital characteristics include measures of size, complexity, intensity, expenditures and staffing levels. The results suggest that the effects of these variables are complex. For example, complexity of the work as measured by admissions from emergency increase retention while high cost procedures and large ANDRG weights reduce retention. Higher levels of expenditures (at constant staffing levels) increase retention except for expenditures on visiting medical officers which reduce retention. The effects on the expected retention probability are very large and significant. One implication of our findings is that simply increasing staffing levels is unlikely to achieve much impact on nurses? retention levels unless problem areas of the job are also addressed.Medical workforce

Healthy, wealthy and insured? The role of self-assessed health in the demand for private health insurance, CHERE Working Paper 2006/2

Both adverse selection and moral hazard models predict a positive relationship between risk and insurance; yet the most common finding in empirical studies of insurance is that of a negative correlation. In this paper we investigate the relationship between ex ante risk and private health insurance using data from the 2001 Australian National Health Survey (NHS). The Australian health system provides a setting where the relationship between risk and insurance is more transparent than many other institutional frameworks; private health insurance is not tied to employment; community rating limits the actions of insurers; and private coverage is high for a country providing free public hospital treatment. We find a strong positive association between self-assessed health and private health cover. We use the detailed information available in the NHS to investigate whether we can identify factors responsible for the negative correlation between risk (lower SAHS) and insurance cover. However this relationship persists despite the inclusion of a large set of controls for personal and socio-economic characteristics, risk-related behaviours, objective health measures and an index of mental health. The opposite effect of self-assessed health and long-term conditions on coverage suggests that SAHS is capturing factors such as personality or risk preferences.Private health insurance, self-assessed health, Australia

Snowboard, Ski, and Skateboard Sensor System Application

The goal of this project was develop a sensor for the commercial market for skiers, snowboarders, and skateboarders that can give them the data such as speed, elevation, pressure, temperature, flex, acceleration, position, and other performance data such as trick characterization. This was done by using a variety of sensors, including a GPS, flex sensors, accelerometer, and others to provide data such as speed, position, position, and temperature. The sensors were placed in an external polycarbonate casing attached to the ski or board by using an adhesive pad on the bottom of the casing. These sensors then transmit the data via a microcontroller to either an LCD screen displaying a simple application or a memory system. The user can then access and analyze this data using Matlab code to interpret its relevancy. Using this system, performance data was recorded to analyze tricks such as spins and jumps

Geomorphic processes active in the Southwestern Louisiana Canal, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana

The geomorphological changes causing the destruction of the banks of the Southwestern Louisiana Canal are studied by means of field work, laboratory analyses, and infrared color imagery interpretation. Turbulence and flow patterns are mapped, and related to erosion and sediment deposition processes. The accelerated erosion rate of the last decade is discussed, with two causative factors cited: (1) development of faster boats, increasing bank and bottom erosion, and (2) a subsequently larger tidal influx, with greater erosive ability. The physical properties of the canal bank materials are also analyzed. It is concluded that channel erosion progressively increases, with no indications of stabilization, until they merge with other waterways and become indistinguishable from natural water bodies

Saül sur la scène : Jean de La Taille, Saül le furieux, précédé de l’Art de la tragédie (1572)

Étude de la fureur de Saül en tant que principe éminemment spectaculaire, fondant la nouvelle poétique théâtrale humaniste. La scène de la nécromancie précise la folie de Saül, la déréliction, de même que la nature du spectacle constitutif de la scène moderne : l’illusion diabolique. Satan est en effet au centre de la réflexion sur le théâtre. Il continuera longtemps de hanter la scène, et jusqu’à Bossuet les détracteurs de la « comédie » dénonceront son oeuvre.This study depicts Saul’s fury as an eminently spectacular principle, the basis of the new humanist theatrical poetics. The necromancy scene illustrates Saul’s madness, dereliction, and the nature of spectacle at the heart of modern drama: diabolical illusion. Satan is centre stage in the reflection on theatre. He would long haunt the scene and until Bossuet his works would be denounced by critics of “comedy.