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Specialty-aligned palliative care (SAPC) refers to interprofessional palliative care (PC) that is delivered to a specific population of patients in close partnership with other primary or specialty clinicians. As evolving PC models address physical, psychosocial, and spiritual suffering across illnesses and settings, PC clinicians must acquire advanced knowledge of disease-specific symptoms, common treatments, and complications that impact prognosis and outcomes. The tips provided in this article draw on the experience and knowledge of interprofessional PC and other specialist clinicians from diverse institutions across the United States who have developed and studied SAPC services across different disease groups. Recommendations include focusing on approaching specialty team partnerships with humility, curiosity, and diplomacy; focusing on patient populations where PC needs are great; clarifying how work and responsibilities will be divided between PC and other clinicians to the extent possible; using consults as opportunities for bidirectional learning; and adapting workflows and schedules to meet specialty team needs while managing expectations and setting limits as appropriate. Furthermore, to provide effective SAPC, PC clinicians must learn about the specific symptoms, prognoses, and common treatments of the patients they are serving. They must also build trusting relationships and maintain open communication with patients and referring clinicians to ensure integrated and aligned PC delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinicians may have to adapt their online marketing and engagement strategies to convey messages regarding COVID-19 and telehealth appointments for current and potential clients. This study reports the results of a linguistic inquiry of ways therapists presented telehealth services, advertised on their professional websites in six cities in the United States, during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Results of the analysis indicated that while MFTs use positive emotional tone in their language, the authenticity scores were poor. Dimensions of Clout and analytical language scored high. This suggests that MFTs use language that is professional, but distant, or inauthentic. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with cirrhosis have significant morbidity and mortality, as well as substantial symptom burden. Objective: We investigated the relationship between symptom burden and inpatient health care utilization among patients with cirrhosis. Methods: Adult patients with cirrhosis being evaluated for or awaiting liver transplantation at an academic institution in the United States completed the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS), a validated symptom evaluation tool with total scores ranging from 0 to 90. The outcomes of interest were emergency department (ED) visits, nonelective hospitalizations, hospital days, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and 30-day readmissions within 6 months. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were used to examine the relationship between ESAS scores and outcomes. Results: Of 233 patients (43% female, median age 61), the median total ESAS score was 16 (interquartile range 6–30). Higher total scores on the ESAS were associated with increased ED visits, hospitalizations, hospital days, and ICU days (all p < 0.04). After adjusting for age, gender, and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease-sodium, ESAS total score remained an independent predictor of ED visits (IRR 1.05, confidence interval [95% CI] 1.00–1.10, p = 0.03). Multivariate ESAS subscale analyses revealed that the physical symptom score was associated with ED visits (IRR 1.09, 95% CI 1.02–1.16, p = 0.01), but the psychological symptom score was not (IRR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00–1.08, p = 0.15). Conclusions: Patient-reported symptoms, particularly physical symptoms, are independently associated with ED visits among patients with cirrhosis being considered for liver transplantation. Further research is needed to examine whether addressing symptoms more aggressively, such as with palliative care co-management, could decrease ED utilization in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the benefits of participating in an online support group for caregivers of children with a colorectal condition or adult patients with a similar condition. Methods: An electronic survey was administered to members of an international online support group (18 items for caregivers; 15 for patients). Items included demographics, medical diagnosis, potential benefits, and overall experiences in the group. Quantitative results were summarized as descriptive trends, while qualitative responses were summarized thematically. Results: Respondents (102 caregivers, 6 patients) were primarily female, 35–44 years old, Caucasian, and resided in the United States. Most respondents learned about the support group from medical providers or online search. Cited benefits included learning information, gaining support, forming connections through shared experience, and utilizing a unique resource. Being a member of the group was helpful to respondents, improved their mental health and access to health information, and they would recommend the group to others. Conclusion: Participation in online support groups offers educational and emotional benefits to patients/caregivers which complements the medical support from their colorectal teams. Thus, colorectal providers need to be aware of the availability and potential benefits of these groups, and encourage their patients/caregivers to be actively involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooley arid LeRoy (1981) have argued that if random shifts in money demand are at least partially accommodated by the Federal Reserve, there is no obvious way to identify the money demand function for the purposes of estimation. We argue that this is not correct, and that identification is in fuel straightforward, provided that the monetary authority reacts to at least one variable not in the money demand function. If the monetary authority looks at "everything" in making its policy, this condition is likely to be fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the contributions of teacher Amy Morris Homans in the field of physical education in the U.S. Educational attainment of Homans; Career history; Achievement of leadership in the training of women in physical education.

This article provides a rich longitudinal portrait of the financial and social resources available in the school districts of high- and low-income students in the United States from 1990 to 2014. Combining multiple publicly available data sources for most school districts in the United States, we document levels and gaps in school district financial resources-total per-pupil expenditures-and social resources-local rates of adult educational attainment, family structure, and adult unemployment-available to the average public school student at a variety of income levels over time. In addition to using eligibility for the National School Lunch Program as a blunt measure of student income, we estimate resource inequalities between income deciles to analyze resource gaps between affluent and poor children. We then examine the relationship between income segregation and resource gaps between the school districts of high- and low-income children. In previous work, the social context of schooling has been a theoretical but unmeasured mechanism through which income segregation may operate to create unequal opportunities for children. Our results show large and, in some cases, growing social resource gaps in the districts of high- and low-income students nationally and provide evidence that these gaps are exacerbated by income segregation. Conversely, per-pupil funding became more compensatory between high- and low-income students' school districts over this period, especially in highly segregated states. However, there are early signs of reversal in this trend. The results provide evidence that school finance reforms have been somewhat effective in reducing the consequences of income segregation on funding inequities, while inequalities in the social context of schooling continue to grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the spiritual crisis faced by contingent employees of university faculty in the U.S. The author discusses her experience of vulnerability as a contingent faculty member and looks at religious scholar Thea Bowman's notion of spirituality pertaining to self-awareness, other-awareness, and God-awareness. Topics include concerns regarding educational institutions ability to provide the educational needs of students, and the need to be aware of contingent faculty members.

Several recent studies have concluded that residential segregation by income in the United States has increased in the decades since 1970, including a significant increase after 2000. Income segregation measures, however, are biased upward when based on sample data. This is a potential concern because the sampling rate of the American Community Survey (ACS)-from which post-2000 income segregation estimates are constructed-was lower than that of the earlier decennial censuses. Thus, the apparent increase in income segregation post-2000 may simply reflect larger upward bias in the estimates from the ACS, and the estimated trend may therefore be inaccurate. In this study, we first derive formulas describing the approximate sampling bias in two measures of segregation. Next, using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the bias-corrected estimators eliminate virtually all of the bias in segregation estimates in most cases of practical interest, although the correction fails to eliminate bias in some cases when the population is unevenly distributed among geographic units and the average within-unit samples are very small. We then use the bias-corrected estimators to produce unbiased estimates of the trends in income segregation over the last four decades in large U.S. metropolitan areas. Using these corrected estimates, we replicate the central analyses in four prior studies on income segregation. We find that the primary conclusions from these studies remain unchanged, although the true increase in income segregation among families after 2000 was only half as large as that reported in earlier work. Despite this revision, our replications confirm that income segregation has increased sharply in recent decades among families with children and that income inequality is a strong and consistent predictor of income segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The role of dairy foods for hip fracture prevention remains controversial. In this study, among US men and women, a glass of milk per day was associated with an 8% lower risk of hip fracture. This contrasts with a reported increased risk with higher milk intake in Swedish women.Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine whether higher milk and dairy food consumption are associated with risk of hip fracture in older adults following a report of an increased risk for milk in Swedish women.Methods: In two US cohorts, 80,600 postmenopausal women and 43,306 men over 50 years of age were followed for up to 32 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the relative risks (RR) of hip fracture per daily serving of milk (240 mL) and other dairy foods that were assessed every 4 years, controlling for other dietary intakes, BMI, height, smoking, activity, medications, and disease diagnoses.Results: Two thousand one hundred thirty-eight incident hip fractures were identified in women and 694 in men. Each serving of milk per day was associated with a significant 8% lower risk of hip fracture in men and women combined (RR = 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.87 to 0.97). A suggestive inverse association was found for cheese in women only (RR = 0.91, CI 0.81 to 1.02). Yogurt consumption was low and not associated with risk. Total dairy food intake, of which milk contributed about half, was associated with a significant 6% lower risk of hip fracture per daily serving in men and women (RR = 0.94, CI 0.90 to 0.98). Calcium, vitamin D, and protein from non-dairy sources did not modify the association between milk and hip fracture, nor was it explained by contributions of these nutrients from milk.Conclusions: In this group of older US adults, higher milk consumption was associated with a lower risk of hip fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Describe the establishment of the palliative care quality network (PCQN) with guidance on how teams can develop similar collaborations. Background: In the current healthcare environment, palliative care (PC) teams must be able to demonstrate value and provide efficient care while supporting the clinicians who provide that care. Description: The PCQN is a national quality improvement (QI) collaborative comprised of specialty PC teams from a diverse range of hospitals across the United States Results: PCQN members identified five core activities to support PC teams. 1) Collection of standardized data: 23 core items and 22 optional data elements document patient demographics, consultation characteristics, processes of care, and clinical outcomes. 2) Data analyses with benchmarking including reports generated in real time providing summary, trend, member comparison, and cross-tab analyses. 3) QI collaborative; QI initiatives have addressed pain management, surrogate decision-making, spiritual screening, and anxiety assessment. 4) Education and personal development provided through monthly conference calls, a listserv, PCQN website, and twice-yearly conferences. 5) Financial analysis; a software program enables PC teams to calculate the financial impact of the care provided. Conclusions: The central tenet of the PCQN is to improve quality of care for patients with serious illness and their families, increase the efficient use of healthcare resources, and support growth and sustainability of PC programs. Building and tending to this community takes time to ensure engagement of all members and remain responsive to evolving needs of patients, families, PC teams, and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Department of Defense (DOD) weapon acquisition programs often suffer from schedule slips and cost overruns associated with unanticipated performance failures found in the latter part of the programs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) claims that cost and schedule estimates based on limited knowledge about system requirements and technology, design, and manufacturing maturity level can lead to schedule slips and cost overruns. Numerous studies conducted on DOD acquisition suggest that the utilization of knowledge-based acquisition processes including cost and schedule planning ensures the success of weapon system development. Knowledge-based realistic cost and schedule estimation is the most effective way to provide stability not only to the program but also to the entire DOD acquisition system. This paper presents the results of a quantitative analysis method to better predict Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) cost growth compared to the Milestone B (MS B) estimate, in order to mitigate the risk of program failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is straightforward to determine the size of the Earth and the distance to the Moon without using a telescope. The methods have been known since the third century BCE. However, few astronomers have done this measurement from data they have taken. We use a gnomon to determine the latitude and longitude of South Bend, Indiana, and College Station, Texas, and determine the value of the radius of the Earth to be Rearth = 6290 km, only 1.4% smaller than the known value. We use the method of Aristarchus and the size of the Earth's shadow during the lunar eclipse of June 15, 2011 to estimate the distance to the Moon to be 62.3Rearth, 3.3% greater than the known mean value. We use measurements of the angular motion of the Moon against the background stars over the course of two nights, using a simple cross staff device, to estimate the Moon's distance at perigee and apogee. We use simultaneous observations of asteroid 1996 HW1 obtained with small telescopes in Socorro, New Mexico, and Ojai, California, to obtain a value of the Astronomical Unit of (1.59±0.19)×108 km, about 6% too large. The data and methods presented here can easily become part of an introductory astronomy laboratory class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection Control became concerned when bloodstream infection (BSI) rates increased after implementing a needleless valved hub connector. During a 21-month period three different needleless catheter hub connectors were evaluated by quantitatively culturing blood drawn through hub connectors that would have ordinarily been discarded (DBC). DBC drawn through Clearlink™ catheter hub connectors were found to be twice as likely to be positive as DBC drawn through Clave® or Q-syte™ hub connectors ( P < 0.04). DBC grew pathogens 46% of the time and skin organisms 54% of the time. Patients with positive DBC were three times more likely to meet Centers for Disease Control (CDC) BSI criteria by DBC cultures than by physician-ordered blood cultures (CBC; P < 0.001). For patients growing pathogens in DBC, 64% had no CBC drawn, the average temperature was lower than for patients with pathogens in CBC (99.3 ± 1.5 ve 100.6 ± 1.9, P = 0.015), and 92% of discharged patients (11 out of 12) were not treated with an antibiotic active against the DBC pathogen. Drawing BC through a catheter hub connector carries a risk of false-positives that could increase BSI rates by up to 3-fold. Further work is necessary to evaluate this concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium pentobarbital and phenytoin are common constituents of veterinary euthanasia solutions in the United States. Relay, or secondary, barbiturate toxicosis has been reported in carnivorous animals that have fed from the carcasses of euthanized livestock. This case report presents barbiturate toxicosis in a dog. A 2-year-old female spayed Australian shepherd presented comatose 2 h after ingesting an unknown substance on the beach. The material was retrieved from the stomach by gastric lavage and visually identified as fish or other animal tissue. The dog recovered with symptomatic and supportive therapy and was released on the third day of hospitalization. Tissue found on the beach near where the dog walked and a urine sample from the dog were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Both samples were positive for pentobarbital and phenytoin. The tissue was consistent with mammalian blubber based on gross and histological examination. Three weeks previously, a juvenile humpback whale had stranded on the beach where the dog had ingested the unknown substance. The whale had been euthanized with a barbiturate solution, necropsied, and removed from the beach. It was not definitively determined that the pentobarbital-containing blubber ingested by the dog was from the euthanized whale, but that was the most likely source. Although attempts were made to remove the whale's remains from the beach, practical considerations made complete removal challenging, if not impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses an aspect of racial residential segregation that has been largely ignored in prior work: the issue of geographic scale. In some metropolitan areas, racial groups are segregated over large regions, with predominately white regions, predominately black regions, and so on, whereas in other areas, the separation of racial groups occurs over much shorter distances. Here we develop an approach-featuring the segregation profile and the corresponding macro/micro segregation ratio-that offers a scale-sensitive alternative to standard methodological practice for describing segregation. Using this approach, we measure and describe the geographic scale of racial segregation in the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in 2000. We find considerable heterogeneity in the geographic scale of segregation patterns across both metropolitan areas and racial groups, a heterogeneity that is not evident using conventional "aspatial" segregation measures. Moreover, because the geographic scale of segregation is only modestly correlated with the level of segregation in our sample, we argue that geographic scale represents a distinct dimension of residential segregation. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of our findings for investigating the patterns, causes, and consequences of residential segregation at different geographic scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Now in its fourth year, PR²EPS is a National Science Foundation funded initiative designed to recruit high school students to attend college majoring in the physical sciences, including engineering and secondary science education, and to help ensure their retention within the program until graduation. A central feature of the recruitment effort is a free one-week residential summer engineering and science camp for high school students. This report describes the rationale for using a camp as a recruitment tool as well as the camp structure and engineering/science activities of the camp. The results of pre and post surveys (n = 135) designed to assess the campers' self-perceptions as scientists and assessments of the camp itself are provided, as well as attitudinal type survey data collected more than a year following the camp experience. Faculty similarly concerned with motivating high school students to major in the physical sciences or engineering should find the report useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to better understand providers' perspectives of and experiences with frequent users of medical services. Focus group interviews were conducted with physicians in San Diego, California, and Omaha, Nebraska. Indicators of problematic patient overuse of medical services were identified as well as the common physician experience of overuse that is troublesome and problematic. Qualitative data analysis revealed that physicians did not consider patient overuse, by itself, to be problematic. Overuse became problematic and troublesome when patient behavior violated the physician- patient relationship of trust. All participants described a distinct negative physiological reaction to these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin rashes are among the most common problems seen by those providing health care to agricultural workers. We present a case report of a migrant farmworker patient with a painful, blistering eruption of the axilla and adjacent skin developing after an insect bite. The possibility of infection was not initially considered, and teledermatology was helpful in making the diagnosis of bullous impetigo. This was important because initial culture confirmation was not obtained and antibiotic treatment had not been initiated. After the consultation, the impetigo was treated by empiric antibiotic coverage. The environmental conditions of migrant farmworkers raise special issues for infectious skin diseases like bullous impetigo. Crowded living conditions, lack of proper sanitary facilities, and poor accessibility to health care increase the risk of occurrence and spread of this disease. With the recent emergence of multi-drug-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in community settings, this case report should serve to reinforce the need to recognize the possibility of infection and to obtain culture specimens at the initial visit to better treat and control this infectious skin condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this large population-based study, fracture rates for hips, distal forearms, proximal humeri, and ankles were higher in winter than in other seasons, although the winter peak was small for hip fractures (p < 0.05 at all sites). Younger age between 65 and 80, living in warmer states and male gender were associated with increased winter morbidity due to fractures. The objective was to investigate seasonal variation in the incidence of four common fractures, and explore the association of weather with risk. Population-based analysis of individuals age 65 and older, including fractures of the hip, the distal forearm, the proximal humerus and the ankle. Weather information was obtained from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. For all fractures, rates were highest in winter and lowest in summer (p < 0.05 at all sites). Winter peaks were more pronounced in warm climate states, in men, and in those younger than 80 years old. In winter, total snowfall was associated with a reduced risk of hip fracture (−5% per 20 inches) but an increased risk of non-hip fractures (6–12%; p < 0.05 at all sites). In summer, hip fracture risk tended to be lower during sunny weather (− 3% per 2 weeks of sunny days; p = 0.13), while other fractures were increased (15%–20%; p < 0.05) in sunny weather. Fractures contribute considerably to winter morbidity in older individuals. Younger age between 65 and 80, living in warmer states and male gender are risk factors for increased winter morbidity due to fractures. Weather affects hip fracture risk differently than the other fractures studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To analyse rehospitalisation of newborns of all gestations. Methods: A total of 33 276 surviving infants of all gestations born between 1 October 1998 and 31 March 2000 at seven Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program (KPMCP) delivery services were studied retrospectively. Results: Rehospitalisation rates within two weeks after nursery discharge ranged from 1.0% to 3.7%. The most common reason for rehospitalisation was jaundice. Among babies &ges;34 weeks, the most important factor with respect to rehospitalisation was use of home phototherapy. Among babies who were not rehospitalised for jaundice, African-American race (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.56), and having a scheduled outpatient visit (AOR =0.73) or a home visit (AOR =0.59) within 72 hours after discharge were protective. Factors associated with increased risk were: being small for gestational age (AOR =1.83), gestational age of 34-36 weeks without admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (AOR =1.65), Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology, version II, &ges; 10 (AOR =1.95), male gender (AOR =1.24), having both a home as well as a clinic visit within 72 hours after discharge (AOR = 1.84), and birth facility (range of AORs =1.52-2.36). Asian race was associated with rehospitalisation (AOR =1.49) when all hospitalisations were considered, but this association did not persist if hospitalisations for jaundice were excluded. Conclusions: In this insured population with access to integrated care, rehospitalisation rates for jaundice were strongly affected by availability of home phototherapy and by follow up. For other causes, moderate prematurity and follow up visits played a large role, but variation between centres persisted even after controlling for multiple factors. Future research should include development of better process measures for evaluation of follow up strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Nosocomial bloodstream infections (BSIs) are important causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Methods. Data from a nationwide, concurrent surveillance study (Surveillance and Control of Pathogens of Epidemiological importance [SCOPE]) were used to examine the secular trends in the epidemiology and micro- biology of nosocomial BSIs. Results. Our study detected 24,179 cases of nosocomial BSI in 49 US hospitals over a 7-year period from March 1995 through September 2002 (60 cases per 10,000 hospital admissions). Eighty-seven percent of BSIs were monomicrobial. Gram-positive organisms caused 65% of these BSIs, gram-negative organisms caused 25%, and fungi caused 9.5%. The crude mortality rate was 27%. The most-common organisms causing BSIs were coagulase- negative staphylococci (CoNS) (31% of isolates), Staphylococcus aureus (20%), enterococci (9%), and Candida species (9%). The mean interval between admission and infection was 13 days for infection with Escherichia coil, 16 days for S. aureus, 22 days for Candida species and Klebsiella species, 23 days for enterococci, and 26 days for Acinetobacter species. CoNS, Pseudomonas species, Enterobacter species, Serratia species, and Acinetobacter species were more likely to cause infections in patients in intensive care units (P < .001). In neutropenic patients, infections with Candida species, enterococci, and viridans group streptococci were significantly more common. The proportion of S. aureus isolates with methicillin resistance increased from 22% in 1995 to 57% in 2001 (P< .001, trend analysis). Vancomycin resistance was seen in 2% of Enterococcus faecalis isolates and in 60% of Enterococcus faecium isolates. Conclusion, in this study, one of the largest multicenter studies performed to date, we found that the proportion of nosocomial BSIs due to antibiotic-resistant organisms is increasing in US hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

k.m. bischoff, t.s. edrington, t.r. callaway, k.j. genovese and d.j. nisbet. 2004. To determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among Salmonella isolated from a central Texas dairy calf farm that raises animals for dairy-beef production. Salmonella isolates collected from 50 faecal samples were characterized for susceptibility to 20 antimicrobial agents. Seventy per cent of the faecal samples (35 of 50) tested positive for Salmonella, and high rates of resistance to the following drugs that are commonly used for treatment of bacterial enteritis in livestock were observed: ampicillin (88%), apramycin (83%), neomycin (86%), spectinomycin (91%) and oxytetracycline (90%). No resistance to the fluoroquinolone antibiotics was observed. The most prevalent Salmonella serotype was Kinshasha (22 of 35 samples), followed by Agona (4 of 35), Newport (3 of 35), Infantis (2 of 35), Montevideo (2 of 35), Lille (1 of 35) and Newington (1 of 35). The Kinshasa, Agona, Newport and Infantis serotypes all displayed resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulphamethoxazole and tetracycline, and the penta-resistance phenotype was transferable to an Escherichia coli recipient strain. Multi-drug resistant Salmonella in dairy calves pose a costly animal health problem and a potential risk to the public health. This study emphasizes the need for alternative, non-antimicrobial intervention strategies for the control of zoonotic pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

δ18O, δ13C, total organic carbon, total inorganic carbon, and acid-leachable Li, Mg and Sr concentrations on 443 samples from 32 to 83 m depth in Owens Lake core OL-92 were analyzed to study the climatic and hydrological conditions between 60 and 155 ka with a resolution of ∼200 a. The multi-proxy data show that Owens Lake overflowed during wet/cold conditions of marine isotope stages (MIS) 4, 5b and 6, and was closed during the dry/warm conditions of MIS 5a, c and e. The lake partially overflowed during MIS 5d. Our age model places the MIS 4/5 boundary at ca 72.5 ka and the MIS 5/6 boundary (Termination II) at ca 140 ka, agreeing with the Devils Hole chronology. The diametrical precipitation intensities between the Great Basin (cold/wet) and eastern China (cold/dry) on Milankovitch time scales imply a climatic teleconnection across the Pacific. It also probably reflects the effect of high-latitude ice sheets on the southward shifts of both the summer monsoon frontal zone in eastern Asia and the polar jet stream in western North America during glacial periods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Focuses on the rate of compliance for hand washing among medical workers in the United States. Results of investigating the efficacy of an education/feedback intervention approach to hand washing compliance; Determination of the baseline handwashing compliance before and after defined events.

Focuses on the Red oak community in Farmington, Connecticut pretaining to the first condominium project in Connecticut. Discussion on the architectural and landscape space of the Red Oak community; Perception on the ownership desire of residents in the Red Oak community; Information on the historic setting of the rural landscape in Farmington.

Focuses on writing instruction in middle schools in the United States. Proposal for having students write everyday; Suggested wordless picture books; Sample activity.

This paper develops and estimates a model of interrelated factor demand with rational expectations, m the presence of internal adjustment costs. Invariant technological parameters are distinguished from the firm's adjustment parameters, which change when the exogenous processes faced by the finn change. The capital demand equation is derived by solving the Euler equations which stem from minimization of the present value of costs. Future exogenous variables are supplied from solutions of ARIMA equations. The model is tested on postwar quarterly data for U.S. manufacturing. A regime change in the process for energy prices is simulated, as is a temporary suspension of the investment tax credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the lack of child care programs in the United States. Economic implication of the lack of child care programs in the country; Factors that brought increased attention to the child-care issue.

This paper tests a reduced form equation in which real GNP for the United States is explained by deviations of multi-period M1 growth rates from ex ante expectations of those rates formed from one to eight quarters earlier. The theoretical model is suggested by Stanley Fischer's 1977 article, and may be thought of as a 'New Keynesian' model. The equations are tested in both level and first difference specifications, to allow for possible unit roots. Empirical results strongly support this model in preference to 'New Classical' and 'Keynesian' alternatives. Ex ante expectations or M1 growth are formed from multi-period forecasts made by Chase Econometrics, Inc., between 1970 and 1979. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the effect capacity utilization has on the depreciation of capital goods is studied, starting from a quadratic approximation to a normalized short-run cost function. Expressions for the optimal rate of capacity utilization, the demands for labour and energy, and for investment are obtained. Investment is a function of past capital stock, expected future capital stock, expected future relative prices and expected future depreciation rates. Expectations are modelled via instruments. The model is tested using US total manufacturing quarterly data. Depreciation dependent upon usage is found to be both statistically and economically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the forecasting and policy implications of five alternative models of the forces motivating spending on business investment in the U.S. in from 1972 through early 1973. The generalized accelerator model is based generally on the acceleration principle, which postulates a linear relationship between net investment and changes in output. The model has developed as a general distributed lag relationship involving both changes in and level of output, along with the level of the existing capacity or capital stock. A variety of theoretical considerations have been presented for focusing on profits or cash flow as a determinant of business investment. Current and past profits may be thought of as a good proxy for future profit expectations, which in turn determine investment. Several theories focus on the market value of a firm as a determinant of its investment. James Tobin has argued that if managers seek to maximize the market value of their corporations, they will add to their fixed capital goods whenever the marginal addition to the firm's market value exceeds the cost of the goods. Dale Jorgenson has developed and applied several closely related models of investment behavior based on his version of the neoclassical theory of optimal capital accumulation. A somewhat different version of the neoclassical model is used in the Federal Reserve-MIT-Pennsylvania (FMP) econometric model. The FMP model treats equipment and construction asymmetrically.

Forecasts the industrial plant and equipment spending of U.S. business in 1970. Relationship between capital expenditures and corporate cash flow; Substitution of capital for labor.

The article discusses a model of non-residential construction in the U.S. The author states that in the rapidly accumulating literature on determinants of fixed investment in the U.S. very little ink has been used up in explaining fluctuations in nonresidential construction. It is not hard to find an explanation for this fact. There is very little available data in which any distinction is made between plant and equipment expenditures. Furthermore, the assumption is often made that plant and equipment are perfect complements and thus can be lumped together. Nevertheless, there are several reasons for a separate study of nonresidential construction expenditures. In the postwar period the share of nonresidential construction in total nonresidential fixed investment rose gradually from a low of 32 percent in 1947 to a peak of 40 percent in 1958, since then the share has tended to decline, reaching 30 percent in 1968. An obvious beginning of an explanation might rest on the differential effect of tax policies on the two types of asset. Accelerated depreciation, introduced in 1954, decreased the effective cost of construction more than it decreased the effective cost of equipment. Tax policies undertaken since 1962, the investment tax credit in particular, have favored investment in equipment.