145 research outputs found
New Data and Output Concepts for Understanding Productivity Trends
No full textThe present study is the second is a series of three papers devoted to issues in the measurement of productivity and productivity growth. The contributions of the present paper are three. First, it introduces a new approach to measuring industrial productivity based on income-side data that are published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The data are internally consistent in that both inputs and outputs are income-side measures of value added, whereas the usual productivity measures combine expenditure-side output measures with income-side input measures. Second, because of interest in the "new economy," we have also constructed a set of new- economy accounts. For the purpose of this study, we define the new economy as machinery, electric equipment, telephone and telegraph, and software. Finally, because of concerns about poor deflation in the current output measures, this study constructs a new output concept called "well-measured output," which includes only those sectors for which output is relatively well measured. We present a brief summary of the behavior of the alternative measures.Productivity, new economy, price measurement, well-measured output
Regulatory challenges for biological control
No full textAgRes Invermay, PB 50034, Mosgiel, New ZealandBetter Border Biosecur B3, Christchurch, New ZealandUNESP, CABI, FEPAF, Rua Jose Barbosa Barros 1780, BR-18610307 Botucatu, SP, BrazilDept Agr & Fisheries, GPO Box 267, Brisbane, Qld 4001, AustraliaRhodes Univ, Ctr Biol Control, POB 94, ZA-6140 Grahamstown, South AfricaKoppert Biol Syst, Veilingweg 14, Berkel, NetherlandsNetherlands Food & Consumer Product Safety Author, Natl Reference Ctr, Geertjesweg 15,POB 9102, NL-6700 HC Wageningen, NetherlandsAgr & Agri Food Canada, Ottawa Res & Dev Ctr, 960 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, CanadaBiosecur Queensland, Dept Agr & Fisheries, GPO Box 267, Brisbane, Qld 4001, AustraliaKerala Forest Res Inst, Peechi 680653, IndiaChinese Acad Agr Sci, Inst Plant Protect, MARA CABI Joint Lab Biosafety, Beijing, Peoples R ChinaCABI East Asia, Beijing, Peoples R ChinaUNESP, CABI, FEPAF, Rua Jose Barbosa Barros 1780, BR-18610307 Botucatu, SP, Brazi
Mass Secondary Schooling and the State
No full textIn the three decades from 1910 to 1940, the fraction of U.S. youths enrolled in public and private secondary schools increased from 18 to 71 percent and the fraction graduating soared from 9 to 51 percent. At the same time, state compulsory education and child labor legislation became more stringent and potentially constrained secondary-school aged youths. It might appear from the timing and the specifics of this history that the laws caused the increase in education rates. We evaluate the possibility that state compulsory schooling and child labor laws caused the increase in education rates by using contemporaneous evidence on enrollments. We also use micro-data from the 1960 census to examine the effect of the laws on overall educational attainment. Our estimation approach exploits cross-state differences in the timing of changes in state laws. We find that the expansion of state compulsory schooling and child labor laws from 1910 to 1939 can, at best, account for 5 percent of the increase in high school enrollments and can account for about the same portion of the increase in the eventual educational attainment for the affected cohorts over the period.
A comparative simulation study of the annual maxima and the peaks-over-threshold methods
No full textIn order to assess their relative merits in the context of the determinalion of Hydraulic Boundary Conditions (HBC), the Annual Maxima / Generalized Extreme Value distribution (AM/GEV) and Peaks over Threshold / Generalized Pareto Oislribution (POT/GPO) approaches are compared in terms of Iheir accuracy, as measured by mean square errors, in estimating exceedance probabiliLies on the basis of time series with various lengths and with characteristics, that mimic those of real time series, such as non-stationarity and serial dependence. Two types of simulation studies were carried out. Both studies took into account Ihe characterislics of the dala currenlly available on the so-called basic variables. The firsl sludy focused on Ihe lintte-sample properties of the estimators of the GEV and GPO models based on independent and identically distributed dala, both the Maximum Ukelihood (ML) and Probability Weighted Momenls (PWM) eslimalion methods having been considered. The second study focused on Ihe finite-sample properties of the AMlGEV and Ihe POT/GPO approaches applied to non-stationary and dependenl dala and using the method of PWM. The conclusions of the firsl study were Ihat wilh POT samples having an average of two or more observations per year, the GPO estimates are more accurate than the corresponding GEV estimates, and thai wilh more than 200 years of data the accuracies of the two approaches are similar and rather good. Furthermore, it was concluded that with less than 50 years of dala the method of PWM should, on the basis of its error characteristics and robustness, be preferred 10 Ihe ML method, and thai with longer dala sets Ihe two estimation methods have comparable accuracies. In Ihe second study, based on non-stationary and serially dependent dala, it was concluded that Ihe POT/GPO estimates of the shape parameter are more accurate than those of Ihe AMlGEV approach with time series less than 100 years long. Wtth 10Q.year long time series the performance of Ihe two approaches is comparable, the accuracy of the AMlGEV approach being slighUy greater with lighter tails and that of the POT/GPO approach being slightiy greater wtth heavier tails. In terms of return valUe estimates (namely of the 4,000-yr and 10,000 return values), the POT/GPO approach is significantly more accurate. Only for time series of 200 years or more do Ihe two approaches yield comparably small mean square errors. Still, even with 200-year long time series the relative root-mean square errors of the POT/GPO approach are about 213 of those of Ihe AMlGEV approach whenever Ihe underlying tail index exceeds -0.1. A noteworthy aspect of this second sludy is that the choice of Ihe threshold in the POT/GPO approach has been chosen automatically; if visual inspection or a more sophisticated and theoretically grounded melhod is used to choose the threshold, Ihe POT/GPO approach is expected to perform even better. Based on Ihe results of this study, we recommend Ihat, irrespective of the variable of interest, Ihe POT/GPO approach be used for the extreme value analyses of the data required for the computation of HBC. Furthermore. we recommend that the parameters of the GPO be estimated using the method of PWM.SB
Stratigraphy of outcropping Permian rocks in parts of northeastern Arizona and adjacent areas
No full text"A discussion of the stratigraphy and correlation of Permian rocks in the northern part of the Zuni Mountains, Defiance uplift, and Monument Valley."Municipal University of Wichita faculty author
The Federal Depository Library Program : anachronism or necessity?
No full textThis article surveys the origins and development of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and analyzes the program's future prospects in a primarily electronic age. It argues that while the FDLP as a geographically distributed method for providing access to government publications is becoming an anachronism, the depository program still has a future if it focuses on service in aiding users looking for government information
The Transformation of the U.S. Government Publishing Office: A Strategic Analysis from an Intergovernmental Perspective
No full textAn intergovernmental relations perspective is important to understand challenges facing the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). National library related programs exist as intergovernmental networks tasked with gathering, preserving, and disseminating government information produced at the national level. This paper begins with an overview of the work of the GPO and a discussion of what is meant by an intergovernmental perspective. In reviewing the scholarly literature that has been produced within the last twenty years regarding the work of the GPO, focusing upon organizational dimensions of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the author addresses intergovernmental trends that are impacting these agencies. These three trends include the need for interagency cooperation, the establishment of stronger capacity, and the necessity to collaborate with non-governmental entities (in this case libraries throughout the country) to fulfill the agency’s mission. This topic must be studied further since there is a need for scholarly literature to address the intergovernmental aspects of the GPO
Drivers of group purchasing organization (GPO) effectiveness and efficiency: The role of organizational collaboration types
No full textCollaborative purchasing, the sharing of aspects of the purchasing function among two or more buyers, has been utilized for many years and is applied in a variety of industries including healthcare. Third party collaborative purchasing involves a third party organization that helps purchasing organizations by aggregating volume, negotiating lower prices, and providing other value added services such as benchmarking and market knowledge. Extant literature has examined the broad form of collaborative purchasing, but has neglected the individual differences in how purchasing organizations choose to work with the third party. In order to help fill this gap in the literature and better understand the relationship between purchasing organizations and third party collaborators, the author conceptualizes collaboration type as being multi-dimensional, comprising process, maximization, and relational aspects. These dimensions form the basis for two primary types of collaboration: Transactional collaboration (transactional, value-maximization focus) and Strategic collaboration (partnerships, group-maximization focus). A conceptual model is hypothesized that examines the antecedents and consequences of collaboration type. The hypotheses are tested with a sample of 123 hospitals across the United States. The results show that (1) there are differences in how purchasing emphasis and dependence management factors impact collaboration type, (2) transactional collaboration positively impacts purchasing effectiveness while strategic collaboration positively impacts both purchasing effectiveness and efficiency, (3) buying center factors play a unique role in moderating the impact of collaboration type on purchasing effectiveness and purchasing efficiency, and (4) post hoc analysis indicates that GPO satisfaction has an important role in the link between collaboration type and purchasing effectiveness and efficiency. The results provide insight for purchasing managers, third party collaborators, and sales organizations
Constitution Day at Your Library: Promoting Your Federal Depository
No full textThe article discusses how U.S. public libraries can promote federal depositories. According to the author, there are many benefits for libraries in applying for or retaining their federal depository status. The author says that a major benefit of being a federal depository is that all materials, including books, compact disks, and electronic documents, are provided free to the library by the Government Printing Office (GPO)
To Leave or Not to Leave—Law Libraries and the FDLP: A Decade Later, Is That Still the Question?
No full textThis article recounts the literature of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when some librarians, considering the changing form of government information, questioned whether the FDLP would survive in its existing form and recommended FDLP changes that would keep depository libraries engaged as the means of accessing digital government information evolved. In the later 2000s, articles and reports included comprehensive suggestions to the GPO, by and on behalf of library associations, of ways to make depository libraries stronger partners in the FDLP. Possibly in response to these calls for reform, the GPO polled depository libraries in its 2012 FDLP Forecast Survey to gauge interest and commitment to new and evolving roles for depository libraries responsive to the digital environment in which we now find most government information. This article summarizes the results of that survey. The article then presents the results of an independent survey of academic law libraries conducted by the author to find out whether law library leaders are considering withdrawal from the FDLP or still find FDLP partnership an essential component of access to government information through their libraries. Finally, the article briefly outlines GPO plans for the FDLP released in 2016. Ultimately, the article concludes that whether to withdraw from the FDLP may no longer be a timely question for most law libraries as GPO works on plans to forge a more modern relationship with libraries, one that better aligns with contemporary law library missions, capabilities, and priorities
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