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This paper empirically investigates how sentences to be assigned at trial impact plea bargaining. The analysis is based on the model of bargaining with asymmetric information by Bebchuk, 1984. I provide conditions for the nonparametric identification of the model, propose a consistent nonparametric estimator, and implement it using data on criminal cases from North Carolina. Employing the estimated model, I evaluate how different sentencing reforms affect the outcome of criminal cases. My results indicate that lower mandatory minimum sentences could greatly reduce the total amount of incarceration time assigned by the courts, but may increase conviction rates. In contrast, the broader use of non-incarceration sentences for less serious crimes reduces the number of incarceration convictions, but has a very small effect over the total assigned incarceration time. I also consider the effects of a ban on plea bargains. Depending on the case characteristics, over 20 percent of the defendants who currently receive incarceration sentences would be acquitted if plea bargains were forbidden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an invitation for research papers about economic theory and public economics that will be featured at the 4th meeting of the Association for Public Economic Theory in North Carolina in June 2003.

Presents an abstract of the study `Possible Pre-Columbian treponematoses from coastal populations in the Caribbean and North Carolina,' by M.K. Sandford, G. Bogdan, L. Sappelsa and D.S. Weaver. Analyses of human skeletal material from Pre-Columbian North Carolina; Evidence for treponematosis; Development of different strains of treponematosis.

Abstract: Innovation in local economic development strategy is necessary to support struggling regions and foster growth across municipalities with varying resources and needs. This paper presents a case of innovation in local economic development strategy to illustrate how institutional entrepreneurship can be used as a tool to help local governments innovatively approach economic development strategy. Through the creation of the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina, institutional entrepreneurs transformed the institutionalized role for local government in economic development, while simultaneously creating a new institutional form that would support local development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the Homeland conference on the Eucharist held at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, from April 17-19, 1998. Cluster of papers ranging over many aspects of the Eucharist and its ecclesial and biblical context; Exploration of the notion of transubstantiation; Dearth of detailed engagement with questions of Eucharistic rite and practice.

This paper is an analysis of one hundred and one rural locality groups delineated for Wake County, North Carolina, during the summer of 1948. There is a high correlation between the quantitative indexes of four aspects of group life. There is a low correlation between the quantitative indexes and group identification as measured in this study. All four of the indexes have low predictive value of the strength of group identification. However, the index of the number of kinds of institutions and organizations appears to be more highly associated with group identification than the other indexes used in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major goal of educational accountability systems is to improve the academic performance of low-performing students. This research paper studies the administrative data from North Carolina and explores the extent to which that state's relatively sophisticated school-based accountability system has exacerbated the challenges that schools serving low-performing students face in retaining and attracting high-quality teachers. In such schools, the adverse effects on retention rates, and hence on teacher turnover are clear but the extent to which that higher turnover has translated into a decline in the average qualifications of the teachers in the low-performing schools, is less clear.

This paper examines housing accessibility to public–community facilities (PCFs) using geographical information systems (GIS) for four county–wide metropolitan areas in North Carolina with population ranging from 90,000 to 700,000. An optimization–based assignment model is developed and implemented in ArcView GIS. Rather than using the conventional and less accurate traffic analysis zone (TAZ) or census geography, this research uses detailed county–wide building and parcel databases to estimate direct distances, hence accessibility, from homes (i.e., apartment, manufactured home, and single–family house) to PCF (i.e., office, shopping center, school). The results indicate that distinct housing accessibility patterns exist. In general, multi–family housing such as apartment and townhouse enjoys higher accessibility to positive (desirable) PCFs, followed by single–family detached housing. Manufactured housing has been placed further away from most positive PCFs, but closer to some negative (undesirable) ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom holds that American teenagers do not read or write – that they are a media-driven group who prefer movies, television and playing video games. Ethnographic data gathered in the High School Literacy Project, a study of four North Carolina high schools, showed a far different picture of teenage literacy. This paper reports on partial findings of the larger study and argues that students use their literacy practices to form their identities within, and sometimes in opposition to, the figured worlds of school, work and family. Many students look to school to provide formal literacy experiences, but find their reading and writing passions at odds with the demands of the school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present dilemma in providing dental services to the indigent and Medicaid recipients throughout this nation has generated considerable controversy as to the evolution of the problem. Most states recognize that there are deficiencies in the provision of dental services to these populations and are seeking resolutions. While state licensing board practices and dental professional society politics have been the object of criticism as contributing to if not causing of this problem, other rational and statistically valid explanations for the current difficulty exist. As an explanation for access to care issues, this paper explores the decline in the national numbers of dental practitioners and concomitant dental productivity. Furthermore, it relates those parameters to the dramatic rise in the utilization and demand for dental services resulting from a robust economy, population growth trends, and changes in state and federal Medicaid legislation that increase numbers of Medicaid-eligible recipients. While these general trends are national in scope and application, the state of North Carolina and its experience will be used to fully explore the impact of these trends at the state and local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global spread of English has increased opportunities for native English speakers in the US to interact with other speakers of world Englishes (WE). However, these native speakers are rarely encouraged to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for intercultural communication, often resulting in a one-way communicative burden imposed on the WE speakers. To explore ways to redress this problem, a pilot project was conducted in an English IV class at a public high school. The purposes were to raise students' awareness of the global spread of English and its implications and to have them explore ways to communicate effectively with WE speakers. This paper describes the instructional unit developed for the project and its effect on students' views on various issues related to communicating with WE speakers, and on their perceptions and comprehension of WE speech samples. The instructional effect was investigated by pre- and post-questionnaires and dictation tests, classroom observations, and post-study interviews. A total of 17 students participated. Results of t-tests for the questionnaires and dictation showed no significant effect except on beliefs about second language acquisition and perceived comprehension of the speech samples. Classroom observations and interviews revealed individual differences in the instructional effect. The paper offers implications and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a case study of a Southern textile community to show how a distinct form of social capital is embedded in local net- works of power and domination. Textile firms and communities in the South have undergone restructuring: technology and Labor processes have modernized, finns have merged, consolidated, or closed, and the number of workers has declined. An analysis of Cannon Mills and its associated mill community of Kannapolis identifies the sources of the paternalist form of social capital that dominated work and community social relations. Corporate mergers, downsizing, technological change. shifts in the labor market, municipal incorporation, and labor organizing contributed to the transformation and decline of paternalistic social capital. The case study reminds social scientists that social capital is a context dependent form of power that can be created, accumulated, or destroyed. White many current analyses treat social capital as an unquestioned positive force. the case study reveals the dark side of social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dimensions of internal stratification in a regionally specific sample of smallholders selected from three North Carolina Piedmont counties. It differs from other smallholder samples in that most respondents are black, low income, and produce flue-cured tobacco. Nevertheless, data analysis reveals that the important dimensions of internal stratification are similar to those identified in previous research. Promax factor analysis shows that the major dimensions of internal stratification are wale of the farm enterprise, off-farm family labor, farm operator's age and education, and land tenure. Canonical discriminant analysis discloses the difference between smallholders who do and who do not own tobacco allotments. These results suggest the importance of incorporating both land tenure and choice of commodity into subsequent analyses of internal stratification among smallholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development and implementation of a computerized reliability prediction model at the IBM facility located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Through the analysis of historical life-test data, the model provides maximum likelihood estimates of the assumed Weibull life distributions of various types of components. The resulting component life distribution estimates are used to predict the reliability of new system configurations. This approach is based upon the well- known theory of competing risks. Our model, however, is unique in that it allows for the analysis of a pooled set of life data, i.e. life data from different types of systems, to obtain component estimates. This feature greatly generalizes the competing risks framework and hence offers advantages over the more traditional approach. We present the model and discuss various issues that were found to be critical to its successful implementation at IBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing tendency to prohibit smoking in public places is examined in light of awareness of the health effects of smoking. Drawing from the Health Belief Model, this paper investigates the development of proscriptive norms for public smoking in two states. Survey data from Illinois and North Carolina show that while smoking prevalence is similar in the two states, Illinois residents are more likely to consider smoking harmful to the individual engaged in the act. Although no differences by state were observed in perceived effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) on health, Illinois respondents were more likely to support legal controls of public smoking. Awareness of the primary effects of smoking on health emerged as more important than awareness of ETS effects on health in predicting support for legal control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an analysis of the churches in a rural North Carolina school district which has become a part of a metropolitan community. Expanding congregation and Sunday school enrollments created achievement lag. Several churches adopted innovations which made them centers of organized social activities. The churches facilitated expansion of the middle class in the district and, at a time of rapid change, were important stabilizing influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of a rural school district in the Piedmont section of North Carolina. Two major industrial cities were accessible to residents of the district. Dependency on these cities had increased since the turn of the century, including a recent upsurge in employment of district residents in urban industry. Conceptualization of the interaction of the neighborhoods of the school district in the context of the metropolitan community was accomplished by the use of the concept "boundary maintenance." Institutions, community organization and social stratification were analyzed as boundary mechanisms. Although change on a wide front had occurred, the school district retained considerable stability. The social organization of the district became more like that found in urban centers. Consolidation of schools brought the neighborhoods into a larger territorial unit, that had become more than an administrative entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a sociopsychological approach to the study of the acceptance of improved farm practices among 80 farm owners in a Piedmont community of North Carolina. Intensive interviews are analyzed with the technique of content analysis for the purpose of isolating and categorizing the sociopsychological variables. Three variables used to demonstrate the method and approach are attitude toward education for boys going into farming, conservatism toward nonagricultural areas of experience (education, religion and the movies), and dependence upon neighborhood and kinship ties. Each of these variables are associated with an index of improved farm practices adopted to a highly significant degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on policy outcomes attained by the North Carolina General Assembly in its 1985 revision of the state's Administrative Procedure Acts (APA). Why did some state legislators' efforts to assume stricter oversight over administrative rulemaking fall far short of the kind of control and accountability they aimed for? The paper explores three types of obstacles to APA reform encountered in North Carolina. Each is relevant to other states. First, direct surveillance or "police-patrol" techniques of legislative oversight impose undesirable political costs on legislators. Second, there is an absence of the adoption of such techniques. Third, executive-legislative branch conflict and complex separation of powers issues arise when state legislatures attempt to curtail administrative rule-making in significantly new and restrictive ways.

Previews papers presented at a forum on public management held during the tenth anniversary conference of the Institute of Policy Sciences at Duke University. Focus on the ethical dimensions of public management; Entrepreneurial perspective of public management; Ethical dilemmas of entrepreneurship; Need for an alternative, less amoral public management model.

Focuses on a study that presented bankfull hydraulic geometry relationships and recurrence intervals for the Southeastern Plain ecoregion and the flatwoods subtype of the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain ecoregion found within North Carolina's Coastal Plain physiographic province. Methodology; Results of the study; Conclusions.

Studies have quantified the contribution of tropical cyclones (TCs) toward seasonal precipitation, but limited analysis is available on TC contribution toward seasonal streamflow over the southeastern and southcentral (SESC) United States (U.S.). Using an extensive network of hydroclimatic data that consists of 233 TC tracks and daily precipitation and streamflow, we estimate TC contribution toward precipitation and streamflow during the hurricane season over the SESC U.S. We found that TCs account for 12% of seasonal streamflow and 6% of seasonal precipitation over the region. Florida, North Carolina, and Louisiana have the highest fractional occurrence of TC‐generated annual maximum precipitation (∼20%–32%) and streamflow (∼15%–27%). We also found the fractional occurrence of TCs associated with peak‐over threshold precipitation (streamflow) events ranges from 5% to 8% in coastal regions (10%–20% over FL and 5%–10% over coastal NC). Increased antecedent moisture results in increased TCs contribution to streamflow leading to different land‐surface responses for similar hurricane events. Plain Language Summary: While tropical cyclones cause major flooding over coastal areas of the eastern United States (U.S.), they are also an important source of moisture supply. Our analysis shows, on average, TCs contribute 6% of precipitation and 12% of streamflow during the hurricane season over the southeastern and southcentral (SESC) U.S. Our findings also show that TCs play a key role in generating annual extreme precipitation and streamflow over the SESC U.S. Key Points: Tropical cyclones account for 6% of the total seasonal precipitation and 12% of the total seasonal streamflow in the southeastern and southcentral United StatesFlorida, North Carolina, and Louisiana have the highest fractional occurrence of tropical cyclone (TC)‐generated annual maximum precipitation (∼20%–32%) and streamflow (∼15%–27%)Increased antecedent moisture leads to increased TC contribution resulting in increased land‐surface runoff for similar hurricane events [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study which developed a methodology for estimating price indices in North Carolina. Review of related literature; Overview of the individual price variation model; Results and discussion.

The economic expenditure determinant literature frequently shows public service expenditures as the dependent variable and various demographic and socioeconomic locality conditions as independent variables. Extending this line of investigation, this research assesses the degree to which variation in the situation/locality in which the service is produced and service expenditures influence output measures, specifically objective service performance measures and subjective evaluations of service quality. Data came from the Bureau of the Census, state agencies, and a statewide survey of county residents in North Carolina. The findings indicate the per capita expenditures for each of five public services (law enforcement, libraries, parks, health, and education) are not powerful predictors of either objective or subjective performance measures when adjustments are made for demographic and socioeconomic location factors. However, objective service performance measures do seem to have a modest relationship with subjective service quality measures. Overall, the situation in which the service is produced seems to be more important than either the level of expenditures or objective measures of service performance in predicting people's perceptions of service quality. The findings suggest that people's perceptions of service quality may be misleading if they are assumed to be affected only by the service. Perceptions of service quality seem to be more a product of the local situation than a reflection of service itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an empirical approach which views mental health service systems as interorganizational networks. Data are reported on two county-based child mental health systems in North Carolina that participated in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Mental Health Services Program for Youth. Analyses are based on a structural equivalence approach which groups organizations on the basis of similarity in their patterns of interaction. Site-specific data were collected at two tune points (1991 and 1993) to measure the social network structure of these service systems including their density, fragmentation, and centralization. Findings indicate that two interesting changes occurred in these systems of care. First, each system moved in a direction consistent with the goals of the RWJF demonstration program, in that they were better organized by the end of the demonstration. Second, while the two systems started at very different levels of system development, one site made significantly larger gains, such that the systems converged over time toward moderately high levels of system organization at the end of the demonstration, implications for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valuing farmland improvements is important for individual farmers and policy makers. This paper demonstrates the use of a hedonic land value study to determine the value of erosion control and drainage using data from North Carolina. Land values are significantly affected by both potential erosivity and drainage requirements. This study's estimates are compared with estimates derived from a variety of other types of studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rubric is a set of criteria and a scoring scale that are used to assess and evaluate student's work. In assessment, rubrics are used to evaluate student assignments for courses, a collection of student works, student presentations or papers, or program effectiveness. To assess holistically the meaningfulness of academic programs' assessment-based reviews, the North Carolina State University designed a rubric, to incorporate various disciplines' needs in regard to required accreditation vocabulary. The primary emphasis, however, was to make the language meaningful to all faculty.

The article offers the author's insights on the importance of integrating universal language education the U.S. schools. Topics include the global core competencies, the "Languages for All?" conference held at the University of Maryland on September 30, 2013, and the "Mapping the Nation" project established in North Carolina, which advocates world language education for student's preparation in their profession.

An analysis of the main sources of information reported for eight improved farm practices by 107 farmers in an upper Piedmont community of North Carolina reveals important differences in the sources reported by farmers of different socio-economic levels and in the sources reported for different types of practices. Farmers of the upper socioeconomic levels gave agricultural agencies most frequently while those of the lower socio-economic levels gave other farmers and dealers most frequently as their main source of information. Other farmers or dealers were also given more frequently as the main source for those practices associated with established farm operations, such as corn growing; while the agricultural agencies and mass media were more important sources for practices, such as permanent pastures and contouring, which represent more recent innovations in farming operations in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on trends in the fertility of married women of different social groups in certain rural areas of North Carolina. The trends in the fertility of living married women may be determined by means of a simple survey in which the following basic items of information are obtained for each married woman: first, age, or year of birth; second, age at time of marriage or year of marriage; and third, age at time each birth occurred or the year in which each birth occurred. Supplementary data regarding residence, color, occupation, tenure, education, relief status, etc., are, of course, necessary for analyzing the rates. Women who migrated from the areas studied have not been included in this study, while those migrating to the areas have been. The effect of this procedure is problematical. It is possible that the women who migrated to the cities had lower birth rates, in earlier years, than the women who remained in the country areas studied; and, hence, that a small downward bias would appear in the secular trend of the fertility rates of the women who remained in the areas.

This article discusses trends of the marriage rate based on the study of 1,703 families located in open-country areas of five North Carolina counties. The trend in the marriage rate of a given population may be determined from a simple population census. Two basic items of information that are needed are the year of birth and year of first marriage. It was found that, during the period from 1915 to 1919 the marriage rate of the relief population was 13.0 per 100, as compared with a nonrelief rate of only 8.1. The difference of 4.9 is approximately four times its standard error of 1.2. Among the non-relief population, where incomes are higher and more secure, marriage rates were found to be closely related to the business cycle. It was seen that the marriage rate of the non-relief population rose substantially in 1933; whereas the marriage rate of households continued to decline. This study, it has been emphasized, analyzes the marriage rates of only the living population and its increase in a given area. All migrants from the area who are offspring of parents living in the area are included; but migrants having no parental home in the area could not be included.

The article focuses on the annual rate of departure of rural youths from their parental homes. The departure of a rural youth from his parental home is an event of social significance. It involves the breaking up of old and the formation of new family units. The rate at which young people leave their home varies with certain social and economic factors such as farm income, opportunity for non-farm or urban employment, social status of parents of youth, sex, race, education and family composition. The article presents preliminary results of a study of 1,703 rural families in North Carolina counties to measure the exact rate at which young people have been leaving their home. The basic data needed for the calculation of the departure-rates are year of birth or age and year of departure or age at time of departing. A tabulation of the age and year of departure of all offspring in the families have been studied. The trend of departure-rates over a period of 20 years has been analyzed by age, sex, color and tenure and relief status of parents.

This article investigates the farmhouse building process in North Carolina. The construction of farmhouses ranged in size and quality. A high proportion of the were not complete at the time of occupancy. Relatives comprised one-third of the labor force. Significant difference were noted in almost all phases of the building process when the families were grouped according to life-cycle stage and quality of the house constructed. The results of the study confirmed the basic assumption underlying the research.

Objectives: Repeat visits (revisits) to emergency departments (EDs) for psychiatric care reflect poor continuity of care and impose a high financial cost. We test whether rapid expansion of community health centers (CHCs)—which provide regional, low‐cost primary care—correspond with fewer repeat psychiatric‐related ED visits (PREDVs). Methods: We obtained repeated cross‐sectional time‐series data for 7.8 million PREDVs from the State Emergency Department Database for four populous U.S. states (California, Florida, North Carolina, and New York) from 2006 to 2011. We specified as the outcome variable the count of repeat visits per ED visitor with a psychiatric diagnosis. We retrieved aggregate‐level mental health visits at CHCs from the Uniform Data System. Negative binomial regression methods controlled for individual‐level confounders, county health system and sociodemographic attributes, year fixed effects, and county fixed effects. Results: The risk of a repeat PREDV decreased with a county‐level increase in mental health patients seen at CHCs (incidence rate ratio = 0.986, 95% confidence interval = 0.98 to 0.99). Conversion of this rate ratio to the number of revisits averted indicated 34,000 fewer repeat PREDVs in these four states statistically associated with a 1% expansion in CHC mental health visits. Exploratory analyses found that revisits decline for relatively mild/moderate illnesses (e.g., mood, anxiety disorders) but not for severe illnesses (e.g., schizophrenia/psychoses). Conclusion: An increase in mental health services at CHCs corresponds with a modest decline in repeat PREDVs. This decline concentrates among those with less severe mental illnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving state wildlife agency goals for white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management may conflict with hunter traditions and desires. Optimizing deer herd management given conflicting biological and social goals means that agencies will need to better understand what trade‐offs can be made. In North Carolina, USA, the harvest of deer by hunters is skewed towards males <2.5 years old and all firearm hunting seasons begin prior to the rut. Both trends can have undesirable consequences for deer populations, hunters, and deer managers. To provide better information to mitigate the potential for undesirable consequences, we modeled deer hunter choice behavior using a discrete choice experiment to identify their preferences for regulatory components and policy alternatives. Discrete choice experiments explain the choice behavior of humans via preference elicitation. We obtained the data used in our analysis after contacting 171,880 resident deer hunters by email and postcard to encourage their participation in a web‐based survey. We received valid responses from 25,508 resident deer hunters. Respondents identified gun season length as the most important regulatory attribute influencing their decisions about policy, followed by bag limits. Results also suggest that North Carolina's hunters may be more willing to make trade‐offs when attributes least affecting their decision making, such as season opening date and blackpowder season length, are altered by decision makers to benefit the deer herd. By employing wildlife valuation methods, such as discrete choice experiments, agencies can gain deep insights into viable trade‐offs between different attributes that underpin multidimensional policies, such as deer seasons, not achieved through attitudinal measures alone. © 2018 The Wildlife Society. We modeled the choice behavior of North Carolina deer hunters to explore what they would concede to have a healthier deer herd. Hunters preferred a balanced approach to deer management where regulations are grounded in a trade‐off rather than a biocentric or anthropocentric emphasis. By employing wildlife valuation methods, such as discrete choice experiments, agencies can gain deep insights into viable trade‐offs between different attributes that underpin multidimensional policies, such as deer seasons, not achieved through attitudinal measures alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information related to the growth of freestanding emergency departments (ED) in the U.S. It mentions that growth has been spurred by a variety of factors including overcrowded hospital-based EDs, expanding demands for emergency care, a desire by health care systems to create satellite locations to attract patients, health care entrepreneurship, and evolving state rules that have made it easier in some localities to open them.

North Carolina's Smart Start and More at Four (MAF) early childhood programs were evaluated through the end of elementary school (age 11) by estimating the impact of state funding allocations to programs in each of 100 counties across 13 consecutive years on outcomes for all children in each county-year group (n = 1,004,571; 49% female; 61% non-Latinx White, 30% African American, 4% Latinx, 5% other). Student-level regression models with county and year fixed effects indicated significant positive impacts of each program on reading and math test scores and reductions in special education and grade retention in each grade. Effect sizes grew or held steady across years. Positive effects held for both high- and low-poverty families, suggesting spillover of effects to nonparticipating peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To perform an economic evaluation of a primary care-based physical activity counseling intervention that improved physical activity levels and rapid gait speed in older veterans. Design Secondary objective of randomized trial that assessed the effect of exercise counseling (relative to usual care) on physical performance, physical activity, function, disability, and medical resource use and cost. Setting Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Participants Male veterans aged ≥70 years (n = 398). Intervention An experienced health counselor provided baseline in-person exercise counseling, followed by telephone counseling at 2, 4, and 6 weeks, and monthly thereafter through one year. Each participant's primary care physician provided initial endorsement of the intervention, followed by monthly automated telephone messages tailored to the patient. Individualized progress reports were mailed quarterly. Measurements Intervention costs were assessed. Health care resource use and costs were estimated from enrollment through one year follow-up. The incremental cost of achieving clinically significant changes in major trial endpoints was calculated. Results The total direct cost of the intervention per participant was $459, 85% of which was counselor effort. With overhead, program cost totaled $696 per participant. Medical costs during follow-up reached $10,418 with the intervention, versus $12,052 with usual care (difference = −$1,634 (95% confidence interval = −$4,683 to $1,416; P = .29)). Expressed in terms of short-term clinical outcomes, the intervention cost $4,971 per additional patient reaching target exercise levels, or $4,640 per patient achieving a clinically significant change in rapid gait speed. Conclusion Improvements in physical activity and rapid gait speed in the physical activity counseling group were obtained at a cost that represents a small fraction of patients' annual health care costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

United States (U.S.) national and North Carolina state data on older adult food insecurity in combination with associated poor nutrition-related health outcomes point to a critical need for interventions to improve their food security. Nearly 8% of North Carolinians aged 60 and older and 11% of those aged 50-59 are food insecure, placing North Carolina in the top ten states in the U.S. for food insecurity for both age groups. Therefore, the Better Choices intervention was designed to educate limited-income older adults in ways to manage their meager resources to purchase more and healthier foods. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Better Choices intervention in improving the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of participants concerning their food money resource management. Older adults ( n = 453) with ages ranging from 59 to over 90 years participated in 8 weeks of educational programming delivered by educators in 15 participating North Carolina counties. In a cross-over program design participating counties were randomly assigned to two groups, to create a control for the food money resource management treatment. A three-points-in-time survey supported longitudinal measurement. Independent samples t-tests showed no significant differences between groups at baseline. Paired sample t-test results show the intervention was effective with statistically significant improvement of participants' knowledge regarding preparing a healthy meal on a budget, beans as a low-cost alternative to meat, and the use of unit pricing to compare products to identify the best value. Participant-developed action plans reflected planned behavior change. Study results show this group of older adults were capable of and willing to adopt new behaviors for a healthier lifestyle. While not a representative sample, the broad applicability of adult learning and planned behavior theories underpinning the program lead us to conclude that the methods and theories applied in this intervention should be of use to educators and practitioners serving limited-resource older adult populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Front & Back cover caption, volume 24 issue 5 Iron Mike (see back cover) represents a generic soldier at Fort Bragg, one of the world's largest military bases, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Here he appears to patrol streets under martial law, empty and grey. The Pawn Shop Target Practice (see front cover) is also in Fayetteville. At the back of the shop you can buy guns, bullets, jewellery and more, and also take aim at various targets – images of a woman in a bikini, an anonymous silhouette, a deer. Violence is found in Fayetteville as a symbol of protection, as entertainment, and certainly as a commodity. The absence of living people in these photographs underscores a clinical attitude cultivated in the military towards the largely dehumanized adversary other – a long way from the kind of engagement anthropologists seek through participant-observation. It may well be that the military would benefit from being ‘anthropologized’. However, given Keenan's and Besteman's experiences in Africa, as described in this issue, what is the guarantee that the African peoples will actually benefit from militarization at this time of US military expansion? MILITARIZING THE DISCIPLINE? US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates approvingly cites Montgomery McFate: ‘I'm frequently accused of militarizing anthropology. But we're really anthropologizing the military’.* This issue of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY draws attention to the launch of two initiatives in October this year, both of which will have an impact on the peoples we work with and on anthropology as a discipline. The first is the launch of Minerva, a new Pentagon initiative to recruit social scientists for research, for which proposals are due this month. As Catherine Lutz argues in her editorial, this programme may soon outspend civilian funds within our discipline, and will thus undoubtedly influence our research agenda and restrict the public sphere in which we work. If the Pentagon wants high-quality research, why not commission this from reputable and experienced civilian research agencies, who should be able to manage peer review at arm's length from the Pentagon? The second initiative is AFRICOM, the newly unified regional US command for Africa. Although presented benignly as supporting development in Africa, it was originally cast in the security discourse of the global ‘war on terror’, with the aim of securing North America's oil supplies in Africa. In this issue, Africanist anthropologists Jeremy Keenan and Catherine Besteman criticize AFRICOM's destabilizing and militarizing effect on the regions in which they work, which collapses development into military security. Once deployed to the ends of military securitization, can anthropology remain non-partisan? Alf Hornborg, in his editorial, asks if we can continue to rely on the cornucopia of cheap energy, arguing that military intervention to securitize oil supplies, and academic discourse that mystifies the logic of the global system, benefit only a small minority of the world's population. In the light of developments such as Minerva and AFRICOM, can anthropology continue to offer an independent reflexive ‘cultural critique’ of the socio-political system from which our discipline has sprung? *Montgomery McFate, quoted by Robert M. Gates (‘Nonmilitary work essential for long-term peace, Secretary of Defense says’. Manhattan, Kansas State University, Landon Lecture, 26.11.2007), as cited in Rohde, David, ‘Army enlists anthropology in war zones’ (New York Times, 05.10.2007). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The accuracy of any screening instrument designed to detect psychopathology among children is ideally assessed through rigorous comparison to 'gold standard' tests and interviews. Such comparisons typically yield estimates of what we refer to as 'standard indices of diagnostic accuracy', including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value ( PPV), and negative predictive value. However, whereas these statistics were originally designed to detect binary signals (e.g., diagnosis present or absent), screening questionnaires commonly used in psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics typically result in ordinal scores. Thus, a threshold or 'cut score' must be applied to these ordinal scores before accuracy can be evaluated using such standard indices. To better understand the tradeoffs inherent in choosing a particular threshold, we discuss the concept of 'threshold probability'. In contrast to PPV, which reflects the probability that a child whose score falls at or above the screening threshold has the condition of interest, threshold probability refers specifically to the likelihood that a child whose score is equal to a particular screening threshold has the condition of interest. Method The diagnostic accuracy and threshold probability of two well-validated behavioral assessment instruments, the Child Behavior Checklist Total Problem Scale and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire total scale were examined in relation to a structured psychiatric interview in three de-identified datasets. Results Although both screening measures were effective in identifying groups of children at elevated risk for psychopathology in all samples (odds ratios ranged from 5.2 to 9.7), children who scored at or near the clinical thresholds that optimized sensitivity and specificity were unlikely to meet criteria for psychopathology on gold standard interviews. Conclusions Our results are consistent with the view that screening instruments should be interpreted probabilistically, with attention to where along the continuum of positive scores an individual falls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented which discusses old-time country music dancing in the communities of Surry County, North Carolina from the 1820s through the mid 2010s, including to fiddle music. An overview of square dancing in Surry County, including the older people attending the dances and the square dances known as the "Alleghany Shuffle,” "Georgia Alabam” and "Golden Gate," is provided.

Does differential access to computer technology at home compound the educational disparities between rich and poor? Would a program of government provision of computers to early secondary school students reduce these disparities? We use administrative data on North Carolina public school students to corroborate earlier surveys that document broad racial and socioeconomic gaps in home computer access and use. Using within-student variation in home computer access, and across- ZIP code variation in the timing of the introduction of high-speed Internet service, we also demonstrate that the introduction of home computer technology is associated with modest, but statistically significant and persistent negative impacts on student math and reading test scores. Further evidence suggests that providing universal access to home computers and high-speed Internet access would broaden, rather than narrow, math and reading achievement gaps. (JEL I2, J24 ) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the preliminary stages of an exploratory study of the process of building farmhouses in North Carolina, it was noted that considerable variation existed between the distances of the new houses to various community services and institutions. On the basis of a number of case studies, the following hypotheses were evolved: 1) The higher the quality of a new farmhouse, the closer it is likely to be to the institutions and services of the community. 2) The higher the quality of a new farmhouse, the greater the distance from the house to the farm's livestock barn. Data used to test these hypotheses were gathered in May and June of 1950. A new farmhouse was defined as one which had been built by the owner for his family's occupancy within the previous two-and-one-hall-year period. A farmer was a person who had made half or more of his net income from the farm in 1949. The sample consisted of all new farmhouses found in randomly selected areas drawn from systematically delineated strata within the major geographic type-of-farming areas of the state.

This study examines county government participation in the state-sponsored investment pool, the North Carolina Capital Management Trust (NCCMT), during the recession years. Using panel data of all 100 counties in North Carolina with additional survey data from finance officers concerning annual practices between fiscal years 2008-2011, findings suggest that county sales taxes were the most influential revenue stream on NCCMT cash portfolio participation while the accumulation of alternative revenue sources decreased participation. The findings also determined that the NCCMT was the safest investment option for idle local government funds during the recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Immigrant Latino workers represent an expanding workforce in rural areas of the USA, where their employment is concentrated in occupations such as poultry processing that entail chemical, infectious, and mechanical skin exposures. Occupation-related skin illnesses in this vulnerable population are not well characterized. Objectives This study was designed to describe the prevalences of skin diseases among immigrant Latino poultry processors and other manual workers in North Carolina. Methods Community-based sampling was used to recruit 742 immigrant Latino workers, 518 of whom underwent a physical examination supervised by a board-certified dermatologist. The presence or absence of skin disease on the face, neck, arms, hands, and feet was recorded. Results Workers ranged in age from 18 years to 68 years. Slightly over half of the sample were male (52.6%). Poultry workers represented 55.8% of the study sample. Infectious skin diseases were the most common diagnosis, present in 52.3% of workers. Inflammatory skin diseases were present in 28.2% and pigmentary disorders in 21.8% of workers. The most common skin conditions were tinea pedis (37.6%), onychomycosis (31.9%), scars (13.7%), acne (11.8%), and melasma (9.3%). Age, sex, first language, and work as a poultry processor accounted in part for the prevalence of these diseases. Conclusions Several skin diseases are highly prevalent in immigrant Latino workers and may relate to work environment. These may impair the quality of life of these workers and predispose them to further illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil types or map units are considered to be taxonomically adjacent if they differ in only one criterion, defined by an arbitrary threshold value. By treating soil types as nodes of a graph and taxonomic adjacency as the graph edges connecting nodes, algebraic graph theory can be used to produce a measurement of the uncertainty in a soil map associated with arbitrary classification boundaries between soil types. The largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of a graph, the spectral radius, is an indication of network complexity. A larger spectral radius indicates a more complex network, and a greater degree of uncertainty or potential error associated with taxonomic adjacency. Benchmark values of spectral radius for cases of no taxonomic adjacency, including a single pair of adjacent soils, a chain or cycle-type graph structure and a fully connected graph, are established so that taxonomic adjacency indices based on the spectral radius can be established. Examples are shown from two contrasting USA soil landscapes in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas, and the coastal plain of North Carolina, using both US Soil Taxonomy and the world reference base. The taxonomic adjacency indices are also useful in assessing soil richness and pedodiversity, with smaller values indicating a greater likelihood that identified soils represent distinct entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithofacies analysis is fundamental to unravelling the succession of depositional environments associated with sea-level fluctuations. These successions and their timing are often poorly understood. This report defines lithofacies encountered within the north-eastern North Carolina and south-eastern Virginia Quaternary section, interprets their depositional environments, presents a model for coastal depositional sequence development in a passive margin setting and uses this understanding to develop the stratigraphy and Quaternary evolutionary history of the region. Data were obtained from numerous drill cores and outcrops. Chronology was based on age estimates acquired using optically stimulated luminescence, amino acid racemization, Uranium series and radiocarbon dating techniques. Geomorphic patterns were identified and interpreted using light detection and ranging imagery. Since lithofacies occurrence, distribution and stratigraphic patterns are different on interfluves than in palaeo-valleys, this study focused on interfluves to obtain a record of highstand sea-level cycles with minimal alteration by fluvial processes during subsequent lowstands. Nine primary lithofacies and four diagenetic facies were identified in outcrops and cores. The uppermost depositional sequence on interfluves exhibits an upward succession from shelly marine lithofacies to tidal estuarine lithofacies and is bounded below by a marine ravinement surface and above by the modern land surface. Older depositional sequences in the subsurface are typically bounded above and below by marine ravinement surfaces. Portions of seven depositional sequences were recognized and interpreted to represent deposition from late middle Pleistocene to present. Erosional processes associated with each successive depositional sequence removed portions of older depositional sequences. The stratigraphic record of the most recent sea-level highstands (Marine Isotope Stage 5a and Marine Isotope Stage 3) is best preserved. Glacio-isostatic adjustment has influenced depositional patterns so that deposits associated with late Quaternary sea-level highstands (Marine Isotope Stages 5c, 5a and 3), which did not reach as high as present sea-level according to equatorial eustatic records, are uplifted and emergent within the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1990, Latin American immigrants to the United States have dispersed beyond traditional gateway regions to a number of 'new destinations.' Both theory and past empirical evidence provide mixed guidance as to whether the children of these immigrants are adversely affected by residing in a nontraditional destination. This study uses administrative public school data to study over 2,800 8- to 18-year-old Hispanic youth in one new destination, North Carolina. Conditional on third-grade socioeconomic indicators, Hispanic youth who arrive by age 9 and remain enrolled in North Carolina public schools close achievement gaps with socioeconomically similar White students by sixth grade and exhibit significantly lower high school dropout rates. Their performance resembles that of first-generation youth in more established immigration gateways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]