Recently determined heavy element abundances 1-3 have led to significant changes in our understanding of the internal structure and constitution of the Sun. It turns out that the standard solar models calculated with the new abundances are significantly different from the helioseismic results which were in a good agreement with the previous solar models. Figure 1 shows the relative difference b...

Studies of the origin of coronal heating and acceleration of the solar wind invoke high-frequency Alfvén waves. Here we suggest a source for such waves associated with twisted magnetic loops emerging on the solar surface and reconnecting with the open field. We identify the loops with the ephemeral regions (small-scale bipoles) observed by ground-based instruments and by SOHO. To characterize t...

BACKGROUND Some doubt the desirability and cost-effectiveness of continuing to provide an expanded scope of primary care practice. Additionally, there has been concern about declining reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare. Although an expanded scope of patient care services are required for training, we wanted to determine whether these services drain resources and time from other primary ca...

The Medicaid program is the largest payer of nursing home services in the nation. The magnitude of program spending and the anticipated program growth as the baby boom cohort ages have raised questions about how Medicaid affects private savings. This paper, which extends previous research, examines how high but uncertain nursing home expenses interact with Medicaid assistance to affect the savi...

Do firms benefit from political connections? If so, what are the underlying mechanisms behind the positive relationship? Using an original dataset of close to 3,000 politically connected firms in Russia, I examine the widespread but understudied strategy of businesspeople directly running for elected office. The paper employs a regression discontinuity design to identify the causal effect of ga...

Two of the greatest obstacles to the implementation of the standardized electronic medical record are physician and staff acceptance and the development of a complete standardized medical vocabulary. Physicians have found the familiar desktop computer environment cumbersome in the examination room and the coding and hierarchic structure of existing vocabulary inadequate. The author recommends t...

Physician acceptance of new Medicaid patients has shown to be lower than acceptance of new Medicare patients or new privately insured patients. Acceptance of new Medicaid patients also has shown to be lower in states with lower Medicaid payment rates to physicians. Using the 2013 National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS), this report summarizes physician acceptance of new patients with ...