Background: A study has been conducted to assess two useful radiation protection indices, the annual per-capita effective dose equivalent (AED) and the genetically significant dose (GSD), from conventional diagnostic radiography in 10 counties with more than 1,886,000 inhabitants in Khorasan province in Iran. Materials and Methods: The health centre authorities of Khorasan province were asked t...

In this study we use data envelopment analysis (DEA), and an extension of DEA called value efficiency analysis (VEA), to explore the “production” of quality of life within counties in the mid-Atlantic region and the extent to which production frontiers and efficiency differ between rural and urban counties. These methods allow us to identify counties that are inefficient in their quality of lif...

We examine the relationship between state legislative representation and public finances. Baker v. Carr and subsequent court cases led to the equalization of population in U.S. state legislative districts. Analysis of state transfers to counties finds strong evidence that the equalization of legislative representation had a large effect on the distribution of state money. First, crosssectional ...

BACKGROUND The gap between the highest and lowest life expectancies for race-county combinations in the United States is over 35 y. We divided the race-county combinations of the US population into eight distinct groups, referred to as the "eight Americas," to explore the causes of the disparities that can inform specific public health intervention policies and programs. METHODS AND FINDINGS ...

This paper tests whether the strength of the "spring spike" in birth defects is related to agricultural production and urban location using Texas Birth Defects Registry data for the period 1996-2007. We find evidence of a spike in birth defects among children conceived in the spring and summer, but it is more pronounced in urban non-agricultural counties than in other types of counties. Further...

OBJECTIVES We tested the association between the availability of primary care and income inequality on several categories of mortality in US counties. METHODS We used cross-sectional analysis of data from counties (n=3081) in 1990, including analysis of variance and multivariate ordinary least squares regression. Independent variables included primary care resources, income inequality, and so...

abstract the industrial dairy farms in iran are facing several economic problems and about six percent of these farms were shut down in fars province due to low profitability. despite such problems and availability of other enterprises in the region, farmers do not switch to other farm activities. in this context, the factors affecting acceptance of diversification options were investigated in ...

Retirement counties and Destination counties generally attract migrants, especially older adults and family age migrants. Many are adjacent to metropolitan areas or have natural amenities, which attract people. Destination counties tend to attract people at all ages and face development challenges due to rapid growth. Retirement counties experience considerable out-migration of young adults cou...