On the impossibility of measuring a galvano-gravitomagnetic effect with current carrying semiconductors in a space-based experiment
In this paper we investigate the feasibility of a recently proposed space-based experiment aimed to detect the effect of the Earth's gravitomagnetic field in space-borne semiconductors carrying radial electric currents and following identical, in principle, circular equatorial orbits along opposite directions. Identical voltages of gravitomagnetic origin would be induced across the orbiting semiconductors, while equal and opposite gravitoelectric larger voltages would be generated. It turns out that the deviations from the proposed idealized orbital configuration due to the unavoidable orbital injection errors would make impossible the measurement of the gravitomagnetic voltage of interest.
Test for relativistic gravitational effects on charged particlesp.
Experimental results are presented which provide the first measurement of the effects of a gravitational field on charged particles, equivalent to the red shift for photons. Two Josephson-effect batteries (Vapprox. =300 ..mu..V) having a vertical separation of 7.2 cm are connected in opposition by superconducting wires. A voltage difference of 2.35 x 10/sup -21/ V is maintained between these batteries by means of the gravitational red shift. The emf around this loop is, however, measured to be less than 1 x 10/sup -22/ V, consistent with the predicted invariance of the gravito-electrochemical potential along the wires.
On the validity of area-based income measures to proxy household income
BackgroundThis paper assesses the agreement between household-level income data and an area-based income measure, and whether or not discrepancies create meaningful differences when applied in regression equations estimating total household prescription drug expenditures.MethodsUsing administrative data files for the population of BC, Canada, we calculate income deciles from both area-based census data and Canada Revenue Agency validated household-level data. These deciles are then compared for misclassification. Spearman's correlation, kappa coefficients and weighted kappa coefficients are all calculated. We then assess the validity of using the area-based income measure as a proxy for household income in regression equations explaining socio-economic inequalities in total prescription drug expenditures.ResultsThe variability between household-level income and area-based income is large. Only 37% of households are classified by area-based measures to be within one decile of the classification based on household-level incomes. Statistical evidence of the disagreement between income measures also indicates substantial misclassification, with Spearman's correlations, kappa coefficients and weighted kappa coefficients all indicating little agreement. The regression results show that the size of the coefficients changes considerably when area-based measures are used instead of household-level measures, and that use of area-based measures smooths out important variation across the income distribution.ConclusionThese results suggest that, in some contexts, the choice of area-based versus household-level income can drive conclusions in an important way. Access to reliable household-level income/socio-economic data such as the tax-validated data used in this study would unambiguously improve health research and therefore the evidence on which health and social policy would ideally rest.