day, period of time for the earth to rotate once on its axis. The ordinary day, or solar day, is measured relative to the sun, being the time between successive passages of the sun over a stationary observer's celestial meridian. The length of a solar day varies during the course of a year, so for purposes of time measurement an average, or mean, solar day is used (see solar time), equal to exactly 24 hr. The sidereal day, used by astronomers, is measured relative to the fixed stars rather than the sun (see sidereal time); it is about 4 min shorter than the mean solar day. The term day is also used to refer to that part of each 24-hr period during which the sun's direct rays are not blocked by the earth, this period of daylight hours extending from sunrise to sunset; the remaining portion of the 24 hr is called night. If the plane of the earth's orbit about the sun coincided with the plane of the equator, day and night would each be 12 hr long everywhere on the earth all year long. However, because of the tilt of the earth's axis of rotation, the times of sunrise and sunset vary from day to day, with the result that in the Northern Hemisphere there are long days and short nights in the summer and short days and long nights in the winter. See equinox; solstice.

Definition

Adult day care includes programs, services, and facilities designed to assist physically or mentally impaired adults remain in their communities. These are persons who might otherwise require institutional or long-term care and rehabilitation.

Purpose

There are two general purposes for adult day-care. The first is to provide an alternative to placement in a residential institution. The second is to create a respite for care-givers, often the children of the persons for whom the care is being provided.

Description

There are two general types of adult day care programs. One is based on a medical model and the other on a social model. The medical model provides comprehensive medical, therapeutic, and rehabilitation day treatment. The social model offers supervised activities, peer support, companionship, and recreation. Both models assist older adults and those with chronic conditions to remain as independent as possible, for as long as possible.

Programs organized along the medical model lines are often called adult day health care to distinguish them from social programs. Adult day health care programs offer health services such as physician visits, nursing care, and podiatry, as well as rehabilitation services such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy in a secure environment. This model of adult day care is offered to persons with a variety of chronic medical conditions including the following:

• adults with Alzheimer's disease, other forms of dementia, or depression
• persons recovering from stroke or head or spinal cord injuries
• people with chronic conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease
• adults with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome
• adults suffering from mental illnesses
• weak or frail older adults requiring nursing care or assistance with daily living activities

The social model of adult day care emphasizes supervised group activities such as crafts, gardening, music, and exercise. Participants in this model may require some assistance with the activities of daily living (e.g., eating, bathing, dressing) but they generally do not require skilled nursing care. Like adult day health care facilities, these social programs generally provide transportation and a midday meal for participants, as well as caregiver support groups, information and referral services, and community outreach programs.

In 2005, an estimated 36 million Americans will be aged 65 or older. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, the fastest growing segment of older adults is the population aged 85 and older. Historically, approximately 80% of the frail elderly remain in the community and are cared for by relatives, most commonly by adult daughters. Today, however, an increasing number of women aged 35–54 are in the workforce and unable to care for aging parents or disabled adult children living at home.

Although the participants of adult day care are adults who attend the programs daily or several times each week, adult day care also meets the needs of families and other caregivers. Before women entered the workforce, they were available to care for relatives at home. Today, adult day care provides a secure, alternative source of care for women who work outside the home. It also offers respite, or much needed breaks, for caregivers. Older adults caring for spouses, or children caring for aging parents find that adult day care helps ease the burden of caring for ill, confused, or disabled family members.

The first adult day care centers opened in England during the 1940s and 1950s. Established by psychiatric hospitals, these centers were designed to reduce the frequency of hospital admissions. The first adult day care centers in the United States appeared during the early 1970s. Today, there are more than 4,000 services and centers. Most centers and programs operate during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, but some offer weekend and evening care.

As of 2003, 34 states offer licensure of adult day care, but only 25 require such licensure. Adult day care services or programs may be affiliated with hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, or senior centers, but many are unaffiliated, independent programs. They may be located in storefronts, senior centers, community health and medical centers, and nursing homes.

Among centers responding to a 1997 National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) survey, the average number of persons in an adult day care facility was approximately 40 and the average age of persons served was 76. About three out of four persons receiving adult day care services lived with family. Nearly 80% of adult day centers offered nursing services, and approximately 90% were not-for-profit. Fees ranged from $1 to $200 per day, with an average of $28 to $43 dollars per day. As of 2003, Medicare does not pay for any type of adult day care. However, in 35 states, Medicaid can be used to pay for adult day care services.

Though fees for adult day care vary widely, the service is generally considered to be cost effective when compared with the cost of institutional care, such as skilled nursing facilities or even home health care. More importantly, adult day care enables older adults, persons with physical disabilities, and those with cognitive impairments to maintain their independence. Research has demonstrated that adult day care also reduces the risks and frequency of hospitalization for older adults. Adult day care satisfies two requirements of care. It provides a secure, protected environment and is often the least restrictive setting in which care may be delivered.

Quality and standards of care vary from state to state and from one center or program to another. NADSA and the National Council on the Aging have developed standards and benchmarks for care, but adherence to these standards is voluntary. NADSA is currently developing a certification program for adult day center administrators and directors. A certification process for program assistants also exists. Since no uniform national standards exist, it is difficult for consumers to know whether a program or center is staffed by qualified personnel or provides appropriate services.

Generally, quality adult day care centers or programs conduct thorough assessments of each person and develop individualized plans of care and activities to meet the needs of impaired, disabled, or frail older adults. The plans for each individual describe objectives in terms of improvement or maintenance of health status, functional capabilities, and emotional well being. Centers must have sufficient staff to ensure safety, supervision, and close attention. Further, all personnel and volunteers should be qualified, trained, and sensitive to the special needs of older adults. For example, centers and services for persons with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias must take special precautions to ensure that people do not wander away from the facility.

Results

The aging population in the United States, the increasing incidence of Alzheimer's disease, and rising popularity of adult day care have created new and additional opportunities for health professionals and other care-giving and service personnel.

See also Nursing homes.

Resources

BOOKS

Arnold, Dorothy T. Better Elder Care: A Nurse's Guide to Caring for Older Adults. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001.

Beisgen, B. A., M. C. Kraitchman, and A. C. Ellis. Senior Centers: Opportunities for Successful Aging. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2003.

Clark, Chris L. Adult Day Services and Social Inclusion: Better Days. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001.

Harris, Phyllis J. The National Directory of Adult Day Care Centers, 3rd edition. Silver Spring, MD: Health Resources Publisher, 2002.

PERIODICALS

Nieves, E. J. "The Effectiveness of the Assertive Community Treatment Model." Administration and Policy in Mental Health 29, no. 6 (2002): 461–480.

Powell, J., and H. Roberts. "Identifying 'Value' in Day Care Provision for Older People." Journal of the Royal Society of Health 122, no. 3 (2002): 158–164.

Ritchie, L. "Adult Day Care: Northern Perspectives." Public Health Nursing 20, no. 2 (2003): 120–131.

Sanfilippo, J. G., and J. E. Forker. "Creating Family: A Holistic Milieu at a Geriatric Adult Day Center." Holistic Nursing Practice 17, no. 1 (2003): 19–21.

ORGANIZATIONS

Adult Day Care Group. 3 Ramsgate Ct., Blue Bell, PA 19422. Telephone(610) 941-0340, FAX (610) 834-0459. <http://www.libertynet.org/adcg>.

Alzheimer's Association. 919 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 100, Chicago, IL 60611-1676. 800-272-3900 or 312-375-8700, FAX 312-335-1110. <http://www.alz.org>.

California Association for Adult Day Services. 921 11th Street Suite 701, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 552-7400, Fax: (916) 552-7404. caads@caads.org.

National Adult Day Services Association. 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 300, McLean, VA 22102. (866) 890-7357 or (703) 610-9035, Fax: (703) 610-9005. info@nadsa.org.

U.S. Administration on Aging. 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20201. 202-619-0724. AoA Info@aoa.gov.

OTHER

Administration on Aging. 1998 State Performance Reports. 1998 [cited March 21, 2003]. <http://www.aoa.gov/napis/98spr/tables/table4a.html>.

"Adult Day Care Checklist." Care Guide. [cited March 21, 2003]. <http://www.careguide.com/Careguide/livingalternatives contentview.jsp?ContentKey=1060>.

"Nursing Homes: Alternatives for Care." Medicare. [cited March 21, 2003]. <http://www.medicare.gov/Nursing/Alternatives/Pace.asp>.

L. Fleming Fallon, Jr., M.D., Dr.PH

Definition

Day care refers to the care provided for infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged children, either in their own homes, in the home of a relative or other caregiver, or in a center-based facility.

Description

The last half of the twentieth century saw a dramatic rise in the numbers of women with young children who worked outside of the home. In 2000, 55 percent of mothers with infants were in the labor force. In 2001, 64 percent of mothers with children under the age of six, and 78 percent of mothers with children ages six to seventeen were in the labor force. These developments led to an increased demand for childcare providers by parents while they are at work.

In 2001, 61 percent of all children participated in some sort of nonparental care. As children grow older, the likelihood they will receive care from someone other than a parent increases.

Types of day care

Center-based care

Center-based care may also be labeled child or daycare centers, nursery schools, or preschools. These facilities care for children in groups. They may have different sponsors, including universities, schools, churches, social service agencies, independent owners or chains, and employers. Many parents choose center-based care because they believe the presence of multiple caregivers, larger groups of children, and state inspections make them both safer and more dependable. Some parents also consider these types of centers a better learning environment for their children.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) issues recommendations relating to the organization and structure of daycare centers, particularly those that provide care for infants and toddlers. These recommendations are considered to be the minimum standards a daycare center should observe. Their recommendations concerning staff to child ratios are as follows:

• There should be no more than four infants per caregiver, and no more than eight infants per one group of children in center-based care.
• There should be no more than four young toddlers (12–24 months) per caregiver, with a maximum of 12 young toddlers and three caregivers per group. They recommend there be no more than six older toddlers (24–36 months) per caregiver, and a maximum of 12 older toddlers and two caregivers per group.

Some of the advantages of center-based care are:

• The staff are trained and supervised.
• There are more resources and equipment available.
• Care is still available when a staff member is absent.
• The centers are more likely to be licensed and subject to state regulation.
• Children in center-based care demonstrate slightly better cognitive development than those cared for in homes, possibly because they have more opportunities to interact with other children and are exposed to more learning materials.

Some of the disadvantages of center-based care are:

• The costs are higher than for other types of care.
• The background of staff can vary greatly, and there is often greater staff turnover.
• Larger groups of children may mean less individual attention for the child.
• There is a greater likelihood of exposure to communicable illnesses.

Family childcare providers

Family childcare providers offer care for children in the provider's home. Requirements differ from state to state. However, the majority of states require that providers be regulated if they are watching more than four children. Many states may have a voluntary regulation process in place for those providers caring for four or fewer children. Regulations usually require providers to meet minimum health, safety, and nutrition standards. In addition, they are usually required to have a criminal background check. Some states yearly inspect the homes of family childcare providers, and many require ongoing training. Parents often make this childcare choice because they prefer their children to stay in a more home-like environment. This arrangement may be less expensive and more flexible than center-based care. Parents may also believe that their children are better off in smaller groups with a single caregiver.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that family childcare providers should have six children or fewer per one adult caregiver, including the caregiver's own children. The total number should be fewer if infants and toddlers are involved. No caregiver who works alone should be caring for more than two children younger than two years of age.

Some of the advantages of family child care are:

• There are usually fewer children than in center-based care.
• There may be children of different ages.
• The child gets to stay in a home-like environment.

Some of the disadvantages of family child care are:

• Many family childcare providers are not licensed or regulated.
• Resources and equipment may vary widely.
• Family childcare providers normally work alone, which may make it more difficult to judge their work.

In-home caregivers

In-home care occurs in the child's own home. This care includes both live-in and live-out nannies and baby-sitters. Most in-home caregivers are not state-regulated, though many nanny-placement agencies are subject to state regulation. If in-home caregivers receive childcare subsidy payments, they may be required by many states to have a criminal background check done, and a very few states have minimal health and safety training requirements.

The advantages of in-home caregivers are:

• Children receive one-on-one care.
• Children may be safer and feel more secure in their own home.
• Parents may feel they have more control over the type of care their children receive.
• There is the possibility of more flexible scheduling.
• Care will usually be available even if the child is ill.

There are also disadvantages to in-home care. These include:

• It is often the most expensive type of care.
• The parent may bear the burden of obtaining background checks and providing ongoing supervision.

Care provided by relatives, friends, and neighbors

This type of care is often referred to as kith and kin care and may take place either in the child's or the caregiver's home. Some of the advantages of this type of care are:

• Parents may believe their children are receiving more loving, affectionate care and that the child is more secure.
• A relative, friend, or neighbor may be more likely to share the parents' values.
• The child receives one-on-one care.
• There may be a great deal of flexibility in this option.
• Care may be low- or no-cost.

Some of the disadvantages of having friends and relatives caring for children include:

• There is minimal regulation required by most states (though some parents may view this as an advantage).
• There may be a lack of care if the friend or relative is sick or on vacation.

The type of care chosen is related to the child's age. Twenty-three percent of newborn to two-year-olds and 22 percent of three- to six-year-olds are cared for in a home by a relative. Eighteen percent and 14 percent of these same respective ages were cared for by a nonrelative in a home environment. Higher percentages of three- to six-year-olds (56%) participated in center-based programs while only 17 percent of newborn to two-year-olds did. Some children may participate in more than one type of arrangement.

Center care is more common for black and white children with working mothers (30% and 24%, respectively) than for Hispanic children (10%). However, relative care is more common for Hispanic children (39%) versus black and white children (27% for blacks; 25% for whites). Use of parent care does not differ depending on racial and ethnic background. Black children with working mothers are more likely to be in care full-time than are white and Hispanic children (58% for black children, 36% for white children, and 34% for Hispanic children).

Choosing and finding high-quality child care is important and may play a key role in a child's health and development. Parents need to consider a variety of factors when deciding who should care for their child. There are several positive factors parents should look for when evaluating child-care options. These include:

• There is adequate supervision and attention to each child. Parents can find out their state's specific daycare regulations by contact their state's department of health and human services.
• Caregivers are well-trained and professional.
• Close attention is paid to health and safety issues. There are proper hand-washing routines, and the facility (or home) is clean. Caregivers have training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Safety precautions and accident prevention measures are in place.
• Children are encouraged to explore and are exposed to games, songs, and conversation in order to foster language development.
• There is appropriate and sufficient equipment and play materials.
• Parents are welcomed to make unscheduled visits and are encouraged to voice concerns and suggestions.
• Stability of caregivers is recognized as an important component of quality care. There is a low rate of staff turnover.

The following signs may indicate that there are problems with the child care provider or facility:

• The caregiver or center staff do not answer questions or address parent concerns.
• There is no written copy of center day-care policies.
• There is a high turnover of staff.
• The child indicates he or she is not happy with the day-care experience.
• There are recurring unexplained accidents.
• Parents are discouraged from participating in activities or voicing opinions about policies or practices.
• Other parents report concerns or problems.

Common problems

Parents who are deciding to place their children in some sort of day care should be aware that some problems may occur. A comprehensive study of early child care was started in 1991 by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health. More than 1,300 children were followed from birth to find out how the amount, type, and quality of day care they encounter affected their development. The study found that, at 15 months, child care neither promoted nor negatively affected infants' attachment to their mothers. However, a low-quality child-care environment combined with less sensitive mothering did leave infants less securely attached. The findings from this study also suggest that toddlers who spend long hours in day care display a slightly weaker bond with their mothers.

Child care can influence the behavior of the child, as well. More time spent in day care during the first two years led to more caregiver-reported behavioral problems at age two, although the effect was negated by age three. Higher quality care led to better child compliance and self-control, and children in larger groups (over three) appeared to be more cooperative than those in smaller groups. The biggest indicator of a child's behavior, however, was the family environment, particularly the sensitivity of mothering practices. This also carried over into the area of cognitive development, in which researchers found no benefit for children being raised exclusively by the mother. Those in high-quality care were at an advantage compared to those with exclusive maternal care, while low-quality child care presented a disadvantage. In general, fewer problem behaviors, higher cognitive performance, and better mother-child attachments were noted when children received higher quality care.

An additional concern for parents is that children who attend day care, especially in center-based environments, are more frequently exposed to communicable diseases and more frequently experience respiratory illnesses, ear infections, and diarrhea than children who are cared for primarily at home. The size of the group the child is in seems to play a role. Larger groups have higher incidences than smaller groups. In contrast, however, children who spend more time in day care miss fewer days of school than their peers who were cared for at home. Finally, parents need to consider who will care for their child if the child is ill, since most daycare providers will not accept ill children for fear of infecting other children.

Parental concerns

Most parents are concerned about how their child will cope and adapt to being cared for by someone else. Parents can help their child adjust to a new childcare arrangement in several ways. They can arrange a visit to the center or home where they will receive care. Introducing them to the caregiver(s) may make the first days away from their parents easier. Some children like to bring a reminder of home with them when they attend day care. Parents may also choose one of the several books for children about day care and read it to their child.

See also Attachment between infant and caregiver.

Resources

BOOKS

Everstadt, Mary. Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs, and Other Parent Substitutes. East Rutherford, NJ: Penguin Group, 2005.

Jackson, Sonia, et al. People under Three: Young Children in Day Care. Florence, KY: Routledge, 2004.

Petrie, Steph, et al. Respectful Care for Infants in Groups: The RIE Approach to Day Care Practice. Herndon, VA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2005.

Robertson, Brian C. Day Care Deception: What the Child Care Establishment Isn't Telling Us. San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2004.

PERIODICALS

Greenspan, Stanley I. "Child Care Research: A Clinical Perspective." Child Development 74 (July-August 2003): 4, 1064–9.

"Questioning Child Care: A Government-funded Study Has Provoked Controversy about the Effects of Day Care on Children." Harvard Mental Health Letter 19 (December 2002): 6.

ORGANIZATIONS

National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). 1319 F. Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004–1106. Web site: <www.naccrra.org>.

WEB SITES

Ehrle, Jennifer, et al. "Who's Caring for Our Youngest Children? Child Care Patterns of Infants and Toddlers." Urban Institute, January 1, 2001. Available online at <www.urban.org/urlprint.cfm?ID=7495> (accessed January 11, 2005).

Fiene, Richard. "13 Indicators of Quality Child Care: Research Update." United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2002. Available online at <http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/ccquality-ind02/> (accessed January 11, 2005).

"Indicators of Child, Family, and Community Connections: Family, Work, and Child Care." United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2004. Available online at <http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/connectionscharts04/ch3.htm> (accessed January 11, 2005).

Deanna M. Swartout-Corbeil, RN

With the rapid growth of the Internet in the late 1990s, international stock markets moved online and became easily accessible to anyone with access to the World Wide Web. As a result, people were able to trade stocks directly from their own computers, a function previously performed only by stock brokers. Once people realized they could handle their own stock trades, many decided to try to make money by guessing when the ups and downs in the stock market would occur. As a result, day trading was born. The effect that the Internet has had on the stock markets cannot be emphasized enough. Commenting in Entrepreneur, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt estimated that in 1999, 2 5 percent of all trades were made by individuals online. That means that seven million investors participated in online trading—which is impressive considering there were none just five years earlier. And more growth is expected.

In its investigation of the new practice, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations defined day trading as "placing multiple buy and sell orders for securities and holding positions for a very short period of time, usually minutes or a few hours, but rarely longer than a day. Day traders seek profits in small increments from momentary fluctuations in stock prices after paying commissions." In the more technical language of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), day trading is "an overall trading strategy characterized by the regular transmission by a customer of intra-day orders to effect both purchase and sale transactions in the same security or securities."

THE RISKS OF DAY TRADING

Basically, day trading firms differ from traditional brokerage houses, and even online brokerage companies, in one fundamental way—they offer their customers direct, electronic access to stock markets. A handful even offer real-time access, which means traders see the market just as it really is at that second. Traditional brokerages work with the customer, then place the trade orders through middlemen, called market makers. The customer is never involved directly in the trade, and it takes some time for the trade to be completed. Not so with day trading—the customer is actively involved, and trades are completed immediately. With nearly 2 million people making up to 100 stock trades per year, and 250,000 people making more than 400 trades annually, there is a large, and growing, market for the day trading firms to work with. The firms target the investors who make the most trades. Since trades can cost anywhere from $15 to $25 per trade, the day trading firm makes more money as an investor makes more trades, no matter what happens to the customer's stock. The customer can lose money, but the firm can never lose, thanks to the per trade fee.

With its "get rich quick" aura and seeming simplicity, day trading took the securities world by storm in the late 1990s. Everyone from professional stock brokers to the average Joe on the street tried to become a millionaire when stock markets soared at the end of the twentieth century. More than 100 companies provided day trading services in 2000, ranging from long-time brokers such as Charles Schwab to dot.com companies that were gone in a month. Although the total number of day traders is still only a fraction of the total number of people who invest in the stock market, James Lee of the ETA estimates that the actions of day traders may account for 10 to 15 percent of the total daily dollar volume on the Nasdaq stock exchange on any given day. In addition to being a different type of investor, the people involved in day trading treat stocks a different way. In the past, according to Fortune, the average length of time a stock share was held by an investor was two years; today, it's five months.

One of the key differences between day trading and regular stock investing is the knowledge required. In regular investing, stock brokers and others who invest spend days, even weeks, studying a particular company and learning all there is to know about it. Brokers will devote a career to one particular market segment, such as technology stocks, and much of their time is spent learning about the companies in that segment. When a regular investor makes a stock purchase, it is likely because he or she is knowledgeable about a company and expects its stock to do well in the long run—the next year to the next 20 years, perhaps.

In day trading, the investor often knows literally nothing about the companies that he or she is purchasing. "Who cares what [a company's] earnings are?" said Charles Kim of the day trading firm Swift Trade Securities in Canadian Business. "We don't." All the day trader knows is that there is some piece of information (or, often, a hunch) that has become available very recently that indicates that a certain company's stock is about to go up in the next minute, hour, or day. The day trader then purchases that stock, holds on to it until a suitable profit has been made (or, disastrously, money has been lost), then sells it. Stocks are rarely held overnight. Nothing is ever known about the company that was just traded. Essentially the day trader is gambling, betting that the next short-term price fluctuation will be in his or her favor and result in a profit.

As long as stocks were doing well, day trading was a popular, money-making activity for many people, or so it seemed. A 2000 study by the North American Securities Administrators Association, quoted in Forbes, found that "77 percent of day traders lose money. And of those who did profit, the average was just $22,000 over the space of eight months. Of the 124 accounts surveyed, only two—people, not percent—netted $100,000 or better. The highest was $160,000." And that was at a time (1998-1999) when the stock market was soaring. Now that it has come back down, there is even less money being made.

Because the real profits from day trading do not necessarily match the profits that some firms boast of in their advertisements, companies in the industry are closely scrutinized. NASD Regulation, Inc., the regulatory arm of NASD that polices the securities industry, studied 22 day trading firms in 1999 and came up with some disturbing conclusions. They found improprieties in "advertising, Regulation T and margin lending, registration of individuals, short sales, and supervision." As of early 2001, however, NASDR had only formally punished one day trading firm, fining it $25,000 for failing to properly train and certify the 14 individuals it had working as traders. Other agencies, such as the New York Stock Exchange, have begun to take action against unscrupulous day trading firms as well, and more action is expected. Several states have also conducted their own investigations of day trading firms within their borders and have taken enforcement actions against the worst offenders. However, the biggest risk to investors still seems to be simply losing money in the highly volatile stock market.

THE HISTORY OF DAY TRADING

Day trading has its origins in the birth of the computerized, over-the-counter NASD, which occurred in 1971. Fourteen years later, NASD created the Small-Order Execution System, which made it easy for individuals to execute stock trades automatically, as long as the orders were for 1,000 shares or less. Trades placed through SOES, as the system is known, bypassed the phone lines used to make most trades and placed orders in a matter of seconds, instead of minutes. While SOES users may not buy or sell the same stock during a five-minute period, there were still a group of daring investors who thought they could use SOES to make rapid stock transactions to make a great deal of money, and thus day trading was born.

The modern day trader is no longer limited to SOES. Indeed, the most popular tool for the day trader today is the electronic communication networks, or ECNs, which are internal networks set up to handle groups of customers who make large blocks of stock trades. All the members of one ECN may trade directly with other members of their network, placing buy or sell orders electronically. This has become the main tool of the day trader. To best use that tool, day traders watch the Nasdaq Level II screen religiously on their computers. The best bid on any given stock is displayed on the Nasdaq Level I screen, while the Level II screen displays all bid prices for a selected stock. This increased amount of information allows the trader to better gauge what is happening with the stock: What are the high and low bids? How many bids have been made? Are the number of bids increasing or decreasing? This information is invaluable as the day trader decides which stock to buy.

With the growth of any money-making activity comes the hangers-on, and that is true for day trading as well. There is a large industry that relies on day traders, from book and newsletter publishers to online advice columns and investment advisors. There are also training programs, on-site seminars, software, stock picking systems, and much more. All of these related industries are unregulated and full of hype, shady deals, and bad advice. It is definitely a "buyer beware" situation, but that fits in well with day trading in general.

FURTHER READING:

Anuff, Joey, and Gary Wolf. Dumb Money: Adventures of a Day Trader. Random, 2000.

D'Souza, Patricia. "Day Trader's Blues." Canadian Business. October 16, 2000.

"Day Trading: Everyone Gambles but the House." U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. February 24, 2000.

Griffin, Cynthia E. "A Trade a Day." Entrepreneur. November 1999.

Maiello, Michael. "Day Trading Eldorado." Forbes. June 12,2000.

Millman, Gregory. The Day Traders: The Untold Story of the Extreme Investors Who Changed Wall Street Forever. Times Business, 1999.

Schwartz, Nelson D. "Meet The New Market Makers: They're Young, They're Rich, and They Couldn't Care Less about Graham & Dodd. But They're the Ones Driving Those Insane Tech Stocks, and They're Not Going Away." Fortune. February 21, 2000.

Sloan, Paul. "Day Traders Are Now Welcome at Schwab." U.S. News & World Report. February 14, 2000.

Taylor, Brian J. "No Trading Today." Reason. August 2000.

A day (symbol: d) is a unit of time equivalent to 24 hours. It is not an SI unit but it is accepted for use with SI. The term comes from the Old English dæg. The word is also used to mean daytime, the period of daylight experienced once per day and alternating with night.

Definitions

The day has several definitions.

International System of Units (SI)

A day contains 86,400 SI seconds. Each second is currently defined as

… the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.

In the 19th century it had also been suggested to make a decimal fraction (or ) of an astronomic day the base unit of time. This was an afterglow of the decimal time used with the French Republican Calendar, which had already been given up.

Astronomy

A day of exactly 86,400 SI seconds is the fundamental unit of time in astronomy.

For a given planet, there are two types of day defined in astronomy: 1 apparent sidereal day := a single rotation of a planet with respect to the distant stars

(for Earth it is 23.934 solar hours)

Colloquial

The word refers to various relatedly defined ideas, including the following:

• The period of light when the Sun is above the local horizon (i.e., the period from sunrise to sunset), opposed to night. See Daytime (astronomy).
• The full day covering a dark and a light period, beginning from the beginning of the dark period or from a point near the middle of the dark period.
• A full dark and light period, sometimes called a nychthemeron in English, from the Greek for night-day.
• The period from 06:00 to 18:00 or 21:00 or some other fixed clock period overlapping or set off from other periods such as "morning", "evening", or "night".
• The mostly regular interval of one awaking, usually in the morning (personal day).

Introduction

The word day is used for several different units of time based on the rotation of the Earth around its axis. The most important one follows the apparent motion of the Sun across the sky (solar day; see solar time). The reason for this apparent motion is the rotation of the Earth around its axis, as well as the revolution of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun.

A day, as opposed to night, is commonly defined as the period during which sunlight directly reaches the ground, assuming that there are no local obstacles. Two effects make days on average longer than nights. The Sun is not a point, but has an apparent size of about 32 minutes of arc. Additionally, the atmosphere refracts sunlight in such a way that some of it reaches the ground even when the Sun is below the horizon by about 34 minutes of arc. So the first light reaches the ground when the centre of the Sun is still below the horizon by about 50 minutes of arc. The difference in time depends on the angle at which the Sun rises and sets (itself a function of latitude), but amounts to almost seven minutes at least.

Ancient custom has a new day start at either the rising or setting of the Sun on the local horizon (Italian reckoning, for example) The exact moment of, and the interval between, two sunrises or two sunsets depends on the geographical position (longitude as well as latitude), and the time of year. This is the time as indicated by ancient hemispherical sundials.

A more constant day can be defined by the Sun passing through the local meridian, which happens at local noon (upper culmination) or midnight (lower culmination). The exact moment is dependent on the geographical longitude, and to a lesser extent on the time of the year. The length of such a day is nearly constant (24 hours ± 30 seconds). This is the time as indicated by modern sundials.

A further improvement defines a fictitious mean Sun that moves with constant speed along the celestial equator; the speed is the same as the average speed of the real Sun, but this removes the variation over a year as the Earth moves along its orbit around the Sun (due to both its velocity and its axial tilt).

The Earth's day has increased in length over time. The original length of one day, when the Earth was new about 4.5 billion years ago, was about six hours as determined by computer simulation. It was 21.9 hours 620 million years ago as recorded by rhythmites (alternating layers in sandstone). This phenomenon is due to tides raised by the Moon which slow Earth's rotation. Because of the way the second is defined, the mean length of a day is now about 86,400.002 seconds, and is increasing by about 1.7 milliseconds per century (an average over the last 2700 years). See tidal acceleration for details.

During the biblical Creation week, the day appears in several forms: As the seven days in the Creation week ("the evening and the morning", a nychthemeron or 24-hour day), as the light created during the first day ("Let there be light … and God called the light Day" (daylight, not night, ), as periods of time delimited by the lights created during the fourth day ("for seasons, and for days, and years", ), and for the Sun created during the fourth day to rule ("the greater light to rule the day", daylight, ).

Civil day

For civil purposes a common clock time has been defined for an entire region based on the mean local solar time at some central meridian. Such time zones began to be adopted about the middle of the 19th century when railroads with regular schedules came into use, with most major countries having adopted them by 1929. For the whole world, 39 such time zones are now in use. The main one is "world time" or UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

The present common convention has the civil day starting at midnight, which is near the time of the lower culmination of the mean Sun on the central meridian of the time zone. A day is commonly divided into 24 hours of 60 minutes of 60 seconds each.

Leap seconds

The actual mean period of rotation of the earth with respect to the sun is slightly longer than the SI day of 86,400 seconds. It is more nearly 86,400.002 seconds. This additional time accumulates to about 0.7 s per year or about seven seconds every ten years, necessitating the addition of an extra second to the civil clock occasionally to retard it and keep it more closely synchronized to the apparent movement of the sun. By the middle of this century the amount of time to be added to the clock will increase to one second every year. This additional second is called a leap second. A civil clock day is typically 86,400 SI seconds long, but will be 86,401 s or 86,399 s long in the event of a leap second.

Leap seconds are announced in advance by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service which measures the Earth's rotation and determines whether a leap second is necessary. Leap seconds occur only at the end of a UTC month, and have only ever been inserted at the end of June 30 or December 31.

Astronomy

In astronomy, the sidereal day is also used; it is about 3 minutes 56 seconds shorter than the solar day, and close to the actual rotation period of the Earth, as opposed to the Sun's apparent motion. In fact, the Earth spins 366 times about its axis during a 365-day year, because the Earth's revolution about the Sun removes one apparent turn of the Sun about the Earth.

Boundaries of the day

For most diurnal animals, including Homo sapiens, the day naturally begins at dawn and ends at sunset. Humans, with their cultural norms and scientific knowledge, have supplanted Nature with several different conceptions of the day's boundaries. The Jewish day begins at either sunset or at nightfall (when three second-magnitude stars appear). Medieval Europe followed this tradition, known as Florentine reckoning: in this system, a reference like "two hours into the day" meant two hours after sunset and thus times during the evening need to be shifted back one calendar day in modern reckoning. Days such as Christmas Eve, Halloween, and the Eve of Saint Agnes are the remnants of the older pattern when holidays began the evening before. Present common convention is for the civil day to begin at midnight, that is 00:00 (inclusive), and last a full twenty-four hours until 24:00 (exclusive).

In ancient Egypt, the day was reckoned from sunrise to sunrise. Muslims fast from daybreak to sunset each day of the month of Ramadan. The "Damascus Document", copies of which were also found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, states regarding Sabbath observance that "No one is to do any work on Friday from the moment that the sun's disk stands distant from the horizon by the length of its own diameter," presumably indicating that the monastic community responsible for producing this work counted the day as ending shortly before the sun had begun to set. The Baha'i day begins and ends at sunset, for a calendar that has 19 days, in each of 19 months. The vernal equinox begins and ends the Baha'i year. Days in excess of 361 are called inter-calendar days.

In the United States, nights are named after the previous day, e.g. "Friday night" usually means the entire night between Friday and Saturday. This is the opposite of the Jewish pattern. Events starting at midnight are often announced as occurring the day before. TV-guides tend to list nightly programs at the previous day, although programming a VCR requires the strict logic of starting the new day at 00:00 (to further confuse the issue, VCRs set to the 12-hour clock notation will label this "12:00 AM"). Expressions like "today", "yesterday" and "tomorrow" become ambiguous during the night.

Validity of tickets, passes, etc., for a day or a number of days may end at midnight, or closing time, when that is earlier. However, if a service (e.g. public transport) operates from e.g. 6:00 to 1:00 the next day (which may be noted as 25:00), the last hour may well count as being part of the previous day (also for the arrangement of the timetable). For services depending on the day ("closed on Sundays", "does not run on Fridays", etc.) there is a risk of ambiguity. As an example, for the Dutch Railways, a day ticket is valid 28 hours, from 0:00 to 28:00 (i.e. 4:00 the next day). To give another example, the validity of a pass on London Regional Transport services is until the end of the "transport day" -- that is to say, until 4:30 am on the day after the "expiry" date stamped on the pass.

Metaphorical days

In the Bible, as a way to describe that time is immaterial to God, one day is described as being like one thousand years (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8) to him. Also in 2 Peter 3:8, one thousand years is described as being like one day. However, some Bible "experts" interpret this more literally as a way to understand some prophecies like those in Book of Daniel and others (like the Book of Revelation) where are mentioned days in form of weeks and years.

References

See also

• Day length
• Daylight
• Earth clock
• Season

External links

• Show where it is daytime at the moment
• Sunrise and sunset, all year long, anywhere
• Definitions of day, night, twilight (USA navy site)
• Formulas to calculate the length of day and night
• Dates by each calendar year

James M. Cox Dayton International Airport , also referred to as simply Dayton International Airport, is a public airport located nine miles (14 km) north of the central business district of Dayton, a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The airport is situated in the Dayton suburb of Vandalia and it is owned and operated by the City of Dayton.

It was founded in 1936 when the city purchased the original private airstrips from a corporation. It is named after James M. Cox, a former governor of Ohio, Democratic presidential nominee, and publisher of the Dayton Daily News.

Dayton International Airport handled 1,306,237 passengers in 2006.

The airport was a hub for Piedmont Airlines until its merger with USAir. After the merger, USAir continued to maintain Dayton as a hub for a short while before eliminating some of its "long" routes like those to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and to Floridian cities in preference to its Pittsburgh and Indianapolis hubs. USAir, and its successor US Airways, sustained Dayton as a Midwest focus-city with routes to cities like Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, and Columbus with routes to some other cities like Boston plus US Airways hubs in Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C. The airport also served as a hub for Emery Worldwide, a freight carrier.

It currently serves as the headquarters for US Airways Express carrier PSA Airlines. Dayton has emerged as an attractive destination for more airlines and more airline destinations in recent years, notably from low fare carriers. AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines have emerged as significant competitors at Dayton to the "legacy" carriers.

Dayton was served by Independence Air and ATA Airlines until the dramatic changes at those airlines resulted in service being dropped.

Expansion room exists, with plenty of open gates and even the entire Concourse D - the one formerly used by Piedmont Airlines and USAir for their mini-hub operation.

Facilities

Dayton International Airport covers an area of 4,200 acres (1,700 ha) which contains three paved runways:

• Runway 6L/24R: 10,900 x 150 ft. (3,322 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt/Concrete
• Runway 6R/24L: 7,001 x 150 ft. (2,134 x 46 m), Surface: Concrete
• Runway 18/36: 8,502 x 150 ft. (2,591 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt/Concrete

Aircraft

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, the airport had 121,096 aircraft operations, an average of 331 per day: 27% scheduled commercial, 42% air taxi, 31% general aviation and 1% military.

Ground transportation

Taxicab service is available at curbside. Liberty Cab (in operation since 1929), Dayton Checker Cab, and Airport Checker Cab all provide ground transportation throughout the Dayton metro area.

Airlines and destinations

Concourse B

• American Airlines Gates B16 and B18 (Dallas/Fort Worth)
• American Connection operated by Chautauqua Airlines (St. Louis)
• American Eagle (Chicago-O'Hare [ends October 1])
• Delta Air Lines Gates B12 and B14 (Atlanta)
• Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (Atlanta)
• Delta Connection operated by Comair (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky)
• Delta Connection operated by Chautauqua Airlines (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky)
• Northwest Airlines Gates B11 and B13
• Northwest Airlink operated by Mesaba Airlines (Detroit)
• Northwest Airlink operated by Pinnacle Airlines (Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul)
• United Airlines Gates B17 and B19 (Chicago-O'Hare)
• United Express operated by Trans States Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles)
• United Express operated by SkyWest (Chicago-O'Hare)
• United Express operated by GoJet Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Denver [ends September 1])
• United Express operated by Mesa Airlines (Washington-Dulles [begins September 2])

Concourse C

• Air Canada Gate C3
• Air Canada Jazz operated by Air Georgian (Toronto-Pearson)
• AirTran Airways Gates C22 and C24 (Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Orlando, Tampa)
• Continental Airlines Gates C13, C15, and C15A
• Continental Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines (Cleveland, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
• Continental Connection operated by CommutAir (Cleveland [ends September 3])
• Frontier Airlines Gate C17 (Denver)
• Midwest Airlines Gate C12
• Midwest Connect operated by SkyWest (Milwaukee)
• US Airways Gates C10, C12, C14, C16
• US Airways Express operated by Air Wisconsin (Philadelphia, Washington-Reagan, New York-LaGuardia)
• US Airways Express operated by PSA Airlines (Charlotte, New York-LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Washington-Reagan)
• US Airways Express operated by Republic Airlines (New York-LaGuardia)

Accidents

An accident occurred at the airport on July 28,2007, when an aircraft performing a loop to loop over the airport at the Vectren Dayton Air Show slammed into the runway when attempting to finish the stunt. The pilot, Jim LeRoy, was killed in the crash.

References

External links

• Dayton International Airport (official site)