Rising Disability Payments: Are Cuts to Workers' Compensation Part of the Story?

There has been a large increase in the number of workers receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) over the last quarter century. While most of this increase is explained by well-known demographic factors, such as the growing number of women in the workforce and the aging of the baby boomers, there is considerable concern that workers are increasingly choosing to collect DI benefits as an alternative to working. This concern has figured prominently in the debate over plans to maintain full funding for the DI program beyond the projected DI trust fund depletion date in late 2016.This paper examines the extent to which cuts in state workers' compensation (WC) benefits may have contributed to the rise in DI awards. To some extent, these programs may be seen as alternative sources of support for workers with job-related injuries. Insofar as injured workers are less able to receive WC benefits, they may be more likely to turn to the DI program. At the national level, there is a clear correlation between the sharp decline in WC benefits over the last quarter century and the rise in DI benefits. This paper examines whether there could be a causal relationship between the reduction in WC benefits and the rise in DI benefits by examining state-level data

Ready and Able: Addressing Labor Market Needs and Building Productive Careers for People with Disabilities through Collaborative Approaches

The report describes market-driven practices that increase hiring, retention, promotion and accommodation of people with disabilities through partnerships with employers.Approaches profiled in the research include: collaborations between major national employers and public sector agencies; models that focus on an industry or occupational sector; private and "alternative" staffing services that place people with disabilities; partnerships that expand opportunities for college students and graduates with disabilities; and local and regional hubs that connect people with disabilities and employers. The research also profiles two organizations where lead disability and employment partnerships act as catalysts

Book review: contentious rituals: parading the nation in Northern Ireland by Jonathan S. Blake

In Contentious Rituals: Parading the Nation in Northern Ireland, Jonathan S. Blake offers a new examination of the complex phenomenon of Protestant parading in Northern Ireland, drawing on carefully compiled sociological and ethnographic data to argue that, in the words of his participants, what motivates the majority of paraders, musicians and spectators is not political, ethnic or religious chauvinism, but rather commitment to a longstanding cultural practice positioned as antipolitical. This is a nuanced and rich study, writes Nicholas Baker, that will be of great value to anyone interested in contemporary politics in Northern Ireland

Eugenics and Racial Hygiene: The Connections between the United States and Germany

During the 1910s-1930s eugenics movement, communications zipped between the German and American eugenicists; this movement was directed towards better breeding in human beings to weed out the unfit who were supposedly plaguing society. Most research has predominantly focused on the eugenics movements within individual countries and not the interplay between them. Through letters, pamphlets, propaganda, and research conducted by eugenics organizations, my research explores the contact between movements and focuses on the exchange itself. A pamphlet produced by the Human Betterment Foundation entitled best illustrates the exchange of ideas. It was created in 1934, and argued in favor of the advantages and benefits of sterilization of unfit individuals. The Nazi journal viewed this survey as evidence that the more information people had about sterilization, the more likely it was that they would support it. This source supports my overall argument that the eugenics movement exchanged information on the international front and adapted information for local publics

Playing a Man Down: Professional Sports and Stadium Finance—How Leagues and Franchises Extract Favorable Terms from American Cities

In an era of unprecedented profitability, expansion, and popularity of American professional sports leagues, it seems outrageous that cities and municipalities across the United States would continue to subsidize the funding of new stadiums for wealthy sports franchises. Yet despite the economic obstacles facing many of these cities and municipalities, the gratuitous public funding of stadiums across the United States persists. This reality stems from the extraordinary bargaining power that professional sports franchises maintain over the cities in which they are located. Indeed, threating to relocate a franchise brings forth a litany of cities that are ready and willing to offer favorable terms to fund a new stadium. Legislative efforts to restrict stadium finance have paradoxically forced municipalities into even less favorable stadium deals that relied on public tax dollars while other efforts to reform stadium financing have failed to gain traction among municipal governments and federal lawmakers. This Note evaluates the various methods of stadium financing by discussing the private and public sources of funding. This Note goes on to evaluate the application of the public purpose doctrine in restricting the issuance of public finance. Finally, this Note explores potential solutions to the challenges that face municipalities when it comes to stadium financing

Book review: contentious rituals: parading the nation in Northern Ireland

In Contentious Rituals: Parading the Nation in Northern Ireland, Jonathan S. Blake offers a new examination of the complex phenomenon of Protestant parading in Northern Ireland, drawing on carefully compiled sociological and ethnographic data to argue that, in the words of his participants, what motivates the majority of paraders, musicians and spectators is not political, ethnic or religious chauvinism, but rather commitment to a longstanding cultural practice positioned as antipolitical. This is a nuanced and rich study, writes Nicholas Baker, that will be of great value to anyone interested in contemporary politics in Northern Ireland

Analysis of knee replacements using data from the National Joint Registry for England and Wales

MD ThesisIntroduction: Establishing best practice for knee replacement is important given the large number of procedures performed. Research into knee replacement is problematic given that implant failure is a rare event. The logistical and financial costs associated with prospective clinical trials are therefore high. Research using national arthroplasty registers may overcome some of these difficulties. Aim: To assess whether research performed on data recorded by the National Joint Registry for England and Wales has the ability to answer clinically relevant research questions relating to knee replacement surgery. To determine if registry research is able to answer specific clinical questions that are unsuited to prospective randomised clinical trial designs. Methods: Analyses was performed using combined data from the National Joint Registry for England and Wales (NJR) and the Department of Health Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) project. Results: Nine specific analyses investigated the ability of registry data to ask pertinent clinical questions relating to three areas of practice: unicondylar knee replacement (UKR), total knee replacement (TKR), revision knee replacement (RTKR). Discussion: Registry analyses are well suited to the analysis of rare outcomes such as implant revision and death. In comparison to prospective clinical trial designs they are cheaper, consume less time and resources and have the ability to identify associations and additional factors that may potentially influence outcome. As they use current national data they are more representative of “real-time” national practice and as such overcome some of the problems of generalisability associated with more rigidly designed clinical trials. However, as no information is collected about clinical decision making, drawing strong causal inferences from this type of data is problematic. Conclusion: Using registry data it is possible to answer a range of clinically important research questions. However, due to their limitations, it is necessary to combine information from these observational databases with clinical trial data before robust recommendations that influence clinical practice can be made. The key question researchers have to answer now is how registry data and clinical trial data can be effectively integrated.National Joint Registry Fellowship

Linear generators for direct drive marine renewable energy converters

This thesis is concerned with the development of linear generators for use as the power take off mechanism in marine renewable energy converters. Delivering significant power at the low velocities demanded by wave and tidal stream energy converters requires a large force, which must be reacted by an electrical machine in a direct drive system. Attention is focused on the development of two novel topology linear permanent magnet machines suitable for use in this application. For each topology, models are presented that are capable of predicting the force characteristics and dynamic generator performance. The models, which are verified experimentally, reveal significant behavioural differences between the two topologies. The designer is thus provided with an interesting choice when considering a direct drive power take off strategy. In short, a variable reluctance machine is shown to develop a high shear force in its airgap, offering the potential of a compact generator, yet its performance is hindered by a poor power factor and the presence of significant airgap closure forces. The second machine, an air cored stator encompassing a permanent magnet translator, is shown to lend itself favourably as a generator, but only at the expense of requiring a large quantity of magnetic material and developing a significantly lower shear stress. Mechanical issues involved in the direct integration of linear electrical machines into the marine environment are examined. Details of two existing marine renewable energy devices are used to hypothesise about the characteristics of realistic sized generators of both the topologies investigated. Direct drive power take off is shown to represent a feasible alternative to the complex systems frequently proposed in these applications