How Disease Burden Influences Medication Patterns for Medicare Beneficiaries: Implications for Policy

Provides benchmarks for assessing the quality of pharmaceutical care under the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. Examines how the beneficiaries? medication regimens evolve in the context of multiple chronic conditions and accumulating morbidity

Wind turbine condition assessment through power curve copula modeling

Power curves constructed from wind speed and active power output measurements provide an established method of analyzing wind turbine performance. In this paper it is proposed that operational data from wind turbines are used to estimate bivariate probability distribution functions representing the power curve of existing turbines so that deviations from expected behavior can be detected. Owing to the complex form of dependency between active power and wind speed, which no classical parameterized distribution can approximate, the application of empirical copulas is proposed; the statistical theory of copulas allows the distribution form of marginal distributions of wind speed and power to be expressed separately from information about the dependency between them. Copula analysis is discussed in terms of its likely usefulness in wind turbine condition monitoring, particularly in early recognition of incipient faults such as blade degradation, yaw and pitch errors

Standing the Test of Time: The Breadth of Majority Coalitions and the Fate of U.S. Supreme Court Precedents

Should a strategic Justice assemble a broader coalition for the majority opinion than is necessary, even if that means accommodating changes that move the opinion away from the author’s ideal holding? If the author’s objective is to durably move the law to his or her ideal holding, the conventional answer is no, because there is a cost and no corresponding benefit. We consider whether attracting a broad majority coalition can placate future courts. Controlling for the size of the coalition, we find that cases with ideologically narrow coalitions are more likely to be treated negatively by later courts. Specifically, adding either ideological breadth or a new member to the majority coalition results in an opinion that is less likely to be overruled, criticized, or questioned by a later court. Our findings contradict the conventional wisdom regarding the coalition-building strategy of a rational and strategic opinion author, establishing that the author has an incentive to go beyond the four most ideologically proximate Justices in building a majority coalition. And because of later interpreters’ negative reactions to narrow coalitions, the law ends up being less ideological than the Justices themselves

Considering the Eurozone Crisis

In light of the Eurozone crisis, how essential is the current incarnation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for prosperity in Europe and how can understanding the causes of the crisis inform potential adaptations

Comparing policy gradient and value function based reinforcement learning methods in simulated electrical power trade

In electrical power engineering, reinforcement learning algorithms can be used to model the strategies of electricity market participants. However, traditional value function based reinforcement learning algorithms suffer from convergence issues when used with value function approximators. Function approximation is required in this domain to capture the characteristics of the complex and continuous multivariate problem space. The contribution of this paper is the comparison of policy gradient reinforcement learning methods, using artificial neural networks for policy function approximation, with traditional value function based methods in simulations of electricity trade. The methods are compared using an AC optimal power flow based power exchange auction market model and a reference electric power system model

International Fisheries Management: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Approaches to Management in the Context of Polar Fisheries Regimes

This thesis examines the management of marine living resources in international law. The thesis considers the development of the two principal approaches to fisheries management. The first approach is based upon maximising the yield of particular stocks, and is reflected in the content of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It has evolved out of fisheries management theory developed since the 1950s, and focuses upon extracting the maximum harvest of a particular stock while still permitting that stock\u27s biological regeneration. The second approach uses the precautionary principle, and may include management directed at the entire ecosystem. This approach has derived from international environmental law over the last twenty years, and based upon risk assessment, where if an action is proposed, the onus is placed on the proponent to demonstrate that the risk of damage falls within established parameters. The thesis explores the juridical bases of these approaches and charts their development. It then seeks to compare the approaches on a number of criteria through the media of two international conventions, operating in analogous polar environments. The first of these arrangements is the Bering Sea Doughnut Hole Convention, designed to preserve the pollock stock in the central area of the Bering Sea, and the second is the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), designed to manage all the elements of the marine ecosystem of the Southern Ocean. The thesis concludes by rationalising the comparative analysis, and noting the difficulties common to both approaches in the area of compliance. It then proposes a number of mechanisms by which the management of stocks could be improved

The effects of ageing and nutritional status on voluntary muscle function tests using human adductor pollicis muscle

Maximum voluntary force and cross-sectional area (CSA) of adductor pollicis muscle have been measured to examine the weakness associated with ageing and that associated with subnutrition, in six groups of subjects: 1) fit young, 2) fit elderly, 3) subnourished young, 4) elderly hip fracture patients, 5) post-menopausal women not receiving hormone replacement therapy, 6) post-menopausal women on hormone replacement therapy. In normally nourished young adults no sex difference was found in the force produced for a given cross-sectional area of adductor pollicis muscle. Likewise subnourished young adults produced the same force/CSA as their normally nourished counterparts. Pre-menopausal women and the subnourished produced lower forces but this was because they had smaller muscles. In contrast the elderly had a lower force/CSA. This reduction was particularly marked in those with osteoporotic fractures. As women are more prone to these fractures we predicted that a sex difference might be found with ageing and we have demonstrated this to be in the time-course of the decline in force/CSA. In women the decline was clearly related to the menopause. In men it was more gradual and its onset later. Possible causes for a low force/CSA are: 1) incomplete muscle activation - the force is not maximal. This was excluded in our weak elderly subjects using twitch interpolation. 2) replacement of the muscle with non-contractile tissue - the CSA is artefactually large. This was excluded by showing that the force obtained during stretch of the actively contracting adductor pollicis muscle is greater as a proportion of the isometric force in weak post-menopausal women than in young adults. This therefore suggests that the low force/CSA in these subjects is due to: 3) a change in cross-bridge function. Finally we found that the force/CSA in post-menopausal women is maintained by oestrogen replacement therapy suggesting that the change in cross-bridge function is hormonally mediated

FILMS: CLIMBING INTO CULTURES BACKYARD

Learners of a second language must also learn about the culture of that language, not just as a way of supporting their linguistic competence, but as a way of understanding the role of the language in individuals and in society. Cultural Studies courses are a way of providing support for this need, and Moran (1992) suggests a useful framework for the learning/teaching of culture. Film is commonly used as a medium in teaching, and is an excellent resource for intercultural teaching because it is seen as being more than just a text. A case study at Soegijapranata Catholic University showed that films were preferred to other teaching methods, and were considered the best medium with which to teach culture, provided that discussion time was also provided. Student responses were overwhelmingly positive. The course was enjoyable, the film selections were regarded as useful sources of culture, and the course format and syllabus were considered effective. However, offence could be caused by sexual or violent content of films and suggestions are given to overcome this problem. Ways to support this teaching method include the introducing of cultural themes and backgrounds to students before films are presented, and the careful selection of films that are limited to one intercultural theme. Cultural Studies should be taught without any teacher-oriented preconceptions. Also, the medium of films should be included in a syllabus to improve the teaching/learning process and not for any other reason that could be seen as a misuse of this medium