Medical Technology and the Production of Health Care

This paper investigates the factors that determine differences across OECD countries inhealth outcomes, using data on life expectancy at age 65, over the period 1960 to 2007. We estimate a production function where life expectancy depends on health and social spending, lifestyle variables, and medical innovation. Our first set of regressions includes a set of observed medical technologies by country. Our second set of regressions proxy technology using a spatial process. The paper also tests whether in the long-run countries tend to achieve similar levels of health outcomes. Our results show that health spending has a significant and mild effect on health out- comes, even after controlling for medical innovation. However, its short-run adjustments do not seem to have an impact on health care productivity. Spatial spill overs in life expectancy are significant and point to the existence of interdependence across countries in technology adoption. Furthermore, nations with initial low levels of life expectancy tend to catch up with those with longer-lived populations

Ten Economic Facts About Crime and Incarceration in the United States

Crime and high rates of incarceration impose tremendous costs on society, with lasting negative effects on individuals, families, and communities. Rates of crime in the United States have been falling steadily, but still constitute a serious economic and social challenge. At the same time, the incarceration rate in the United States is so high -- more than 700 out of every 100,000 people are incarcerated -- that both crime scholars and policymakers alike question whether, for nonviolent criminals in particular, the social costs of incarceration exceed the social benefits

Analisis Alasan Berwirausaha terhadap Keputusan Pelaksanaan Bisnis Sampingan ( pada Pemilik Bisnis di Kawasan Sekitar Kambang Iwak dan Jalan Balap Sepeda Pom-x Palembang)

The purpose of this final report is to know the entrepreneurship’s reasons has an influence to the implementation business side decision at the business owners in around Kambang Iwak’s area and jalan Balap Sepeda POM-X Palembang and to know variables of entrepreneurship’s reasons dominant influence the implementation side business decision.The study was conducted on 60 respondents from the owners of the business side in around Kambang Iwak and jalan Balap Sepeda POM-X Palembang. In this research, the writer used SPSS version 20.0 for analyze data.The resultsofthe studyfound the F test with F count are 25,539 greater than F table are 2,54. It means that variables of entrepreneurship’s reasons influence the implementation side business decision. And the coefficient determination are 0,809 percent. It means that variables of entrepreneurship’s reasons influence the implementation side business decision are 62,5 percent and 37,5 percent are influenced by other reasons beside entrepreneurship’s reasons.So, the writer gave suggestion that increase the reasons of businesses by instilling entrepreneurship’s spirit and knowledge of entrepreneurship from early age. Then, improve and maintain a reason for self-fulfillment and other reasons. then reason for social and services should be improved so that the entrepreneur easier to conduct business activities

Shaping the Mind Through Music- A Family Challenge of the 21st Century

This research provides reasoning for the importance of music education in America\u27s schools. Music education is an integral ingredient in the cognitive development of the child- benefiting long term functions such as speech and language skills, memory, creativity, critical thinking, and general intelligence. Music allows a child to develop into their whole selves, encouraging the growth of their fullest potential. Various educational philosophies, such as the Rudolf Steiner philosophy and the Suzuki method describe the significance of this and outline substancial ways in which this integration is made possible. These philosophies are defined and discussed within this paper. Finally, insight on the role of family in the music education of a child within the context of the current education system in America is acknowledged alongside recommendations

An Analysis of Binarization Ground Truthing

The accuracy of a binarization algorithm is often calculated relative to a ground truth image. Except for synthetically generated images, no ground truth image exists. Evaluating binarization on real images is preferred. The ground truthing between and among different operators is compared. Four direct metrics were used. The variability of the results of five different automatic binarization algorithms were compared to that of manual ground truth results. Significant variability in the ground truth results was found

PSF Estimation by Gradient Descent Fit to the ESF

Calibration of scanners and cameras usually involves measuring the point spread function (PSF). When edge data is used to measure the PSF, the differentiation step amplifies the noise. A parametric fit of the functional form of the edge spread function (ESF) directly to the measured edge data is proposed to eliminate this. Experiments used to test this method show that the Cauchy functional form fits better than the Gaussian or other forms tried. The effect of using a functional form of the PSF that differs from the true PSF is explored by considering bilevel images formed by thresholding. The amount of mismatch seen can be related to the difference between the respective kurtosis factors

Uniqueness of Bilevel Image Degradations

Two major degradations, edge displacement and corner erosion, change the appearance of bilevel images. The displacement of an edge determines stroke width, and the erosion ofa corner affects crispness. These degradations are functions of the system parameters: the point spread function (PSF) width and functional form, and the binarization threshold. Changing each of these parameters will affect an image differently. A given amount of edge displacement or amount of erosion of black or white corners can be caused by several combinations of the PSF width and the binarization threshold. Any pair of these degradations are unique to a single PSF width and binarization threshold for a given PSF function. Knowledge of all three degradation amounts provides information that will enable us to determine the PSF functional form from the bilevel image. The effect of each degradation on characters will be shown. Also, the uniqueness of the degradation triple {dw\u3e db, δc} and the effect of selecting an incorrect PSF functional form will be shown, first with relation to PSF width and binarization threshold estimate, then for how this is visible in sample characters