Extending the granularity of representation and control for the MIL-STD CAIS 1.0 node model

The Common APSE (Ada 1 Program Support Environment) Interface Set (CAIS) (DoD85) node model provides an excellent baseline for interfaces in a single-host development environment. To encompass the entire spectrum of computing, however, the CAIS model should be extended in four areas. It should provide the interface between the engineering workstation and the host system throughout the entire lifecycle of the system. It should provide a basis for communication and integration functions needed by distributed host environments. It should provide common interfaces for communications mechanisms to and among target processors. It should provide facilities for integration, validation, and verification of test beds extending to distributed systems on geographically separate processors with heterogeneous instruction set architectures (ISAS). Additions to the PROCESS NODE model to extend the CAIS into these four areas are proposed

Neighborhood school characteristics: what signals quality to homebuyers?

Popular wisdom and economic research suggest that the quality of the neighborhood school should be an important determinant of housing values. Many researchers have found that housing values are higher where school spending or student test scores are higher. However, few economists consider these characteristics good indicators of school quality. Meanwhile, no one has examined whether the economists' notion of school quality-the school's marginal effect on students-is a school characteristic that matters to homebuyers. ; Using a model of new home purchases and historical data on homes in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), Kathy Hayes and Lori Taylor demonstrate that property values do reflect the characteristics of the neighborhood school. They present evidence that property values reflect student test scores but not school expenditures. Interestingly, they also find that the relationship between test scores and property values arises from an underlying relationship between property values and the marginal effects of schools. Thus, their analysis suggests that homebuyers and economists share the same definition of school quality.Education ; Property tax

Age Differences in the Desirability of Narcissism

Young adult narcissism has been the focus of much discussion in the personality literature and popular press. Yet no previous studies have addressed whether there are age differences in the relative desirability of narcissistic and non-narcissistic self-descriptions, such as those presented as answer choices on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979). In Study 1, younger age was associated with less negative evaluations of narcissistic (vs. non-narcissistic) statements in general, and more positive evaluations of narcissistic statements conveying leadership/authority. In Study 2, age was unrelated to perceiving a fictional target person as narcissistic, but younger age was associated with more positive connotations for targets described with narcissistic statements and less positive connotations for targets described with non-narcissistic statements, in terms of the inferences made about the target’s altruism, conscientiousness, social status, and self-esteem. In both studies, age differences in the relative desirability of narcissism remained statistically significant when adjusting for participants’ own narcissism, and the NPI showed measurement invariance across age. Despite perceiving narcissism similarly, adults of different ages view the desirability of NPI answer choices differently. These results are important when interpreting cross-generational differences in NPI scores, and can potentially facilitate cross-generational understanding

Natural Enemies of Alfalfa Weevil, \u3ci\u3eHypera Postica\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Minnesota

Alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica, is present throughout Minnesota. How- ever, economically damaging populations seldom occur, due to a combination of natural enemies and adverse climatic conditions. Five natural enemies of alfalfa weevil were found in Minnesota. Microctonus aethiopoides (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of adults, was recovered from 43 of 65 counties surveyed during 1984 and 1985. Tetrastichus incertus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and Bathyplectes curculionis (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), para­sitoids of larvae, were each recovered from 13 of 15 counties surveyed during 1991-1993. Bathyplectes anurus, another parasitoid of larvae, was recovered from one county In 1991, four counties in 1992, and six counties in 1993. Zoophthora phytonomi (Entomophthora: Entomophthoraceae), a pathogen of larvae, was recovered from 14 of 15 counties surveyed in 1991-1993. Winters with low minimum temperatures and little snow cover were detrimental to the weevil. Usually, southeastern Minnesota has milder winters and higher alfalfa weevil populations than other areas of the State. However, even here, because of natural enemies, weevil populations seldom reach economically damaging levels

Allocative inefficiency and school competition

A substantial literature indicates that the public school system in the United States is inefficient. Some have posited that this inefficiency arises from a lack of competition in the education market. On the other hand, the Tiebout hypothesis suggests that public schools may already face significant competition. In this paper, the authors examine the extent to which competition for students influences public school inefficiency in Texas. They use a Shephard input distance function to model education production and use bootstrapping techniques to examine allocative inefficiencies. Switching regressions estimation suggests that school districts in noncompetitive metropolitan areas are more than twice as allocatively inefficient as school districts in competitive metropolitan areas.Competition ; Education

Pandora\u27s Dismay: Eliminating Coverage-Related Barriers to Hospice Care

Dying Medicare recipients currently must accept the inevitability of impending death before Medicare will fund hospice services. Such a state of affairs is far from optimal, for hospice services provide both physical and psychological benefits long before patients have accepted their fates. This article explores the history and philosophy of hospice and highlights the anti-therapeutic gap between the time at which patients can benefit most from accessing hospice services and the time at which the Medicare statute and regulations first support access. It concludes by recommending that Congress blur or eliminate the currently existing false dichotomy between palliative and curative care that partially causes the gap and by calling for empirical research to help determine exactly how Congress should do so

Schiavo Revisited? The Struggle for Autonomy at the End of Life in Italy

Kathy Cerminara, Schiavo Revisited? The Struggle for Autonomy at the End of Life in Italy, 12 Marquette University Elder\u27s Advisor 295 (2011). Politically strident debates surrounding end-of-life decisionmaking have surfaced once again, this time across the Atlantic in Italy. Eluana Englaro died early this year after a prolonged court fight, causing the international press to compare her case to that of Theresa Marie Schiavo, who passed away in 2005 in Florida after nearly sparking constitutional crises on both state and federal levels. In many respects, the facts of Ms. Englaro’s case are similar to Schiavo, but a close analysis of Englaro leads to the surprising conclusion that the Italian Court of Cassazione in that case actually enunciated a broader, stronger right to make end-of-life decisions than has the United States Supreme Court thus far in America. The parallels between Englaro and Schiavo have not solely been judicial, however. In a number of ways, despite the breadth of the judicial decisions in Englaro, institutional differences seem to be leading Italy down a different path in the Parliament than the United States has taken through its several legislatures. Despite the introduction of advance directive legislation in Parliament, it seems as if Italy’s path toward patients’ preserving robust end-of-life decisionmaking power even in incompetency lies not through that body in the future but through that body’s past actions. If the current proposed legislation fails, it is possible that patients and the courts can build upon the groundwork the courts have established through the Italian constitution in combination with the statutory tool of the amministratore di sostegno to secure robust patient autonomy near the end of life

On competition and school efficiency

Education