Beyond Gift and Bargain: Some Suggestions for Increasing Kidney Exchanges

Each year, thousands of people in the United States die from end stage renal disease (ESRD), despite the fact that we have the medical knowledge necessary to save them. The reason is simple: these people need a kidney transplant and we have too few kidneys. Given our current technology, the only way to meet the massive annual shortfall between the number of kidneys that are donated and the number of kidneys that are necessary to save the lives of those with ESRD is to increase the number of living donations. The debate on how to do so has often pitted those who favor creating a “free market” in human organs against those who believe that the selling of organs by human donors poses unacceptable evils and risks. Current law prohibits donors from being paid for kidneys. Once the donation has been made, however, the kidney will often change hands in exchange for money several times before reaching the patient. There are no serious proposals to ban such transactions. This article generally sympathizes with those who favor the free alienation of kidneys by donors in exchange for payment. The goal of this article, however, is not to make another charge across the no man’s land separating free-marketeers from prohibitionists. Rather, it aims to explore ways in which we can increase trust in order to foster a promising new development in transplant medicine: extended kidney exchange

Design of a second life product family from the perspective of the remanufacturing agent

This thesis presents a method of solving a newly posed Second Life Product Family Design problem. This is unique in that the architecture of the product is not speci ed to be identical to one of the recaptured products, rather it is determined through optimization. The problem is framed using Conjoint Analysis and the Multi Nomial Logit Model, formatted with respect to components available for inclusion in the nal products and then solved using an implementation of Genetic Algorithms. The solution method is also encapsulated in a software module which can be disseminated to industrial users without a background in optimization or familiarity with Genetic Algorithms. A case study is performed to determine the e ectiveness of the proposed solution method, and analyze the in uences di erent market conditions and component similarities can have on the optimal design. It is concluded that the proposed method converges to an optimal Second Life Product Family Design

Simple zeros of modular L-functions

Assuming the generalized Riemann hypothesis, we prove quantitative estimates for the number of simple zeros on the critical line for the L-functions attached to classical holomorphic newforms.Comment: 46 page

Desirable Host Plant Qualities in Wild Rice \u3ci\u3e(Zizania Palustris)\u3c/i\u3e for Infestation by the Rice Worm \u3ci\u3eApamea Apamiformis\u3c/i\u3e (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

The rate at which an insect infests hosts by ovipositioning and/or subsequent growth of larvae often depends on specific desirable host plant qualities. In this study, we measured the infestation rate of wild rice, Zizania palustris, by the wild rice worm, Apamea apamiformis, D. F. Hardwick (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and compared it to sediment nitrogen availability, plant biomass, plant density, litter accumulation, and seed carbohydrate and nitrogen concentration. Plant density and litter accumulation had no effect on infestation rates. Infestation rate increased with plant biomass and sediment nitrogen availability. The correlation between infestation rate and sediment nitrogen availability seems to reflect the fact that high nitrogen availability produces larger plants rather than more nutritious seeds as the infestation rate was not correlated with seed glucose content and surprisingly decreased with concentration of nitrogen in seeds. Infestation rate was not related to any other measured quantities. Therefore, Apamea appear to infest larger, rapidly growing host plants which are made possible by high sediment nitrogen availability

The singer and the song: Nick Cave and the archetypal function of the cover version

Throughout his career, from The Boys Next Door, through The Birthday Party, and with The Bad Seeds, Australian singer / songwriter Nick Cave has balanced his own set of creative voices alongside those of others through his choice of cover versions. Cave’s 1986 album with The Bad Seeds, ‘Kicking Against the Pricks’, is a collection of cover versions that spans American folk idioms (‘Black Betty’, ‘Hey Joe’, ‘The Singer’), Tin-Pan-Alley balladeering (‘Something’s Gotten Hold of my Heart’, ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’) and left-field alt-rock (‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, ‘The Hammer Song’). Cave’s first single as a solo artist beyond the confines of The Birthday Party was a cover of ‘In The Ghetto’, made famous by Elvis Presley, and the cover version has been a noticeable presence in Cave’s work both in his live and recorded output ever since. This chapter seeks to understand the uses of Cave’s choices of cover versions, both in terms of the idiosyncrasies of his own interpretations, and the context within which Cave places himself as part of a wider musical community. Cave’s relationship to a pantheon of elder statesmen figures (Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen for example) is understood as not only one of recognising influences, but also of placing Cave within a specific tradition or lineage. Equally, certain song forms such as the folk ballad or the blues lament are utilised to give shape and form to Cave’s wider concerns outside of the specific cover version. Cave’s reimagining of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Tupelo’, or Dylan’s ‘Wanted Man’ from The Firstborn is Dead (1985) provide clues to the uses of the cover to both articulate the individual interpreting the song, thus placing it within a personalised lexicon, and to connect the singer to traditions, or archetypes of performance that resonate in specific ways. Cave’s covers are never wholly reproductions, at times they are reworking's that might be seen to reconnect a song to a potential ‘lost truth’, at others they may be seen as parodies or homages that have more transparent aims. However at all times, the connections between Cave the singer and the latent archetypes inherent in the song provide provocative and loaded connections and values. This paper seeks to understand how Cave’s choices of cover versions, and his approaches to interpretation, shape not only the musical moment, but also our perceptions of Cave as an artist in a broader sens