440 research outputs found
Diversifying Investment Portfolios with Collectible Sneakers: Expected Returns and Benefits of Diversification
This thesis seeks to identify if collectible sneakers can provide diversification benefits to an investor’s portfolio. Using data from a global collectible sneaker marketplace, StockX, I constructed an index to compare it with other traditional assets, including the S&P 500 index and 5-year US Treasury Bills. By calculating key metrics including expected returns, volatility, and correlation, I analyzed the risk-return characteristics of the collectible sneaker asset class compared to other traditional asset classes. From the data analysis I performed, I found that collectible sneakers did not outperform returns significantly compared to traditional asset classes, but had low correlations, which provides investors with diversification benefits. I also found that an investor’s knowledge on sneakers and sneaker trends were also a significant determining factor in improving the expected returns from investing in collectible sneakers
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Research-to-Policy Resource List: Early care and education supports for young children experiencing homelessness
Research Connections conducted a comprehensive search of its collection for resources focused on supporting children 0 to 6 years experiencing homelessness through early childhood education programs. Key words used in the search were homeless children and families, homeless children, housing instability, homeless preschool children, children experiencing homelessness, and trauma. This Research-to-Policy Resource List includes an overview and listing of selected resources from the literature from the years 2000-2014. Resources of various types --reports, research articles, and reviews -- are included. Based on the search results, resources are grouped into the following categories: Prevalence of Homelessness among Young Children; Experience and Impact of Homelessness for Young Children; Access to Early Care and Education for Children Experiencing Homelessness; Early Care and Education Programs and Practices that Support Children Experiencing Homelessness; Addressing Trauma Associated with Homelessness for Young Childre
Three-geometry and reformulation of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation
A reformulation of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation which highlights the role of
gauge-invariant three-geometry elements is presented. It is noted that the
classical super-Hamiltonian of four-dimensional gravity as simplified by
Ashtekar through the use of gauge potential and densitized triad variables can
furthermore be succinctly expressed as a vanishing Poisson bracket involving
three-geometry elements. This is discussed in the general setting of the
Barbero extension of the theory with arbitrary non-vanishing value of the
Immirzi parameter, and when a cosmological constant is also present. A proposed
quantum constraint of density weight two which is polynomial in the basic
conjugate variables is also demonstrated to correspond to a precise simple
ordering of the operators, and may thus help to resolve the factor ordering
ambiguity in the extrapolation from classical to quantum gravity. Alternative
expression of a density weight one quantum constraint which may be more useful
in the spin network context is also discussed, but this constraint is
non-polynomial and is not motivated by factor ordering. The article also
highlights the fact that while the volume operator has become a preeminient
object in the current manifestation of loop quantum gravity, the volume element
and the Chern-Simons functional can be of equal significance, and need not be
mutually exclusive. Both these fundamental objects appear explicitly in the
reformulation of the Wheeler-DeWitt constraint.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX fil
The Relationship Between Insurance and Health Outcomes of Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Maryland: A Retrospective Archival Study
Background
Past studies examining the health outcomes of diabetes mellitus (DM) patients found that social determinants of health disparities were associated with variabilities in health outcomes. However, improving access to healthcare, such as health insurance, should mitigate negative health outcomes. The aim of the study was to explore the association between four types of health insurance, namely, Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS), Medicare Managed Care (MC), Private FFS, and Private MC plans, and the health outcomes of DM patients, controlling for patients’ social determinants of health.
Methods
This is a retrospective cross-sectional archival record study to explore the relationships between types of health insurance and health outcomes of DM patients who were at least 65 years old, or the elderly. Data was drawn from the 2012 Maryland Clinical Public Use Data and received an exempt status from our Institutional Review Board. Elderly Maryland residents with chronic DM were included in the study, resulting in a sample size of 43,519 individuals. Predictor variables were four types of insurance and health outcome variables were length of hospital stay (LOS), 30-day readmission, and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Control variables included hospital characteristics, patient characteristics, and social determinants of health. Student’s t-tests determined the statistical differences for the control variables between the types of insurance. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis was applied to test the association between insurance plans and LOS, while logistic regression analyses were applied to test the association between insurance plans with 30-day readmission and ESRD. Statistical significance was set at p \u3c 0.05.
Results
t-test results indicated minimal statistical differences between the health statuses of patients enrolled in different insurance plans. After factoring out the control variables, regression analyses indicated that Medicare FFS patients had the worst outcome for LOS, 30-day readmission, and ESRD rates. Although patients on Medicare MC plans had lower LOS, 30-day readmission, and ESRD rates compared to those on Medicare FFS, patients enrolled in Private MC plans had the lowest odds of a 30-day readmission and patients enrolled in Private FFS had the lowest odds of an ESRD.
Conclusions
The data suggests that insurance plans were related to the health outcomes of elderly DM patients after considering their social determinants of health. Specifically, DM patients enrolled in managed care and private insurance plans had better health outcomes compared to those on Medicare FFS plans
Effective gauge group of pure loop quantum gravity is SO(3): New estimate of the Immirzi parameter
We argue that the effective gauge group for {\it pure} four-dimensional loop
quantum gravity(LQG) is SO(3) (or ) instead of SU(2) (or ).
As a result, links with half-integer spins in spin network states are not
realized for {\it pure} LQG, implying a modification of the spectra of area and
volume operators. Our observations imply a new value of
for the Immirzi parameter which is obtained from matching the
Bekenstein-Hawking entropy to the number of states from LQG calculations.
Moreover, even if the dominant contribution to the entropy is not assumed to
come from configurations with the minimum spins, the results of both pure LQG
and the supersymmetric extension of LQG can be made compatible when only
integer spins are realized for the former, while the latter also contains
half-integer spins, together with an Immirzi parameter for the supersymmetric
case which is twice the value of the SO(3) theory. We also verify that the
coefficient of logarithmic correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking
entropy formula is robust, independent of whether only integer, or also
half-integer spins, are realized.Comment: new value of Immirzi parameter is ~0.170; dominance of miminum spin
configurations is not assumed in comparing with Bekenstein-Hawking formula;
typos corrected. Version pressed in PL
Sure success partial search
Partial search has been proposed recently for finding the target block
containing a target element with fewer queries than the full Grover search
algorithm which can locate the target precisely. Since such partial searches
will likely be used as subroutines for larger algorithms their success rate is
important. We propose a partial search algorithm which achieves success with
unit probability
Massive torsion modes, chiral gravity, and the Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly
Regularization of quantum field theories introduces a mass scale which breaks
axial rotational and scaling invariances. We demonstrate from first principles
that axial torsion and torsion trace modes have non-transverse vacuum
polarization tensors, and become massive as a result. The underlying reasons
are similar to those responsible for the Adler-Bell-Jackiw (ABJ) and scaling
anomalies. Since these are the only torsion components that can couple
minimally to spin 1/2 particles, the anomalous generation of masses for these
modes, naturally of the order of the regulator scale, may help to explain why
torsion and its associated effects, including CPT violation in chiral gravity,
have so far escaped detection. As a simpler manifestation of the reasons
underpinning the ABJ anomaly than triangle diagrams, the vacuum polarization
demonstration is also pedagogically useful. In addition it is shown that the
teleparallel limit of a Weyl fermion theory coupled only to the left-handed
spin connection leads to a counter term which is the Samuel-Jacobson-Smolin
action of chiral gravity in four dimensions.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX fil
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